Books for Young People: The Sleeper and the Spindle
Author: Kyla Sterling
I generally love Neil Gaiman's work. Coraline ruined dolls with button eyes for me forever. ("Lalaloopsy?" Absolutely not. Stay FAR away from me!) American Gods gave me perhaps my favorite place in America, the House on the Rock. I built an entire library program for kids around Fortunately, the Milk. So when The Sleeper and the Spindle came across my desk, I was excited. Another Gaiman book! A fractured fairy tale! And look at those illustrations! And that gold foil! AHHHH!
Maybe my expectations were just too high. (I'm going to blame myself, not Mr. Gaiman.) I hadn't even known the book was coming out, so I can't blame it for "not living up to the hype." My guess is just that I expected another beautifully crafted tale that I'd be gushing to my coworkers about for the next week.
The tale is beautifully crafted. A young queen (who, it turns out, we've all heard of) is having some pre-wedding jitters and decides to go break a curse in a neighboring kingdom before it spreads to hers. She rides horses. She carries a sword. She keeps her fiance from pouting by tickling him under the chin. And she's not afraid to kiss a beautiful princess awake, if that's what it takes. The climax is short, but well-executed. The ending satisfies. But...that's about it.
For a one-off tale, it's excellent. And the illustrations are AMAZING. If this was my first Neil Gaiman book, I'd have gone rushing out to find more. But if you're already a fan, this tale isn't going to impress as much as some of his previous work. Hopefully, though, we'll see some more fractured fairy tales and the universe will expand a bit.
Things to know: There's no bad language, that I recall, and no terrible blood and gore. The villain *does* get stabbed, and bleeds, but it's just a flesh wound - the magic is the important part. There's also a full-page illustration of the queen kissing the sleeping girl (on the lips) to wake her, but there's nothing erotic or sexual about it.
