• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Patricia Hruby Powell

Author, Storyteller, Dancer

  • Facebook
  • Goodreads
  • Amazon
  • Bluesky
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Books
    • Lift As You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker
    • Struttin’ with Some Barbecue
    • Loving vs. Virginia
    • Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker
    • Frog Brings Rain
    • Zinnia: How the Corn Was Saved
    • Blossom Tales: Flower Stories of Many Folk
  • Author Visits/Keynotes
  • Dance
  • One Woman Play
  • About
  • Blog
    • All Blog Entries
    • Book Reviews
    • Book News
    • Writing Tips
    • New post notifications
  • Schedule
  • Contact Me

Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff

September 29, 2013 By Patricia Hruby Powell 6 Comments

In “Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin” (Knopf 2013), Liesl Shurtliff retells the story that the Brothers Grimm collected in Germany and first published in 1812. In Shurtliff’s story Rump is not an 15766776imp, but a smallish boy.

Why in the past did they think he was an imp? Rump mistakenly steps on a pixie nest and they retaliate by biting his face, arms, legs, and yes, his rump. The painful bites swell and disfigure the boy, so he probably looked like an imp. Temporarily.

But back to the beginning. After whispering the name of her newborn in his ear, his mother dies. He can only remember “Rump.” In his world, his name is his destiny. The naming of babies is so important that people name nothing else. They live in the Village at the base of the Mountain in the Kingdom. The animals don’t even have names, but Rump identifies his goat as Milk and his donkey as Nothing. His mother came from Yonder or maybe Beyond. With a name like Rump, of course he’s teased relentlessly.

The Mountain was once full of gold and it is the villagers’ unfortunate task to mine what little remains and pay it as a tax to the greedy Miller who in turn hands it over to the gold-loving King. As is true in the Grimm version, the Miller tells the King that his daughter can spin straw into gold. Great. The greedy king takes the miller’s daughter as his bride. Now what? They need Rump who can spin straw to gold. What a heartless clever Miller!

In this romp with Rump, Shurtliff offers some sly turns of wisdom. The sludge-slurping trolls are known to eat human flesh. Not true, but the trolls keep humans at bay by letting them think this because, one says, “Humans take one look at any living creature and think only how they can use it.”

There’s more fun to be had. Gnomes pop out of holes in the road, take messages, and deliver them to individuals throughout the Kingdom. What a great way to send and receive messages.

As for the pixies, usually Rump is just swatting them away like we might swat at insects. But unlike most insects, pixies have garish colored hair and spectacular wings. The pixies are attracted to Rump because they love gold and they sense that Rump has a way with straw (in that he can spin it into gold) long before Rump knows of his talents.

Rump must discover his full name—and with it, his destiny. Afterall, You are what you’re named. Rump? No, there must be more to this guileless self-deprecating boy. And why ever would he want the new queen’s firstborn? Shurtliff explains it all in her clever retelling of “Rumpelstiltskin.”

Patricia Hruby Powell is a nationally touring speaker, dancer, storyteller, occasional librarian, and children’s book author. See more at www.talesforallages.com/

Filed Under: Book Reviews

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sheila Kelly Welch says

    September 29, 2013 at 7:40 am

    Patricia, great review of an extremely clever and entertaining retelling! I read this book recently and it’s a delight. I think many children will enjoy it, and it would make a wonderful classroom read-aloud, especially after the students have read several other traditional versions of this classic story.

    Reply
  2. Patricia Hruby Powell says

    September 29, 2013 at 9:25 am

    Thanks, Sheila. Yeah, it would be a great read-aloud. Also a family read-aloud. Very fun. Thanks for reading and commenting.

    Reply
  3. Liesl says

    September 29, 2013 at 6:33 pm

    Thanks Patricia. I appreciate this lovely review!

    Reply
  4. Patricia Hruby Powell says

    September 29, 2013 at 7:14 pm

    Liesl, I’m so so glad you found it. What a fun and wonderful book.

    Reply
  5. Dorothy Martirano says

    October 20, 2013 at 9:01 am

    This is really wonderful Patricia!
    The subject is of great importance in these times, I look for articles about autism.
    Your description of the book is wonderfully vivid.

