Cinderella or Cinderella or Cinderella - All the Same

Reading List
Written By Rebecca Grabill

Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella By Robert D. San Souci. S&S, 1998.

Immediate connection with the narrator appearing before the title page. The fabulous voice is already rich and engaging, then add the surprise of the narrator being the “fairy godmother,” well!

Such a different take from Yeh Shen (a Chinese Cinderella retelling by Ai-Ling Louie), yet Yeh Shen

is so much more culturally rich. It’s a truly different version of a classic tale, not a retelling of one with a switch in cultural setting.

I had this complaint about a Halloween version as well, Cinderella Skeleton. It was the same old story but with skeletons and undead vs. humans. I know we all just adore Pinkney (the illustrator) and San Souci is better known than Ai-Ling Louie, but honestly, the writing and originality of this tale pale compared to Yeh Shen; even the illustrations are lacking in the artistry of Ed Young’s paintings. If a culturally rich adaptation of a classic tale is going to be on a required reading list for any MFAC program, I think it should be Yeh Shen.

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Cinderella or Cinderella or Cinderella - All the Same
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If a culturally rich adaptation of a classic tale is going to be on a required reading list for any MFAC program, I think it should be Yeh Shen.

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Rebecca Grabill

Rebecca has been writing since childhood, her first book about a kitten published between homemade cardboard covers in second grade. Although she studied religion and philosophy in university, she continued writing, earning an MFA from Hamline University and publishing multiple picture books (no longer with homemade covers) and a collection of poetry with a variety of New York and independent publishers. She has also published a wide array of fiction, essays, and poetry in magazines and journals and photographs for Getty Images. She balances writing with homeschooling the younger of her six children, launching her young adults, church activities, and overseeing a small flock of chickens in rural West Michigan.

www.rebeccagrabill.com
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