New York: Disney Press (2007)
I never was a Cinderella girl, who watched the Disney movie ad nauseum until I had it memorized. I liked Hercules, and the Lion King, and, if there had to be a princess, I liked her paired with a Beast. So when I first pulled this book off the shelf, I had no idea what awaited me. I opened it expecting to find a familiar story, heard so many times before that I had stopped listening. Instead, I saw beautiful drawings coupled with beautiful sentences that opened up the story and gave it a depth and meaning I hadn't seen in a long time.
The Cinderella that Cynthia Rylant tells is simultaneously the same as the Disney movie and completely different. The plot details, of course, tell the same story that we are all familiar with. From beginning to end, however, Rylant emphasizes that Love was Cinderella's one dream and desire. Literally, the end--the back cover bears just the sentence, "In silence, Love found them," along with an illustration of a glass slipper surrounded by a rose bush. Rylant manages to address the cruelty and unfairness of Cinderella's stepfamily while still keeping the optimism and hope of Love finding her in the end. The language is serious and descriptive, giving the reader the feeling that even though Cinderella is not in control, Rylant will take care of her.
The pages are filled with the original illustrations on which the Disney movie was based. The soft edges of Mary Blair's pictures support the storyline of a young girl dreaming of a more hopeful future. Her use of colors, too, supports the romantic storyline, as she ties in many shades of pink, sparkles, and flowers. The familiarity of the images also helps the reader to recognize the slight differences in Rylant's telling, how she focuses not on the details of the plot but instead on the emotions and backgrounds of the characters.
Everything about the book is magical and peaceful, and I kept turning the pages eager to see what happens next as though the story were brand new.
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