Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin

Liesl Shurtliff's Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin is a funny, clever fairy-tale adventure for 9 year olds about a boy stuck with the worst name in the kingdom.

What happens

In Rump's world, the name you're given decides your whole future. Everyone knows it. So what happens when your mother dies just after you're born, and the only part of your name anyone hears is the first bit? You get called Rump. And the whole village thinks it's hilarious.

Rump is twelve, very small and very hungry. He spends his days panning for gold in the mud on The Mountain, and finding none. The miller cheats everyone out of their food. Two big bullies throw things at him that are definitely not dirt (yes, really). His only real ally is a fierce girl called Red, who waves her shovel at anyone who laughs.

Then Rump digs a spinning wheel out of the woodpile. It belonged to his mother. Gran wants to burn it. Rump wants it more than anything. And the pixies, who only ever get excited about gold, suddenly won't leave him alone...

You probably know how the old story goes, and that's what makes this so much fun. It's the familiar fairy tale told from the inside by the little man everyone thought was the villain. Your reader gets to be in on the secret while Rump works it all out.

Rump is great company. He makes up rhymes when he's feeling low ("Home is a place to get out of the rain"). He calls the king King Barf (never out loud). He names the family donkey Nothing, because that's what he's good for. Underneath the jokes there's a real ache about not knowing who you are, and it's handled really gently.

His mother's death is on the very first page, as part of how he got his name. It's told simply and it's backstory, not something that happens during the story. His dad died in the mines before he was born too. Sensitive readers might want a heads-up, but it's not dwelt on.

If you've got a reader who loves a twist on a story they already know, or anyone who's ever been teased about their name, this one's a treat. There's magic, talk of trolls and witches in The Woods, and a gran with a rhyme for everything.

What to read next

If they take to Red (and her shovel), Red's own story is in the library too, a Red Riding Hood who can do magic and is terrified of it.