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Summary
Summary
Once upon a time in Greece, fate left a young girl an orphan. Her stepmother was so hateful that she counted every drop of water the orphan drank! But with the help of Nature's blessings, the orphan was showered with gifts- brilliance from the Sun, beauty from the Moon, gracefulness from the Dawn-and even a tiny pair of blue shoes from the Sea. When the prince comes to visit their village, he only has eyes for the mysterious beauty. Children will love this fanciful folk retelling of the Cinderella story, accompanied by luminous watercolor illustrations by Giselle Potter.
Author Notes
ANTHONY L. MANNA and SOULA MITAKIDOU's first collaboration, Mr. Semolina-Semolinus- A Greek Folktale, illustrated by Giselle Potter, was an ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book, and a New York Public Library Best Book for Children. Anthony has taught at universities in Turkey, Greece, and the U.S. Soula grew up in Greece, and storytelling was an important part of her family's traditions. She now lives in Thessaloniki, Greece, where she teaches at Aristotle University.
GISELLE POTTER's children's books include The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter, a Parents' Choice Gold Award winner; and Kate and the Beanstalk by Mary Pope Osborne, a Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal Best Book and an ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book. Giselle lives in New York's Hudson Valley with her husband and daughters. Visit her at GisellePotter.com.
Reviews (6)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Simple yet lyrical storytelling combined with Potter's masterful watercolors brings this tale to life. An unnamed girl has been lovingly and tenderly cared for, but "as people say in Greece," "A child becomes an orphan when she loses her mother." A cruel stepmother and spoiled stepsisters make her life a misery, until she is driven to sob out her story over her mother's grave. Her mother's voice directs her to return home to await "true fortune's blessings." The next day, Mother Nature and her children bestow gifts upon her and adorn her in new finery, and she catches the eye of the prince at the church service. The oral storytelling style uses rhetorical questions and distinctive turns of phrase: "Go, my child, go to good, with all my blessings, go!" Potter's naive style and brilliant colors and perspective heighten the drama and emotion throughout. This well-crafted variation is a welcome addition to the scores of fine "Cinderella" tales and deepens readers' understanding of the story's timeless appeal.-Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
This retelling from the team behind Mr. Semolina-Semolinus: A Greek Folktale (1997) is close enough to the French version to satisfy young Cinderella-lovers, while sufficiently different to offer new color and interest. Cinderella's fairy godmother is replaced by Mother Nature and her many children (the Meadows give her three beautiful dresses; the Sea, tiny blue slippers). Details about Cinderella's bathwater (musk-scented), privations (her stepmother "counted every drop of water the orphan was allowed to drink"), and technique for escaping the prince's ball (she scatters gold coins to distract pursuers) establish authority, while help from Cinderella's dead mother, whose voice returns to Cinderella at crucial moments ("Go, my child, go to good,/ Don't cry and don't despair"), make the heroine's plight seem less lonely. The doll-like faces and stiff limbs of Potter's naive-style watercolor figures suit the fairy-tale setting, and the pictures of tiny tailors and jewelers fawning before the pudgy stepsisters give the otherwise earnest story mordant humor. This Cinderella somehow seems more resourceful than her French counterpart, and her happy ending more dearly earned. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Melding and modernizing a couple of traditional versions (as explained in a note), Manna and Mitakidou fashion a lyrical Cinderella variant distinguished by its novel details. The girl known here as "the orphan" seeks help at her mother's grave ("A stranger tries to take your place, / But does not care for me...Oh, Mother, dear Mother, / I beg you, set me free!"). Sure enough, next morning, Mother Nature and her children bring gifts: the Moon gives her beauty, the Dawn "gracefulness," the Meadows dresses, the Sea "delicate blue shoes." When her stepfamily goes to church to meet the visiting prince, the orphan follows on a "radiant white mare" she's summoned from a cloud. Obeying instructions ("You must remember, my soul, / to return home the minute th service ends"), she cleverly eludes the now-smitten prince; but the next Sunday he traps her shoe in honey and wax, spread on the church threshold, and all ends happily. Potter grounds the action with sturdy stylized figures whose generalized Mediterranean faces convey universal emotions (as does the story itself), their expressive body language arrayed on minimal, richly hued landscapes and interiors. An attractive and worthy new take on this popular tale. joanna rudge long (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In Greece, it is said that a girl is an orphan when she loses her mother, and that is the only word that names the protagonist in this Cinderella tale.The cruel stepmother even counts the drops of water the orphan is permitted to drink. The orphan finds poetry and advice in her mother's voice at her grave, and Mother Nature gives her treasures, including a pair of blue shoes the color of the sea to wear on her tiny feet. When the prince comes to the village church one Sunday, the stepmother and stepsisters dress in all