Rumpelstiltskin, the scary and delicious tale by the Brothers Grimm about a menacing little man who can spin straw into gold, has been reinvented by writer and illustrator Marie-Louise Gay (The Three Little Pigs, Fat Charlie’s Circus). In her unique style, she adapts this difficult and involved fairy tale to the picture book format, diluting the more troubling aspects of the story and transforming its premise from the wildly bizarre to the simply peculiar.

Gay’s illustrations are full of humorous and telling details: the miller’s daughter’s sidelong glance at her father as he brags about her spinning talents, the ominous shadow the greedy king casts upon the castle floor. I’ve never been a big fan of white space, but Gay takes advantage of it, surrounding the text with visual images or using the additional space to draw the eye to the uncluttered focus of the illustration.

Clearly Gay has intended this book for a young audience, but the textual limitations she has imposed upon herself may have been at the expense of the more interesting aspects of the story. Rumpelstiltskin himself borders on minor character status: moving the story along, but not really allowed to develop in his own right. Gay has represented him wonderfully in her art, but he ends up competing with the equally evil-looking king for the position of the bad guy. The plot of the story is perhaps too balanced for its own good. My childhood terror of Rumpelstiltskin, a terrible little man, and his ultimate demise, was the story for me, and this version – in its attempt to fit a large story into a small book – misses the point.

This is a simpler story of a miller’s daughter; her difficult times and her happy ending. Had I not read the original – and most of the young children who will read this book won’t have – I would admire Gay’s story for its pace and its deft handling of an outrageous premise. She has both good rhythm and a good eye. This Rumpelstiltskin is not the story I remember, but for many children this book will be memorable and worth returning to.