K-Gr 2 In this galactic retelling of the beloved children's story, Cinderella has a knack for repair. With the help of her sidekick, a robotic mouse named Murgatroyd, she tinkers with her stepmother's household appliances, but dreams of repairing spaceships. When an invitation to the Prince's Royal Space Parade arrives, the evil stepmother and her daughters leave Cinderella stranded, zooming into space with her toolbox. With the help of her fairy godrobot, Cinderella fixes a broken rocket and then dons a bejeweled atomic blue space suit, to race across the "starry sky" and join the crowds at the parade. When the royal ship has engine trouble, Interstellar Cinderella comes to the rescue. The grateful prince whisks her away to the Gravity Free Ball. At midnight, Cinderella has to run away, but the couple is reunited when the prince searches the cosmos for her. In a modern twist, Cinderella rejects his marriage proposal, but agrees to become his chief mechanic. The rhyming text is accompanied by somewhat jumbled illustrations painted in shadowy browns, greens, and blues. Cinderella resembles a Disney princess with her wide eyes, red hair and determined expression. The appropriately themed endpapers showcase an array of her space-age tools and gadgets. VERDICT An interesting take on a classic fairy tale. Linda L. Walkins, Saint Joseph Preparatory High School, Boston, MA

Starred Review In lilting, bouncy quatrains, this galactic take on Cinderella casts the put-upon daughter as an aspiring spaceship engineer. The prince's royal space parade is finally here, but Cinderella's evil stepmother and stepsisters take her prized tools and abandon her on a planetoid. Luckily, her fairy godrobot arrives just in time to give her brand-new tools, a sparkly t practical! acesuit, and a powergem to fuel her ship, though it will only last till midnight. Off to the space parade flies pink-haired Cinderella, but when she arrives, she finds the prince's ship is aflame. She impresses the young royal with her engineering expertise but flees at midnight, leaving her sonic socket wrench behind. When he finally finds her, the smitten prince proposes, but Cinderella demurs, "I'm far too young for marriage / but I'll be your chief mechanic!" Underwood's jaunty lines and girl-power take on the classic tale is a perfect match for Hunt's jewel-toned illustrations. Layered swaths of rich, saturated color amid swooping lines and dynamic shapes cultivate a lively interspace atmosphere, and the figures, looking something like a more expressionistic, swirly version of The Jetsons, give the whole package a playfully retro-futurist look. A joy to read aloud, this cheery tale is an empowering paean to following dreams, whatever they may be.