Author: Virginia Hamilton
Illustrators: Leo & Diane Dillon
Published by: The Blue Sky Press, 2000
Genre: Traditional Literature
Primary Characters: Quashiba and Lit'mahn
Secondary character: Big King
Themes: lying, greediness,manipulation
The Girl Who Spun Gold is very similar to Rumpelstiltskin. It is also the author's West Indian variant of Pamela Coleman Smith's "Mr. Titman". The art work is beautiful it it painted with acrylic paint on acetate and then over-painted with gold. This story does not seem as harsh as Rumpelstiltskin, but Lit'mahn is illustrated much differently than Rumpelstiltskin. Quashiba's mother boastfully lies to Big King that her daughter can spin gold. Big King quickly and greedily takes Quashiba to be his wife. The story is of their years of marriage and Big King's expectations of Quashiba and spun gold. Scholastic recommends this book for grades Pre-K -3. Due to this illustrating I would recommend choosing this book wisely, as it may scare younger children. It is leveled at 4.4 and has AR test available, so it would be a great book to use in elementary classes.