their finery, while the orphan is clothed in Mother Nature's gifts, with the Evening Star as a wreath on her long black hair. But the orphan must leave as soon as the church service ends. The next week, the prince has honey and wax poured on the church steps, so the orphan leaves a tiny blue shoe stuck there when she runs out. Potter's watercolors are limpid in color and fervent in line; the sweeping curve of the orphan's tresses plays as a motif through the images. Text pages are framed in grapevines, and the whole has the feel of folk painting: The Sun, Moon, Dawn and Star are instantly recognizable smiling folk-art figures. Several phrases repeat to keep the rhythm, and it ends, of course, with a wedding and a tantalizing "I was there, I should know."There can never be too many Cinderellaswell, maybe there can, but definitely make room for this one. (Picture book/fairy tale. 5-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
This version of the familiar fable features many traditional elements, including the wicked stepmother and stepsisters, a prince's quest for a girl whose foot fits a delicate left-behind shoe, and of course a happy ending, but also introduces some new twists. In this story the fairy godmother is actually the spirit of the girl's own deceased mother, which feels somehow more satisfying than the better-known rendition. Also, the prince meets the orphan in church, not at a ball. Flat, stylized watercolor illustrations add a folkloric air, while Mediterranean colors (terra-cotta, turquoise, gold, and green) emphasize the Greek setting. Even though the text is accessible and not too lengthy, this will also appeal to sophisticated young readers who are familiar with other versions and are interested in making cultural or literary comparisons.--Foote, Diane Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
At a time when everyone obsesses over boosting self-esteem, a book about too much ego should have its place. Van Dusen ("The Circus Ship") tells the humorous tale, with boisterous, eye-popping illustrations, of a tiny king with an oversize ego, hoist with his own petard. But it's Tessa, a put-upon wench who also happens to be a sorceress, who steals the story, and eventually the king's (also sizable) heart. She probably deserves better. THE BOY FROM THE DRAGON PALACE A Folktale From Japan. Retold by Margaret Read MacDonald. Illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa. 32 pp. Albert Whitman & Company. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 7) This cautionary Japanese folktale offers an evergreen lesson: Be careful what you wish for. In this case, Aladdin's genie is the son of the Dragon King, a boy with "the snottiest nose you ever did see!" As long as he is fed shrimp soup, he grants his keeper's every wish. Children, predictably, will enjoy the boy's snuffling of nose and slurping of soup. Parents will like the parable against greed. And despite the tale's ick factor, Yoshikawa's drawings are lovely and adorable. KING JACK AND THE DRAGON By Peter Bently. Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. 32 pp. Dial. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Oh, the glorious art of childhood fort building! At once contemporary and classic, this book will appeal to any child who believes in dragons, beasts and the swords that slay them. And, as affectionately described by Bently ("A Lark in the Ark") and Oxenbury ("We're Going on a Bear Hunt"), no E-Z Fort kit is required. Even the baby with a Binky is allowed to play. Eventually, the giants (parents) invade, bravery fades and the parental beasts are entirely welcome. THE ORPHAN A Cinderella Story From Greece. By Anthony L. Manna and Soula Mitakidou. Illustrated by Giselle Potter. 40 pp. Schwartz & Wade. $37.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) The most striking thing about this "Cinderella" is its palette of cool olive greens and Aegean blues, and - breathe easy, parents of brunettes - its dark-haired, brown-eyed heroine. The story also holds interesting departures. The fairy godmother is actually Cinderella 's mother, speaking from the grave: "Go, my child, go to good,/ With all my blessings, go!" she urges. "Your sorrow weighs upon my heart,/ Your pain, it wounds me so." The tale becomes one not just of maternal absence but of eternal motherly love. The slipper remains the same. HOW THE LEOPARD GOT HIS CLAWS By Chinua Achebe with John Iroaganachi. Illustrated by Mary Grandpré. 38 pp. Candlewick Press. $16.99. (Picture book/middle grade; ages 7 to 11) In this powerful illustrated fable for older picture book readers, Achebe, the celebrated Nigerian writer, offers a parable about how power corrupts. The story follows a vainglorious dog - Scar to the Leopard King - who thwarts the animal kingdom's interspecies peace and deposes its king. This is anticolonialist fiction for middle graders, with a touch of Orwell's "Animal Farm," and is as much a critique of those who blindly follow power as of those who wrongly assume it. There's a lesson to be learned, but no happy ending. THE FAIRY TALES OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM Edited by Noel Daniel. Translated by Matthew P. Price with Noel Daniel. Illustrated. 320 pp. Taschen. $39.99. (All ages) This gloriously illustrated collection, Taschen's first children's book, includes lesser-known tales like "Little Brother and Little Sister" and "The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs" along with the favorites. Best are the timeless illustrations, mostly European, gleaned from previously published work from the 1820s to the 1950s. The stories, if not all their characters, live happily ever after. PAMELA PAUL ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.