Cinderella

Cinderella has been with us in written form for more than a thousand years. Her story is first recorded as Yeh-Shien in ninth century China, but the basic ‘Poor girl (or boy) makes good’ theme is as old as time itself. French folklorist Charles Perrault’s 1697 publication brought the story the widespread European popularity it continues to have today, and provided the heroine with her definitive name—the French Cendrillon became Cinderella in English. Perrault added other touches of his own to the story, including the captivating ‘glass slipper’--once thought to have been a mistranslation of the French ‘vair’ (fur) as ‘verre’ (glass). This explanation has now been discredited; Perrault apparently used the image simply because he liked it, and the intriguing idea of a slipper made of glass is perhaps the single element that has given his Cinderella the edge over the more ethnic version later recorded by the Grimm Brothers. (The 1950 Walt Disney film makes wonderful use of elements from both versions). Perrault also made Cinderella a great deal more passive than the capable, enterprising figure she was in the original Oriental tale, and this helplessness remained a feature of Cinders’ character until feminist versions began appearing the the 1970s. Over the last three centuries the story has continued to grow and adapt to fit the changing times, appearing in forms as diverse as Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’ and the 1990 film ‘Pretty Woman.’ Even our own Maui has some touches of Cinderella, shown most vividly in the graphic novel Legends of the outcast (Slane and Sullivan, 1996)

Note on Dewey numbers: Cinderella can be found anywhere in the 398 section of a library using the Dewey Decimal System. Probably the highest concentration is in the 398.20944 area (French folklore/mythology), but the universality of the theme takes her everywhere in the world


398 PER Cinderella
Re-told by Paul Galdone.
Traditional version, with delicately- coloured, flowing illustrations by the author. Cinderella goes to a ball on two successive nights, the Slipper Incident happening on the second (1978)






398.2 DEL Cinderella
Re-told by David Delamere.
Dramatic panoramic paintings by the author make this version, set in a slightly sinister 16th century Venice, one of the most visually striking in our collection [1993]

398.2 FLE Glass slipper, gold sandal : a worldwide Cinderella
Fleischman, Paul; ill. Julie Paschkis (2007)
‘The author draws from a variety of folk traditions to put together this version of Cinderella, including elements from Mexico, Iran, Korea, Russia, Appalachia, and more.’

398.2 GER Cinderella
Re-told by Adele Geras; ill. Gwen Tourret (1996)

398.2 HOO Moss Gown
This traditional story from the American Deep South interestingly combines elements of both Cinderella and King Lear. William H. Hooks and artist Donald Carrick combine to present a haunted tale of witch-ridden swamps, Spanish moss, and pillared mansions, where Moss Gown/ Cinderella goes to the ball three times without losing a single slipper. She still gets the traditional happy ending though, this time with Young Master (1987)

398.2 KAR Cinderella (Ill. James Marshall)
Marshall’s quirkily good-humoured illustrations blend perfectly with Barbara Karlin’s everyday language re-telling (1989)

398.2 PER Cinderella
Translated and ill. Diane Goode (1988)

398.208995942 COB Jouanah, a Hmong Cinderella
Adapted by Jewell Reinhart Coburn with Tzexa Cherta Lee; ill. Anne Sibley O’Brien.
This version from the Hmong people of Thailand gives Cinders a name that translates as ‘young orphan.’ As in many tellings of the story, including the Grimm Brothers’ version, there is no Fairy Godmother as such. Instead the spirit of Cinderella/ Jouanah’s real (but dead) mother uses the medium of enchanted birds or animals—in this case a cow—to talk to her and help her (1995)

398.20932 CLI The Egyptian Cinderella
Re-told by Shirley Climo; ill. Ruth Heller.
Cinderella in the land of the Pharaohs in Climo’s re-vamping of an ancient legend that mixes fact and fable (1989)





398.20932 PIR The golden slipper : an ancient Egyptian fairytale; and also Cinderella
Text by Saviour Pirotta; ill. Alan Marks.
This edition combines the Egyptian version and Perrault’s interpretation in one volume, as part of the Once Upon a World series. The focus of this useful junior/primary level series is the pairing of well-known English language fairytales with similar stories from other cultures (2004)


398.209415 DAL Fair, Brown & Trembling : an Irish Cinderella story
Re-told and ill. Jude Daly.
Traditional Irish tale loosely follows the Grimms’ version rather than Perrault’s. The title refers to the rather strange names of three sisters, of whom the youngest, Trembling, is the Cinderella figure. She pays three well-dressed visits to Mass, rather than to a ball, and several princes brawl over her hand in an interesting divergence from the usual story. However, she does lose and reclaim her slipper; and her decidedly plain older sisters are harshly punished for their unkindness (2000)