    Reply
  6. Patricia Hruby Powell says

    October 20, 2013 at 3:04 pm

    Doro, thanks. somehow your comment is on Rump rather than the Temple Grandin book. Not only is the Temple Grandin book good but the movie with Claire Danes playing Temple Grandin is really good. http://www.hbo.com/movies/temple-grandin

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Things you can do

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
  • [Un]Subscribe to Posts

Writing Tips

  • Show-Don’t-Tell
  • Metaphors and Similes
  • Book Launch Party – Advice and Ideas
  • Voice and First Lines
  • To Comply or Not To Comply
  • Writing to Evoke Emotion – Writing Tip
  • Character Development – Writing Tip
  • Research for Writers

Book Reviews

  • “When the Mapou Sings” by Nadine Pinede.
  • “The Ballerina of Auschwitz” by Dr. Edith Eva Eger
  • “The Bletchley Riddle” by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
  • “Wild Dreamers” by Margarita Engle
  • “Buffalo Dreamer” by Violet Duncan
  • “How to Raise a Rhino” by Deb Aronson
  • “Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir” by Pedro Martín
  • “Keeping Pace” by Laurie Morrison
  • “The Enigma Girls: How Ten Teenagers Broke Ciphers, Kept Secrets, and Helped Win World War II” by Candace Fleming.
  • “The Eyes and the Impossible” by Dave Eggers
  • “Skater Boy” by Anthony Nerada
  • “The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption” by Shannon Gibney
  • “The Davenports” by Krystal Marquis
  • “Forget Me Not” by Alyson Derrick
  • “For Lamb” by Lesa Cline-Ransome
  • “The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School” by Sonora Reyes
  • “High Spirits” by Camille Gomera-Tavarez
  • “Iveliz Explains it All” by Andrea Beatriz Arango
  • “Family of Liars” by E. Lockhart
  • “Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix” by Anna-Marie McLemore
  • “I Could Not Do Otherwise: The Remarkable Life of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker” by Sara Latta
  • “The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen” by Isaac Blum
  • “The Epic Story of Every Living Thing” by Deb Caletti
  • “Lines of Courage” by Jennifer A. Nielsen
  • “Ellen Outside the Lines” by A.J. Sass
  • Ideas for becoming an Activist
  • “Murder Among Friends” by Candace Fleming
  • “I Must Betray You” by Ruta Sepetys
  • “Concrete Rose” by Angie Thomas
  • “Huda F Are You?” by Huda Fahmy
  • “In the Wild Light” by Jeff Zentner
  • “The Great Godden” by Meg Rosoff
  • “Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter” by Veronica Chambers with Jennifer Harlan
  • “From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement” by Paula Yoo
  • “Home is Not a Country” by Safia Elhillo
  • “Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit” by Colby Cedar Smith
  • “All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team” by Christina Soontornvat
  • “They Went Left” by Monica Hesse
  • “A Sitting in St. James” by Rita Williams-Garcia
  • “Bones of a Saint” by Grant Farley
  • “Love is a Revolution” by Renee Watson
  • “Ana on the Edge” by A.J. Sass
  • “Echo Mountain” by Lauren Wolk
  • “Punching the Air” by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
  • “Furia” by Yamile Saied Méndez
  • “This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality” by JoAnn Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
  • “King and the Dragonflies” by Kacen Callender
  • “Three Things I Know Are True” by Betty Culley
  • “Dancing at the Pity Party: a dead mom graphic memoir” by Tyler Feder
  • “Everything Sad is Untrue” by Daniel Nayeri
  • “The Black Kids” by Christina Hammonds Areed
  • “Someday We Will Fly” by Rachel DeWoskin
  • “Being Toffee” by Sarah Crossan
  • “Clap When You Land” by Elizabeth Acevedo
  • “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
  • “The Great Nijinsky: God of Dance” by Lynn Curlee
  • “Dig” by A.S. King
  • “Where the World Ends” by Geraldine McCaughrean
  • “Degenerates” by J. Albert Mann
  • “Lovely War” by Julie Berry
  • “Brave Face: A Memoir: How I Survived Growing Up, Coming out, and Depression” by Shaun David Hutchinson
  • “Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All” by Laura Ruby
  • “1919: The Year That Changed America” by Martin W. Sandler”
  • “Fountains of Silence” by Ruta Sepetys
  • “Blood Water Paint” by Joy McCullough
  • “Falling Over Sideways” by Jordan Sonnenblick
  • “The Downstairs Girl” by Stacey Lee
