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Summary
Summary
Dreams come true with a little hope and a wave of a fairy godmother's wand. But will the prince find Cinderella after her ball gown turns back into rags? This classic tale is retold with the very youngest of readers in mind.
Author Notes
Author and illustrator Ruth Sanderson was born in Ware, Massachusetts on November 24, 1951. She graduated from the Paier School of Art in 1974. She has illustrated over 70 books and has written and illustrated 12 books. She has won numerous awards including the 1980 National Science Teachers Award for Five Nests, the 1992 Young Hoosier Award and the 1994 Irma S. Black Award for The Enchanted Wood, and the 2003 Texas Bluebonnet Award for The Golden Mare, The Firebird, and the Magic Ring.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Sanderson's retelling adheres closely to Perrault, with elements such as the white bird taken from the Grimm BrothersÆ version. The illustrations feature a beautiful seventeenth-century French Cinderella dressed in the style of the court of Marie Antoinette. The text is longwinded and a bit stiff, but the misty, romantic artwork, sprinkled with silvery magical light, creates the perfect atmosphere. From HORN BOOK Fall 2002, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
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)
Booklist Review
Ages 4-8. It takes courage to proffer yet another version of Perrault's classic, but Sanderson, as gifted with the turn of a phrase as she is with the stroke of a brush, delivers an exceptionally exquisite rendering. Her luminous oils conjure up a gorgeous eighteenth-century backdrop, characters in elegant dress, and a richly appointed manor house where Cinderella slaves over her stepmother and stepsisters' demands. Just as Sanderson goes to great length to set the stage, so she paints personality and emotion into each of her characters. Children see a Cinderella who grieves for her deceased mother and a father who is caring and generous but ashamed of, and powerless to stop, his daughter's mistreatment. Among elements from the Brothers Grimm that Sanderson integrates into this telling is a white bird, whose songs soothe the sad girl as it flits among the leaves of a hazel tree, grown from a twig watered by Cinderella's tears. The luxuriously detailed costumes, the blooming gardens, and the characters' realistic features provide abundant visual interest to accompany the elegantly crafted text. Ellen Mandel.