398.20941502 CLI The Irish Cinderlad
Text by Shirley Climo; ill. Loretta Krupinski .
Unlike the previous Irish adaptation, this one changes Cinderella’s gender. Many cultures feature a ‘Cinderlad’, and these stories usually include elements of dragonslaying or similar deeds of daring ( Even Babette Cole’s fractured fairytale ‘Prince Cinders’ follows this line….sort of!) (1996)

398.20944 EIL Cinderella
Eilenberg, Max; ill. Niamh Sharkey
Simple, attractive re-telling of the Perrault version (2008)


398.20944 FRE Cinderella
Re-told and ill. Fiona French (1988)

398.20944 MCC Cinderella
Re-told and ill. Barbara McClintock.
Perhaps best-known for her water-colour and sepia ink illustrations to Jim Aylesworth’s traditional fairy-tale re-tellings, McClintock has done the whole thing herself in this beautifully produced 2005 version. Inspired by a trip to Paris, she has based the royal palace on Versailles, and has dressed her characters lavishly in the Louis XIV styles of Perrault’s original. Unlike the similarly-clothed Craft Cinderella (see below) this version follows Perrault exactly—Cinders visits the ball once only, and forgives her mean sisters to the extent of arranging good marriages for them… though not, of course, as good as her own (2005)

398.20944 PER Cinderella : a creative tale…. (Ill. Roberto Innocenti)
Innocenti’s setting is 1920s London. Interestingly, his stylish ‘flapper’ illustrations blend perfectly with a text virtually unchanged from Perrault’s 17th century original—a tribute to the enduring nature of the story (2000)

398.20944 PER Cinderella
Ill. Susan Jeffers.
Established fairy tale illustrator Jeffers has embellished Amy Ehrlich’s 1985 text with elegant watercolour images (2004)

398.20944 PER Cinderella (Ill. Arthur Rackham)
Re-told by C.S. Evans. The incomparably romantic Rackham illustrations highlight this lengthy (110p) version of the full Grimm-- multiple ball visits, dreadful punishments inflicted on the Ugly Sisters, etc. (1972)

398. 20944 ROB Cinderella : an art deco love story.
Re-told by Lynn Roberts; ill. David Roberts.
Simple text, extremely striking Art Deco illustrations ( see also Cinderella : a creative tale). Cinders uses a leek instead of a pumpkin to provide her transport. Originally known as Greta, she chooses to keep the nickname that has been bestowed on her…. [2001]

398.20944 RYL Walt Disney’s Cinderella, retold by Cynthia Rylant; pictures by Mary Blair. Strong emphasis on the search for Love (always spelt with a capital letter here) in this elegant version illustrated by Mary Blair (1911-1978) , who painted the original pictures for Walt Disney’s animated film, as well as for Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and many other Disney classics. (2007)

398.20944 WAD Cinderella
Re-told by Barrie Wade; ill. Julie Marks.
Simplified version for beginning readers (2003)

398. 2094402 CIN Cinderella (ill. K.V. Craft)
Lavishly illustrated, with characters wearing the elaborate court dress of Perrault’s early eighteenth century France, still the most traditional style for European Cinderellas. Follows mainly his version , but has some elements of the Grimm Brothers’ Aschenputtel (Ashputtle), in that a small bird rather than a Fairy Godmother helps Cinderella make it to the Ball—twice in this version (2000)

398.209567 HIC The golden sandal : a middle eastern Cinderella story
Re-told by Rebecca Hickox; ill. Will Hillenbrand.
This Iraqi tale overlaps with another traditional story The magic fish, more common in versions from Indo-China (1998)

398.209596 COB Angkat : the Cambodian Cinderella
Re-told by Jewell Reinhart Coburn; ill. Eddie Flotte.
A Cambodian version of the story, in which a poor girl marries a prince, is killed by her jealous stepfamily ( Oriental Cinderellas typically suffer a worse fate than mere bullying…) and, because of her virtue, is enabled to return from death to become queen. The Magic Fish motif again features here, as in the Vietnamese version below. The fact that the story was found by Dr Coburn in an 18th century French essay while researching Khmer culture and folklore hints at a possible route for Cinderella to have found her way from this former French colony to Perrault in Paris, and thence to world-wide fame (1996)




