Cendrillon

Book Title: Cendrillon

Author(s): Robert D. San Souci

Illustrator/Photographer/Artist: Brian Pinkney

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Copyright Date: 1998

Genre: Folktale

Brief Annotation: This story of a Caribbean Cinderella is told through the eyes of the young girl’s actual godmother, who ends up serving as her ‘fairy godmother’ as well. On the island of Martinique there once was a washwoman who cared for the daughter (Cindrillon) of her employer. When the girl’s father married a cold woman the washwoman always kept watch over the girl and kept a secret wand, a gift from the departed mother, hidden. As the girl grew, a french prince came to town and threw the obligatory ball, which Cindrillon was saddened not to be able to attend. Using the spell from the magic wand, the washwoman transformed Cindrillon into a gorgeous mystery princess who danced the night away with the prince. As the wand’s magic wore off throughout the night Cindrillon and the washwoman fled the ball, only to be found again by the prince, who sought the girl who matched an embroidered slipper left behind.

Your Rating (1-5) and why: (3.5) Though I enjoy a good Cinderella story as much as the next girl who grew up with Disney princesses, I feel like I’ve heard the story before. I enjoyed the way the author incorporated lots of franco-caribbean vocabulary into the characters’ dialogue, but my favorite aspect of the book was the artistry! Each picture is gorgeously illustrated to really bring out the culture and colors of the caribbean. 

Readers who will like this book: In order to enjoy this book students don’t necessarily have to be familiar with the American culture’s version of Cinderella, which was nice. There are many aspects that are similar, so those that would want to repeatedly read this book are probably those are who are into fairy tales of princesses.

Teaching Strategy from Tompkins or Yopp & Yopp (you'll link a strategy to at least 10 of your 40 books) : 
Story Boards (Tompkins, p. 116): Much like in our class, I would have students read multiple versions of the same folktale (I chose Cinderella) and then create storyboards for each tale to find common elements, occurrences, and patterns between the varied stories. Students can visualize the structure of traditional tales in a new, visual way. This could also be done by comparing different folk tales (Cinderella v. Snow White, etc) to find common patterns in all folk tales.

Question to ask about this book before a read aloud: What do we know about princesse and magic balls? Who goes to special parties, like a ball? Does this girl (on the cover) look like she would go? Do you think she’s going to end up going? What’s going to happen to her?