1. Robin McKinley's Spindle's End is a retelling of the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty."

What are some of the similarities between McKinley's novel and the fairy tale? What are some of the differences?

2. In many fantasy novels (I. K. Rowling's Harry Porter books, for example), witches are women and wizards are men. But in Robin McKinley's Spindle's End, fairies are both women and men. Is there a difference between witches and wizards and fairies? Explain.

392 Spindle's End 3. In Spindle's End, Robin McKinley tells us Katriona's story (books 1 & 2) before she tells us Rosie's story (books 3-5).

What might be Robin McKinley's reasons for doing this? to set-up the Gig before she retells "Sleeping Beauty"? to focus exclusively on young adult characters throughout her novel? to tell the part of Rosie's story that we need to know (even if Rosie doesn't)?

4. What other novels by Robin McKinley...