Cinderella

Title: Cinderella

Author: Charles Perrault

Illustrator: Loek Koopmans

Publishing company:  North-South books

Copyright date: 2002

Number of pages: 32
genre: traditional

     I chose this book because I was looking for an original version of the Cinderella story for my niece.  She is very fascinated by fairy tales and princesses.  This is the story of a young girl’s father that becomes so enchanted by his love for his new wife that he forgets about the needs of his daughter.  As a result of his neglect, she is forced into servitude to her stepmother and sisters.  She ends up finding love and being freed from her family’s treachery with the help of a fairy godmother.  This story sounds familiar, but it is a little bit different than the classical Cinderella movie that we all grew up watching. 

     The illustrations in this book are done with oil painting.  The illustrations are beautiful and very descriptive.  There is little or no negative space on the pages.  Additionally, the text type used in the majority of this book is informal.  The words are placed directly over the pictures.  The illustrations definitely help to tell the story and allow the reader to feel the story as it occurs. 

     I would recommend this book for any person that really likes princess stories or romantic love stories.  I am not a real big fan of the whole hopeless romantic idealism, but a lot of people are drawn to these types of books.  Any little girl would love the princess aspect of this book.  This book can be used to teach students the differences between stories.   For example, it would work for a compare and contrast of similarities and differences between the different kinds of Cinderella stories.   I would use this book to talk about the differences in other countries cultures during a social studies unit.  I might even use this book to bring up how stories change the more they are told.  As far as I know this book does not have any awards.