''Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper'' is a book adapted and illustrated by Marcia Brown. Released by Charles Scribner's Sons, the book is a retelling of the story of

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

as written by

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , , ; 12 January 162816 May 1703) was a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales, published in his ...

, and was the recipient of the

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

for

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation, or visual explanation of a text, concept, or process, designed for integration in print and digitally published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vi ...

in 1955. American Library Association
Caldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present
URL accessed 27 May 2009. The book takes place in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, in a palace similar to other Cinderella stories.

Plot

A widower marries a haughty woman with two daughters of her own. The woman and the two daughters hate the man's gentle and beautiful daughter, who they call

, and treat her cruelly. Cinderella is always assigned to do the chores around the house and forced to sleep in the attic. One day, it is announced that the prince will hold a royal

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...

and he invites all the ladies of quality in the kingdom. Cinderella wants to attend, but her stepmother makes her stay home to clean the whole house. Cinderella cries as her stepsisters leave, but then is surprised by the appearance of her fairy godmother. After Cinderella explains her dilemma, her fairy godmother uses her magic power to help Cinderella. The fairy godmother transforms all the

mice A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

lizards Lizard is the common name used for all squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The ...

, and

rats Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

into horses and coachmen for a golden coach, and creates for Cinderella a gown made of gold and silver and slippers made of glass. The only thing her fairy godmother asks is for Cinderella to return home by midnight before the magic ends. Entering the ball, Cinderella is unrecognized by her stepsisters and dazzles everyone there, especially the prince. The prince pays her special attention because he has never seen her before. As Cinderella dances with the prince, she loses track of time. When the clock strikes midnight, Cinderella flees from the ball and the prince, accidentally leaving one of her glass slippers behind. The prince finds the glass slipper and vows to marry the girl whose foot it fits. As soon as Cinderella gets home, her gown turns back to rags, the horse and the coachmen turn back to animals, but the glass slipper remains as is. The next morning, the stepsisters tell her that the prince is in love with some unknown lady that was at the ball last night. The prince goes house to house to see who fits the glass slipper, and finally arrives at the home of Cinderella. The stepsisters try to fit their feet into the glass slipper but are unsuccessful. Cinderella then tries the slipper and it is a perfect fit. A few days later, the prince marries Cinderella as promised. Cinderella forgives her stepsisters for their past cruelty.

Theme

Morality and grace are primary themes and are shown through the main character's (Cinderella) ability to achieve success through perseverance and positive behavior when faced with negative circumstances.

Reception

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'' praised ''Cinderella'' as having "the smoothness of a good translation and a unique charm to her (Brown's) feathery light pictures." and concluded that it was "Gentle."

References

External links

''Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper'' by Charles Perrault
– Text from '' The Blue Fairy Book''
''Cinderella'' illustrated by Marcia Brown
at the

Open Library Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Hargrave Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet ...

{{Caldecott Medal 1954 children's books American picture books Caldecott Medal–winning works Picture books based on fairy tales Children's books based on Cinderella Adaptations of works by Charles Perrault