Cinderella

Publishers Weekly

The glitter on the cover foreshadows the glamour in Ruth Sanderson's retelling of Cinderella (when the fairy godmother transforms her, "Cinderella was thrilled"). Although based on Charles Perrault's classic tale, this version weaves in elements of the Brothers Grimm: Cinderella forgives her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, but when it's time for her to wed the prince, a flock of vengeful birds pecks the terrible trio, confining them to their house. Even as the heroine tends the fire, readers will see her beauty. (Apr.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

This age-old tale tells of a girl whose father marries an evil woman with two evil daughters. Her stepsisters, who force her to be a maid in her own home, horribly mistreat Cinderella. When she asks her stepmother if she can attend the ball, her stepmother tosses a bowl of beans into the fireplace ashes and tells Cinderella that she can go if she finds all the beans in the ashes. Her fairy godmother comes and changes a pumpkin into a coach, mice into horses, a rat into a coachman and lizards into footmen. Then she turns Cinderella's rags into the most beautiful gown. Cinderella has so much fun at the ball that she forgets her Fairy Godmother's warning to be out by twelve midnight. She runs away as soon as the clock starts to bong and leaves behind her glass slipper. The Prince will have no other bride than the one whose foot the slipper fits. He finds Cinderella in the garden and tries the slipper on. It fits perfectly. Her evil step-relatives then recognize her as the beautiful woman at the Ball. They beg for forgiveness and "being a kindhearted soul Cinderella forgave them at once." And as the old story goes, they lived happily ever after. 2002, Little Brown and Company,
— Denisha Champion

School Library Journal

K-Gr 4-Sanderson blends together elements from both Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm in her retelling of this classic tale, with positive results. Perrault's stilted, formal language has been replaced with a graceful style that flows quite nicely, and the saccharine character of his Cinderella has been somewhat tempered. The addition of scenes from Grimm, such as the stepmother's dumping of the lentils into the ashes, serves to flesh out the story, but in some cases the scenes have been altered in such a way as to stray from their original meaning. In Sanderson's version, when Cinderella requests a hazel twig from her father, she plants it not on her mother's grave but simply in the garden, and the appearance of the white bird in that tree becomes a random thing instead of a symbolic tie. Also, as Sanderson has adopted Perrault's fairy godmother, the white bird seems superfluous. Other elements from Grimm have been sanitized. At the end of the story the stepsisters do not have their eyes pecked out, but are instead kept prisoner in their house by the watchful birds. These details dim, however, when one looks at Sanderson's art. Here there is real fairy-tale magic. Strikingly realistic oil paintings done entirely in double-page spreads depict lush landscapes and stately ballrooms with equal precision and artistry. The slight sepia and ivory tints that carry throughout transport readers to "once upon a time." Overall well written and beautifully illustrated, this Cinderella is a lovely addition.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The author-illustrator of The Golden Mare, the Firebird, and the Magic Ring (2001) works her particular beguilement over Cinderella, using the Perrault story with elements from the Grimms. When Cinderella's nasty stepsisters request expensive gifts from their father, Cinderella asks only for a twig, which she plants next to her mother's favorite rose bush. A hazel tree grows and a white bird with a beautiful song inhabits it, easing Cinderella's loneliness. When the prince announces the ball, and Cinderella begs to go, her stepmother flings a bowl of lentils into the fireplace and says she can go if she can pick up every lentil in two hours. It is the birds who come to help Cinderella in this task, but of course, the stepmother refuses anyway. Later, the white bird is gone, but a white-winged fairy godmother under the hazel tree transforms Cinderella into a golden-gowned princess. Although the stepsisters beg for and receive Cinderella's forgiveness in the end, the birds do not permit them to leave their old house, but keep them imprisoned there while Cinderella and her prince live happily ever after. Eighteenth-century gowns and furnishings adorn this story, and Sanderson makes use of a silvery swath of fairy light to entwine Cinderella's gown and the enchanted coach. A Cinderella for Sanderson fans. (Picture book/fairy tale. 5-8)