Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat disappointing
Review: After having been completely impressed with Donna Jo Napoli's earlier efforts in retelling fairy tales (Zel, The Magic Circle) I was prepared to be thoroughly mesmerized by Spinners. At first, I thought I would be. The beginning and middle are marvelous, full of Napoli's gorgeous, direct, present-tense prose. Saskia is an engaging heroine and the detailed descriptions of the beautiful threads she spins are surprisingly interesting. Her crippled father is also a moderately sympathetic character, and their disparate lives provide a nice contrast. I loved Spinners until the last quarter or so of the book; the characters Napoli had developed suddenly start acting completely irrationally in order to follow the traditional story of Rumpelstiltskin. Where Napoli made the endings of Zel and The Magic Circle poignant by taking a compassionate view of the traditional villains, Rumpelstiltskin is not as sympathetic as he needs to be in order to make the ending work. Keeping the end so close to the traditional story in which he is so angered he stamps his leg through the floor just lacks the subtlety of which Napoli is capable. Spinners is a novel saved from mediocrity by perhaps one conversation between the king and Saskia. Saskia asks the king if he's ever seen gold before, to which he replies that he has. She then asks if he's ever seen yarns like the ones she spins, to which he answers that he has not. Saskia concludes, "Then why should I spin straw into gold when I can create beauty of a kind no one's seen before?" Too bad the king is never fleshed out enough into a sympathetic person and remains a greedy and dislikable character. It seemed very out of character for Saskia to marry him. Spinners is not by any means a bad book and succeeds as an interesting retelling, but it fails to be a moving and poignant piece. I would recommend reading Zel and The Magic Circle over Spinners. For another interesting twist on the Rumpelstiltskin story, try Vivian Vande Velde's short story, "Straw into Gold" found in Tales from the Brothers Grimm and Sisters Weird.
Rating:
Summary: It would be so good if not for the ending
Review: After page 1, I was hooked. The story was lively and fun to read.I enjoyed learning about the poor tailor's background, who is never really described in other versions of this tale. But the ending...oh, the ending. Now, I understand if the authors wanted to keep the ending the same as in the original story, but I felt so bad. I cried for an hour, which is really rare for me. Then, I had to read the ending over again, to see if I had missed something. Sadly, I had not. If only, if only...
Rating:
Summary: Better than I expected
Review: After reading "Beast", which I didn't like very much, I was willing to give Donna Jo Napoli another try. The only other book of her's that was available at the library was "Spinners". When I picked up the booked and learned it was a retelling of Rumplestilskin, a fairy tale I have never really loved, I was prepared for a not-so-great book. Well, I was wrong. "Spinners", in my opinion, was pretty decent. The writing in the beginning and middle was beautiful, but the last third of the book seemed strained to fit the original story. I surprisingly enjoyed the detailed descriptions of Saskia's beautiful yarn. I felt terribly bad for her when she was forced to marry the king after "she" spun straw into gold for three nights, threatened to be killed; and when she returned home to her father, only to find the house filled with straw, the father's desperate attempt to get rich. I also liked the friendship between Saskia and Dagmar. "Spinners" is by all means a good read, but it just lacks something that makes me want to buy it and but on the bookshelf with my favorites.
Rating:
Summary: Better than I expected
Review: After reading "Beast", which I didn't like very much, I was willing to give Donna Jo Napoli another try. The only other book of her's that was available at the library was "Spinners". When I picked up the booked and learned it was a retelling of Rumplestilskin, a fairy tale I have never really loved, I was prepared for a not-so-great book. Well, I was wrong. "Spinners", in my opinion, was pretty decent. The writing in the beginning and middle was beautiful, but the last third of the book seemed strained to fit the original story. I surprisingly enjoyed the detailed descriptions of Saskia's beautiful yarn. I felt terribly bad for her when she was forced to marry the king after "she" spun straw into gold for three nights, threatened to be killed; and when she returned home to her father, only to find the house filled with straw, the father's desperate attempt to get rich. I also liked the friendship between Saskia and Dagmar. "Spinners" is by all means a good read, but it just lacks something that makes me want to buy it and but on the bookshelf with my favorites.
Rating: 
Summary: Spinners
Review: Another Donna Jo Napoli book that I finished in 2 days. I never knew that I would like fairy tales retold for young adults so much! I usually am a non-fiction reader but for some reason I picked this book up in the libabry and read it a few years ago. I am now ordering it from Amazon to read again! It was a full five stars. Napoli's writing style is just superb. I cannot imagine anyone NOT LIKING this book!
Rating:
Summary: Good retelling of the fairy tale Rumplestilskin
Review: Cool book. It's from Rumplestilskin's point of view. The book makes you even feel sorry for him. ;_;
Rating: 
Summary: Definately not her best!
Review: First of all, if you want a really good Napoli book, read Zel. Most of her stories are based on fairy tales and Spinners is based on the age old story of Rumplestiltsken. Basically, it starts by telling Rumplestlitsken's story. He was in love with the weaver's daughter, but she was engaged to the miller. She gets pregnant and the miller thinks it is his child. Then it fast forwards to the story that we were told, except it's different. Unlike Zel, this story is told from one viewpoint. And the story kind of moves at a slow pace. You're not very invovled in what's going on. Overall, it was an okay book. Read it for the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Cute, in a grim sort of way
Review: From what I've read of Napoli's works, "Spinners" has got to be the one closest to deserving the title of "cute." It actually gave me some sort of warm fuzzies in some parts, probably because I was comparing "Spinners" to her other works. Maybe that is because she joined up with Tchen. They work quite well together. I hope they'll do another novel together. "Spinners" is a finely crafted retelling of the fairy tale Rumplestiltskin. As usual, the story is told from a surprisingly different point of view. The story begins with a happy young tailor. He is passionatly in love and has his whole life ahead of him. Determined to win his bride, he does something rather stupid, eventually loosing everything. This is when the familiar story starts up. The novel is delightful, charming, and spooky. The characters are absolutely endearing, in their own, unique ways. Like earlier reviewers, I wasn't too pleased with the ending. In itself, it was a fine ending; But the rest of the novel is just too emotional, and the ending just doesn't fit in well. I was hoping for something much more... I don't know, warmer. But the rest of "Spinners" is fantastic. The writers do tend to get a bit carried away with the descriptions of spinning (I think I might go teach a class on it now) but it fits in somewhat. Napoli manages to keep her signiture spookiness, but I felt this was a much more warmer book, and I really enjoyed it. As always, this isn't a children's book, but I think someone a year or two younger than Napoli's usual target audience could stand this.
Rating:
Summary: Favorite Book of All Time!
Review: I am an avid reader and have fallen in love with a lot of books and authors but this book is the cream of the crop Honestly it is the best book I have ever read, I completed it in 2 days, I just could not put it down. Napoli's style of writing just reaches out and pulls you right into her stories. I also read "Zel" which was right up there with "Spinners". I am now in the process of reading all of Napoli's books. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
Rating:
Summary: Favorite Book of All Time!
Review: I am an avid reader and have fallen in love with a lot of books and authors but this book is the cream of the crop Honestly it is the best book I have ever read, I completed it in 2 days, I just could not put it down. Napoli's style of writing just reaches out and pulls you right into her stories. I also read "Zel" which was right up there with "Spinners". I am now in the process of reading all of Napoli's books. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
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