398.209597 CLA In the land of small dragon
Told by Dang Manh Kha to Ann Nolan Clark; ill. Tony Chen.
Both Magic Fish AND Fairy Godmother are needed to help Cam overcome the scheming of her evil stepmother and her lazy stepsister Tam. ( Tam and Cam’s story is told more fully in the collection The brocaded slipper and other Vietnamese tales re-told by Lynette Dyer Vuong (Reading, Mass.; Addison-Wesley, 1984) 398.2109597 VUO) (1979)

398.2097 JOH Bigfoot Cinderrrrrella
Johnston, Tony; ill. James Warhola.
‘And her foot fit the clog like a seed in a pod.’ Sums up the distinctly ‘fractured fairytale’ tone of this cheerful North American take on the story, which carries a strong conservation message (1998)

398.20972982 SAN Cendrillon : a Caribbean Cinderella
Text by Robert D. San Souci; ill. Brian Pinkney.
Set in Martinique, the original Creole French traditional version has been expanded by San Souci to incorporate elements of West Indian culture and costume. Contains an interesting glossary of French Creole words and phrases (1998)

398. 20974 COM Ashpet : an Appalachian tale
Re-told by Joanne Compton, ill. Kenn Compton.
One of the rare English language versions that takes its title from the Grimm Brothers’ Aschenputtel, rather than Perrault’s Cendrillon. Set in the Appalachian Mountains of North America in the twentieth century, this is one of several versions in which the Cinders character is a servant, rather than any family connection to the unpleasant people with whom she lives. The Prince is here the son of the local doctor, the palace ball is a prayer meeting (see also Fair, Brown and Trembling), but all the essential elements of the story are retained (1994)

398.209789 POL The turkey girl : a Zuni Cinderella story
Retold by Penny Pollock; ill. Ed Young.
No happy ending here for a thoughtless Cinders who neglects her duty to her animal helpers. As in most Native American traditional tales, the conservation/ecology message is strong—Cinderella’s party clothes are re-cycled! (1996)

398.210942 GRE Tattercoats
Re-told by Margaret Greaves; ill. Margaret Chamberlain.
Combines Cinderella elements with a sanitised British version of the very dark tale known by Perrault as Donkeyskin (1990)

398.210976889 SCH Smoky Mountain Rose : an Appalachian Cinderella
Text (all in dialect) by Alan Schroeder; ill. Brad Sneed.
Another Cinders from Appalachia but, unlike Ashpet (see above) this one follows the Perrault tradition (1997)







Fractured Fairytale versions of Cinderella—a selective list
(because these keep some elements of the original story but build on them extensively with the author’s creative imagination, they are generally classified as fiction)

Picture Books:
PICT ALL Allan, Nicholas Cinderella’s bum
PICT CHA Champion, Tom; ill. Glen Singleton Cindy-Ella (Australian version) 2008
PICT COL Cole, Babette Prince Cinders (also available on video)
PICT DIC Dickinson, Trevor; ill. Emma Carlow Kitty Princess and the newspaper dress (2004)
PICT DON Donaldson, Julia; ill. Liz Pichon Spinderella (early reader)
SPICT ELL Ellwand, David; ill. Christine Tagg Cinderlily : a floral fairy tale
PICT GUR Gurney, Chris; ill. Ross Kinnairs Cindy and the lost jandal (NZ) 2009
PICT HUG Hughes, Shirley Ella’s big chance : a fairytale retold
PICT JUN Jungman, Ann; ill. Russell Ayto Cinderella and the hot air balloon (1992/2007)
PICT KET Ketteman, Helen Bubba the cowboy prince : a fractured Texas tale
PICT MED Meddaugh, Susan Cinderella’s rat
PICT MIT Mitchell, Marianne Joe Cinders
PICT PER Perlman, Janet Cinderella Penguin, or the little glass flipper
PICT THO Thomas, Joyce Carol The gospel Cinderella

Fiction titles:
FIC ANH Anholt, Laurence Cinderboy
FIC JOL Jolley, Dan and Timmons, Anne Pigling : a Cinderella story (graphic novel version from Korea) 2009
FIC LEV Levine, Gail Carson Ella enchanted
FIC NAP Napoli, Donna Jo Bound

As with the versions held in the 398 subject area, there are many more of these stories to be found as part of collected works—Roald Dahl deserves particular mention for the way he treats the poor girl in his Revolting rhymes