Cenicienta

July 1, 2010
Gr 3–6—-his graphic novel, which begins by telling of a heart broken many years ago, is a retelling of the Grimms' version of the fairy tale with a few changes along the way, such as a tree that grows on Cinderella's mother's grave that plays a pivotal role. The story is concisely written, using fairly basic vocabulary. It contains somewhat dark, solemn pen sketches instead of the chameleonlike expressions from sadness to elation and then to despair found among illustrations in some of the more commercialized versions of the tale. The emotions depicted here are mostly muted and subdued. Each page has a multiframe layout with legibly printed dialogue bubbles. There is a list of characters at the beginning and biographical information about the author and illustrator, a glossary of some of the more complex words in the story, a history of the fairy tale, and discussion questions and writing points at the end. Children familiar with the story will enjoy this interesting new spin on it.—"Rhonda Jeffers, Coweta Public Library System, Newnan, GA"

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