Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella

by Robert D. San Souci

Book Overview

A Caldecott Honor-winning author-illustrator team brings us a Caribbean Cinderella story, told from the perspective of the magical godmother.

You may think you already know this story about a beautiful servant girl, a cruel stepmother, a magnificent ball, and a lost slipper. But you've never heard it for true.

Now you can hear the tale from someone who was there: a poor washerwoman from the island of Martinique. She has just...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068980668X
• ISBN13: 9780689806681
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.0" x 10.7"
• Age Range: 7 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Grades 2 to 5

Customer Reviews

Cinderella dressed in Yella

Great book. Just like the Disney tale. But with a twist. Being of Haitian decent I truely enjoyed the book. It was just a bit shabby and pages falling apart.

Great book

I bought this book as a gift for a 3 year old who is part Caribbean. Everyone in the family loves the book. Very happy with the purchase.

Extra Ordinary

Ravishing colors, strokes of Caribbean, the illustrator is at his best here. And the story, told by Cinderella's godmother, has a totally different ring to the usual, passive, goody-goody Cinderella. The ending changes the whole outlook on this classic fairytale. If you're tired of telling the same Cinderella story over and over again to your princess-toddler and you're longing for more... color, go for it.

Cendrillon "looks like me"

I quite enjoyed this Caribbean version of Cinderella. As a white parent of a Haitian child, I found this story to remind my daughter of the country in which she was born. The illustrations and the language all contribute to a new perspective on a familiar story that engages the reader completely. We quite enjoyed seeing a "familiar" fairy tale re-told with a "new" heroine. My daughter quite enjoyed seeing a Cendrillon that "looks like me."

I like it because the pictures and the writing are great

I am giving the book Cendrillon 5 stars because there are words in French, there are excellent pictures, and San Souci has a very good way at making the story make sense.I liked that they put in French words because it tells the reader that the people in the story speak French. The author, Robert D. San Souci, is excellent at writing. I have read more of his books and they are all great.The illustrater, Brian Pinkney, has a great way of making the pictures stand out. Pinkney has a nice way of drawing the outlines of things. You can almost see things jumping out of the pages. You can see he mixes in colors, so he gets the colors he wants.The book is great.

Kudos!

This is a wonderfully rich retelling of the traditional French Cinderella story, set in the Caribbean. As a school librarian I've shared this title with students to compare it to the traditional version. They love it! The pronunciation guide in the back is most helpful. The story is unique because it is from the point of view of the spunky godmother. Pinkney's scratchboard illustrations are perfect!