  • “Darius the Great is Not Okay” by Adib Khorram
  • “A Heart in a Body in the World” by Deb Caletti
  • “Stepsister” by Jennifer Donnelly
  • “A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919” by Claire Hartfield
  • “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” retold by Ari Folman and illustrated by David Polonsky
  • “The War Outside” by Monica Hesse
  • “Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster” by Jonathan Auxier
  • “The Chaos of the Stars” by Kiersten White
  • “Pride” by Ibi Zoboi
  • “Boots on the Ground: America’s War in Vietnam” by Elizabeth Partridge
  • “Hey, Kiddo” by Jarrett J. Korosoczka
  • “The Truth As Told By Mason Buttle” by Leslie Connor
  • “Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo
  • “The Journey of Little Charlie” by Christopher Paul Curtis
  • “How to be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals” by Sy Montgomery
  • “The House in Poplar Wood” by K.E. Ormsbee
  • “All That I Can Fix” by Crystal Chan
  • Wiki: “9 Wonderful Historical Novels for Young Readers”
  • “Hiding” by Henry Turner
  • “Price of Duty” by Todd Strasser
  • “We Are All That’s Left” by Carro Arcos
  • “Moonrise” by Sarah Crossan
  • “Orphan Monster Spy” by Matt Killeen
  • “Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World” by Pénélope Baglieu
  • “We Are Okay” by Nina LaCour
  • “The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime that Changed Their Lives” by Dashka Slater
  • “I Have Lost My Way” by Gayle Forman
  • “Turtles All the Way Down” by John Green
  • “Bull” by David Elliott
  • “Gem & Dixie” by Sara Zarr
  • “One of Us Is Lying” by Karen M. McManus
  • “Spinning” by Tillie Walden
  • “Long Way Down” by Jason Reynolds
  • “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” by Maurene Goo
  • “Far From the Tree” by Robin Benway
  • “What Girls Are Made Of” by Elana K. Arnold
  • “You Bring the Distant Near” by Mitali Perkins
  • “American Street” by Ibi Zoboi
  • “Genuine Fraud” by E. Lockhart
  • “Forest World” by Margarita Engle
  • “If I Was Your Girl” by Meredith Russo
  • “Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers” by Deborah Heiligman
  • “The Bitter Side of Sweet” by Tara Sullivan
  • “Exit, Pursued by a Bear” by E.K. Johnston
  • “Girl Rising: Changing the World One Girl at a Time” by Tanya Lee Stone
  • “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas
  • “Dreamland Burning” by Jennifer Latham
  • “A List of Cages” by Robin Roe
  • “The Sun is Also a Star” by Nicola Yoon
  • “The Passion of Dolssa” by Julie Berry
  • “March: Book Three” by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell
  • “Ghost” by Jason Reynolds
  • Second Loving vs. Virginia Giveaway – Thanksgiving
  • “Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey” by Özge Samanci
  • Research for Loving vs. Virginia: a documentary novel
  • “Presenting Buffalo Bill: The Man Who Invented the Wild West” by Candace Fleming
  • First “Loving vs. Virginia” Give Away Winner
  • “Another Brooklyn” by Jacqueline Woodson
  • Why I wrote Loving vs. Virginia – Book Give Away
  • Graphic Novels: “Child Soldier,” “Roller Girl,” “Baba Yaga’s Assistant”
  • “The Lie Tree” by Frances Hardenge
  • “Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War” by Steve Sheinkin
  • “Flannery” by Lisa Moore
  • “The Incident on the Bridge” by Laura McNeal
  • “Anna and the Swallow Man” by Gavriel Savit
  • “Ghosts of Heaven” by Marcus Sedgwick
  • “The Boys in the Boat” by Daniel James Brown
  • “Salt to the Sea” by Ruta Sepetys
  • “The Tightrope Walkers” by David Almond
  • “The Hired Girl” by Laura Amy Schlitz
  • “These Shallow Graves” by Jennifer Donnelly
  • “Don’t Fail Me Now” by Una LaMarche
  • “Under a Painted Sky” by Stacey Lee
  • “Last Leaves Falling” by Sarah Benwell
  • “Audacity” by Melanie Crowder
  • “The Boys Who Challenged Hitler” by Phillip Hoose
  • “Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans” by Don Brown
  • “Bone Gap” by Laura Ruby
  • “The Game of Love and Death” by Martha Brockenbrough
  • “Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own” by Kate Bolick
  • “How I Discovered Poetry” by Marilyn Nelson
  • “The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell by William Klaber
  • “How it Went Down” by Kekla Magoon
  • “A Time to Dance” by Padma Venkatraman
  • “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doer
