Cinderella (as if you didn't already know the story) -- Barbara Ensor

I'm not going to give you a synopsis because, as the title says, you already know the story.

This is a fun little retelling of Cinderella.  The details are somewhat modernized -- Cinderella's dad is an accountant -- but she still has a fairy godmother, meets a prince and loses a slipper.

The main text of the story is broken up with loads and loads of very cool silhouette illustrations and handwritten letters from Cupcake (Cinderella) to her mother.  While the story is familiar, Ensor's wry humor succeeds in making it interesting all over again.  It's not a challenging read by any means, but I'd imagine that there are plenty of young girls out there who will enjoy it as a comfort read. 

Comments

[Fuse #8]

I had a slightly different take on this retelling. It seemed to me that it kept all the less impressive aspects of the original Cinderella tale without offering anything new. The heroine was kinda wimpy (which, when you think of the original, isn't surprising) and there wasn't much here aside from the silhouettes to set it apart from a million other Cinderella tales out there. The humor was fine and all, but it wasn't striking. I couldn't figure out who the audience would be for the book, but I think you're right when you say that it's "comfort reading". Still, it would have been nice if Cinderella had shown some gumption.

[Leila]

I think that's fair -- I certainly wasn't super wowed by it. Taking elements from the original and putting them in a modern setting was def. problematic -- Cinderella's reaction to her situation certainly wasn't very modern.

But I liked the prince, and I usually don't -- I thought that his frustration with his parents' inability to take action was well done, and I really loved the bit about him suiting up to go and find Cinderella: "A little flag would add a nice touch, he decided."

[Camille]

It occured to me that the girls who loved the lush K.Y. Craft fairytales when they were in elementary school are now in jr. high. When I see them now at the jr. high library, they still are interested in those stories. In many cases they were NOT strong readers which is one reason they gravitated to the illustrated books in the first place.

I think this book offers them the comfort of a familiar story and fairly easy reading which they will not be embarrased to pull out during DEAR time in Reading class.