Cinderella

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Older listeners will catch the humor better than preschoolers, and this book would be excellent for a study on point of view. In this middle eastern tale, beautiful Maha works day and night for her cruel stepmother and stepsister. When Maha spares a little red fish from becoming the family’s dinner, it promises to help her whenever she needs it.

Cinderella by Walt Disney Company | Goodreads

The Turkey Girl promises, but she has so much fun at the dance that she fails to return in time. In the end, she loses her turkey friends and (we presume) is alone forever. Plus, the blond wig on Cinderella – not to mention the picture of her stepsister trying to squeeze into a corset – are just hilarious.

I really didn’t care for this modern New York City version, but my Three and Five requested it often.

Cinderella: The Story of Cinderella : Disney Book Group

True to the culture of the time, Maha marries Tariq without ever having met him (his mother decides whom he will marry). The story idea (three dinosaurs living in a den) is cute, but there’s too much name-calling ( dingbat, dumbhead, dummy, etc.) Folklorist Shirley Climo retells the Persian story of Settareh, a maiden whose mother died at birth. Her father is absent and she is left to fend for herself against the jealousies of her stepsisters. This version comes with a mysterious blue jug (i.e. genie in a bottle), a prince, and a palace from 15 th century Persia. Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China Retold by Ai-Ling Louie (Author) and Ed Young (Illustrator) Instead of going to a ball, Elly goes to a basketball game. Instead of riding a coach, she rides on a bike (with glass sneakers). In the end, Elly goes on a date with Prince Charming, the star basketball player. My three-year-old asked me to read him this silly version many times. Prince Cinders is a “small, spotty, scruffy, and skinny” prince with three big hair brothers.

This Zuni version of Cinderella is unlike any other version I read because it doesn’t end happily ever after. The Turkey Girl is a poor young woman who herds turkeys for a living. One day a huge gobbler surprises her by speaking and promising that she shall go to a special dance. When the birds dress her in beautiful clothes and jewels, they insist that she return to them by sunset.