Straw Into Gold

Author: Gary D. Schmidt
Publisher: Sandpiper (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company)
Copyright: 2001
Genre: YA Fantasy

Straw Into Gold tells the story of what happens after the queen cannot guess the name of the little man who spun her straw into gold. I won't summarize the story here, because the story has so many surprises that if I write anything, I'll definitely give something away, and I don't want to ruin the story for anyone!

The story is intriguing and engaging, and the characters are likable. The stock characters of the fairy tale are slightly more developed so that you could connect with them and what's happening to them, but they retain a certain flatness that keeps the whole fairy-tale feeling. The mystery part of the story is extremely well done. As I said, there are lots of surprises, both as to what's happening and who's who. I felt involved in the story as I rooted for Tousle, the main character, and as I kept revising my guess as to what exactly is going on.

This short little book is full of adventure and suspense. A really great read!