This version of Cinderella was the most unique in that her father was alive and allowed his daughter to be mistreated in fear of disappointing his new wife. Beautiful illustrations capture Cinderella in a new light. ( )

Cinderella is one of the most widely known fairy tales. Children across the globe grow up listening or reading about the poor, ill-treated girl who got to marry her prince. Despite several versions of the story, with varying degrees of information provided, the premise of the tale remains the same. A young girl, treated like a servant of the family by her stepmom and step-sisters, is finally able to marry her prince with the help of her magical fairy-godmother, a glass slipper and a lot of farm animals.
The version of Cinderella available for the assignment depicts the story quite beautifully with vivid illustrations and detailed word pictures to enchant the readers and listeners, alike. The style of writing is lucid and should be easily understood by even young children. There is a distinct narrative quality to the story, particularly in the way, this version has been written, with easy sentences and supporting pictures, which captivates the attention of the reader and holds it until the end of the story. An important characteristic of oral storytelling is its flexibility, to be narrated as per the style of orator. The version of the story present to us provides the narrator with that flexibility to mold it as he or she deems fit to his or her style.
As for the extensive illustrations, they are succinct and beautifully presented. They should most certainly capture the imagination of the readers, young or old and allow the younger ones to follow the story more easily. The drawings follow the story closely and although the theme of the illustrations for each page doesn't perfectly align with the content available on that particular page, on the whole it allows the reader/listener to understand the story almost without any words at all. The illustrations have a vintage style to them which only serves to enhance the beauty and lends a sophisticated touch to story, enough to capture the interest of even older readers. ( )

A retelling of the classic fairy tale we all know, with little details that vary from the original. After the death of her mother, Cinderella is forced to spend her days with her cruel stepmother and stepsisters. Cinderella is treated as a servant by them and is told that can't go to the ball. With the help of her fairy god mother, Cinderella goes to the ball and dances with the prince. She loses her glass slipper at the ball and the prince goes out to find the true owner of the slipper, who at the end of the story, becomes his princess. The two live happily ever after. ( )

This book Cinderella is similar to the original fairytale "Cinderella" we all know and love. But, they do have some big differences. For example, in this book Cinderella's father is alive and a main character in the book. The plot of the story is that Cinderella's mother passed away and now he married a mean widow with two mean daughters. Just like in the original, Cinderella does all the cleaning and serves the family. It is told in the story that the step mother has control over Cinderella's father. As we know, the king's son is having a ball and invited every young beautiful lady to attend. Cinderella wants to attend of course but the step mother refuses to let her go. A fairy godmother appears and helps Cinderella look beautiful and uses pumpkins and mice to make a carriage for her to get to the ball. Another big difference is, Cinderella's beautiful dress in gold in this book and as we know in the original, her dress was blue. I know whenever I think of Cinderella, I think of her in the beautiful blue sparkly dress with her golden hair in a neat bun. Cinderella arrives at the ball and attracts to prince immediately and the rest is history. Another big difference between the original and this story is when the prince arrives to see who the glass slipper belongs to, Cinderella was sitting in the garden, not locked upstairs by the step mother. The prince notices and asks, "Who is that in the garden?" and her father says, "That's my daughter. Isn't she beautiful?" That was so cute. Cinderella and the prince lived happily ever after, of course. You can tell this is a fairytale from all the magical attributes and the unrealistic plot. The style in this book is similar to the original and so is the theme. I believe there is a few themes to Cinderella. For example: Good will always conquers evil. Good things happen to good people. Anything can happen if you just believe. Love will find its way. I think this book is just as good as the original, but for me, nothing will beat the original. I know children would love this book and enjoy it just as I did. ( )

I found myself comparing this book with the Disney version of the fairy tale of Cinderella. I felt like this was your typical Cinderella story with a few things different from the version I am used to. As a recap, Cinderella is a girl whose father remarries and is forced to live with an evil stepmother and her two daughters. The stepmother and her daughters are very mean to Cinderella and make her do all the house chores. One day the kingdom hosts a ball and invites all the young ladies. Cinderella's step mother does not allow her to go and leaves Cinderella alone in the house. After they all leave Cinderella gets a gift from a fairy godmother and the rest is history! This book told the basic Cinderella story but some things were different. For instance, in this story Cinderella's father is alive and sees the mistreatment his wife and stepdaughters give Cinderella, but he remains quiet. Another important difference from the Disney version of Cinderella is that she was not friends with the mice. The mice were actually not given any fairy-tale like characteristics until the fairy godmother turned them into something. I thought that was very interesting because the mice play a big role in the story of Cinderella. I really enjoyed this book nonetheless. You can tell this is a fantasy book because of the magical and mystical attributes. The fairy-tale like characteristics were very entertaining. I thought the illustrations were very detailed and somewhat realistic. I think children would enjoy this book, and if they know another version of the Cinderella story, then I think they would definitely be like me pointing out every difference. ( )