Additional information
by Mac Barnett (Author), Carson Ellis (Illustrator)
#1 INDIE NEXT BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE KIRKUS EARPHONES AWARDS
SIX STARRED REVIEWS
AN AMAZON 2026 BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
In the follow-up to the highly acclaimed, instant bestseller, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, comes the second brilliant and highly anticipated fairy tale retelling from the New York Times bestselling and Caldecott Award-winning creators, Mac Barnett and Carson Ellis.
Once upon a time there was a clever girl with a not-so-clever father. When her father claims she can spin straw into gold, the king forces the girl to perform this impossible task. She has no other choice than to accept a strange deal from a mysterious little man. But when he arrives and attempts to collect the debt, the fiendish trickster Rumpelstiltskin discovers that he is the one who has been tricked! This is the second in the groundbreaking new collection of masterfully retold fairy tales crafted by one of today's most celebrated and esteemed authors, Mac Barnett, paired with the stunning illustrations of the acclaimed and award-winning creator, Carson Ellis.
With Barnett's signature pacing and wit, his subversive storytelling style and narrative voice, and Ellis's stunning folk-art style, this retelling of Rumpelstiltskin will introduce this classic story to a new generation of readers!
Author Biography
MAC BARNETT is the New York Times bestselling author of many picture books, including the New York Times bestseller The Three Billy Goats Gruff; The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse; the Caldecott Honor Book and E. B. White Read Aloud Award winner Sam and Dave Dig a Hole; the Shapes Trilogy (Triangle, Circle, and Square); and the Caldecott Honor Book and Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner Extra Yarn. Mac is also the author of the middle-grade series, Mac B., Kid Spy. He lives in Oakland, California.
CARSON ELLIS is the author and illustrator of the bestselling picture books Home and Du Iz Tak?, a Caldecott Honor book and the recipient of an E. B. White Read Aloud Award. She has illustrated a number of children's books, including What Is Love? by Mac Barnett, The Shortest Day by Susan Cooper, The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, The Composer Is Dead by Lemony Snicket, and the Wildwood Chronicles series by her husband, Colin Meloy. She lives on a farm with her family in Oregon.