  • “Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina” by Michaela DePrince
  • “Egg and Spoon” by Gregory Maguire
  • “This One Summer” by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki
  • “The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone” by Adele Griffin
  • “I’ll Give You the Sun” by Jandy Nelson
  • “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson
  • “Blood Guard” by Carter Roy
  • “Going Over” by Beth Kephart
  • “Lena Finkle’s Magic Barrel” by Anya Ulinich
  • “Josephine” Recorded Books, read by Lizan Mitchell SLJ starred review
  • “The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia” by Candace Fleming
  • “The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights” by Steve Sheinkin
  • What How and Why do You Write?
  • “West of the Moon” by Margi Preus
  • “We Were Liars” by E. Lockhart
  • “Pure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific” by Mary Cronk Farrell
  • “All the Truth That’s In Me” by Julie Berry
  • Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During World War II by Martin W. Sandler
  • “Love in the Time of Global Warming” by Francesca Lia Block
  • “The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi” by Neal Bascomb
  • “The Weight of Water” by Sarah Crossan
  • “Fallout” by Todd Strasser (Candlewick 2013)
  • “Josephine” gets starred reviews from SLJ and Shelf Awareness
  • “March” by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell
  • “Winger” by Andrew Smith
  • “The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp” by Kathi Appelt
  • “Salt: A Story of Friendship in a Time of War” by Helen Frost
  • “Temple Grandin: How The Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World” by Sy Montgomery
  • Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff
  • “Paperboy” by Vince Vawter
  • Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip Hoose
  • “One Came Home” by Amy Timberlake
  • “Titanic: Voices of the Disaster” by Deborah Hopkinson
  • “The Abandoned” by Paul Gallico
  • “Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard” by Annette LeBlanc Cate
  • “Best Friends Forever: A World War II Scrapbook” by Beverly Patt
  • “Lulu and the Duck in the Park” by Hilary McKay
  • “Navigating Early” by Clare Vanderpool
  • “Little White Duck: A Childhood in China” by Na Liu and Andrés Vera Martinez
  • “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio
  • “Liar and Spy” by Rebecca Stead
  • “The One and Only Ivan” by Katherine Applegate
  • “Bluefish” by Pat Schmatz
  • “The Dogs of Winter” by Bobbie Pyron
  • “Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature” by Nicola Davies; illustrated by Mark Hearld
  • “A Dog’s Way Home” by Bobbie Pyron
  • “No Shelter Here: Making the World a Kinder Place for Dogs” by Rob Laidlaw
  • “About Average” by Andrew Clements
  • “Kindred Souls” by Patricia MacLachlan and “The Friendship Doll” by Kirby Larson
  • “Unseen Guest” by Maryrose Woods
  • “Countdown” by Deborah Wiles, a documentary novel
  • “Letters to Leo” by Amy Hest and “Bless This Mouse” by Lois Lowry
  • “Jefferson’s Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret Children” by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
  • “Witches: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem” by Rosalyn Schanzer
  • “Wonderstruck” by Brian Selznick
  • “Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart,” by Candace Fleming
  • “Waiting for Magic” Patricia MacLachlan & “Saint Louis Armstrong Beach” Brenda Wood
  • Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett
  • “Around the World” by Matt Phelan
  • Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
  • “City of Orphans” by Avi
  • “How to Survive Middle School” by Donna Gephart
  • All the World’s a Stage: A Novel in Five Acts by Gretchen Woelfle
  • Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman
  • “One Crazy Summer” by Rita Williams-Garcia
  • Heart of a Samurai (Newbery Honor) & The Secret World of Whales
  • Newbery 2011 – Moon Over Manifest & Turtle in Paradise
  • Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy
  • First Chapter Books–Some Really Good Ones
  • Cuba Books & interview with Antonio Sacre
  • The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place – by Maryrose Wood – Books One and Two
  • Storyteller by Patricia Reilly Giff (Wendy Lamb Books 2010)

Copyright © 2025 Patricia Hruby Powell | Website by Pixel Mountain Web Design LLC