Spindle
Shonna Slayton
Shonna Slayton reinterprets Sleeping Beauty in a turn-of-the-20th-century setting. Good and evil fairies, a cursed spindle, and an innocent love story all hearken back to the original fairy tale. Yet in this version, Briar Rose works at a sewing factory, encounters suffragettes, and rides a bicycle for the first time. The book’s romance and the brief appearance of an intoxicated stranger make the book best suited to teens. And like many self-published titles, the book lacks polish in its pacing and story structure. Still, Spindle remains a wholesome tale many young teens will enjoy. (Ages 12 and up)