Rumplestiltskin

Rumplestiltskin written and illustrated by Paul Zelinsky

Genre: Fantasy

I chose this book because I fell in love with the illustrations of this classic tale--they're the star of this story.  The story of Rumplestiltskin is actually pretty terrible--a king and a goblin fighting for a chance to prove they're the more despicable being.  The King goes from threatening the life of a helpless girl being punished for her father's foolish lie, to forcing her to marry him because he thinks she can make him richer.  Rumplestiltskin comes to her aid, but only with the plan of taking her firstborn child.  In the end, the now-queen uses her wits to outsmart Rumplestiltskin--which leaves the queen to live "happily" ever after in a forced marriage to a man who's threatened to put her to death multiple times.
In spite of that nonsense, I still loved the book, or at least the illustrations.  Lush and gorgeous!

Lesson idea: Students can come up with their own silly names--and have other students try to guess!  Also, one could facilitate a class discussion about having agency over ones' self.  (Maybe I shouldn't be "that person", but come on.  There's a lesson to be had here.)