Retold & Illustrated by: Janet Perlman
I will admit. The front cover of this book didn't really excite me other than the fact that a penguin was Cinderella. This story holds true to the fairy tale of Cinderella. A penguin is made to work hard for her stepsisters, she attended a ball after getting a little help from the Great Fairy Penguin with her wardrobe, and she left a "flipper" at the ball after running to be home on time. The funniest part is when the Prince is doing his standard door-to-door search for the girl who owns the glass slipper, or flipper, in this case. Cinderella Penguin is pushed into the basement by her stepsisters and her foot is sticking out from the floor. The Prince puts the glass flipper on her foot and, of course, it fits and they live happily ever after. The picture of the glass flipper on Cinderella's foot while it is sticking out from the floor is pretty funny.
Most all of the illustrations are framed with text on the opposite page or under the illustrations. The framing made me feel like I was viewing one scene of a movie to the next. Most of the pictures cover almost the entire page. When Cinderella wanted to go to the ball and she burst into tears, the frame was much smaller than the rest of the illustrations. This was done to really put the focus on Cinderella and how "small" and meaningless her stepsisters made her feel. I thought this, anyway.
Overall, this was a funny and comical version of Cinderella that I know my Kindergarten students would enjoy. I wouldn't say this is the best version of Cinderella out there in Book Land, but it's definitely worth a read.
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