Starred Review ALA Booklist (Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007)

Starred Review There are plenty of books that showcase a Cinderella from a particular country, but this beautifully conceived offering by Newbery Medal winner Fleischman moves the story from culture to culture with a turn of the page; Cinderella goes from eating  pan dulce in Mexico and receiving figs and apricots from a fairy in Iran to being handed rice from Grandfather Snake in India. Cinderella herself morphs from an Irish maiden into a Zimbabwean beauty in robe and headress. And when she runs away from the ball, she leaves behind a glass slipper, a diamond anklet, or a sandal of gold. From concept to execution, this is a sophisticated piece of artistry. Drawing on traditional textiles for inspiration, Paschkis' folk-style art is a mastery of design. Using unexpected colors (tomato, navy, maroon) and pearls of detail unique to the individual countries, her images invite readers to look and look some more. The telling (framed by a mother reading to her daughter) needs introduction, but children old enough to understand the concept of one story transversing many lands will be fascinated.

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

Beneath its handsome William Morris–like cover art, this inspired retelling blends many versions of Cinderella into a single, extraordinary tale. As Newbery Medalist Fleischman's (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Joyful Noise) strong storytelling voice incorporates sometimes small details from different traditions, text and illustrations nimbly morph from one Cinderella story to the next, creating this brand-new version. Paschkis (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Yellow Elephant) makes use of folk art and textile patterns throughout the world in the clever background paintings behind each of her vibrant panel illustrations, and she helpfully and unobtrusively labels the country from which relevant borrowings originate. Generally, each page focuses on a single country's contributions, but even when details from several countries share a spread, visual harmony prevails and characters remain recognizable despite their costume changes. When Cinderella has nothing to wear, for example, “a crocodile swam up to the surface—and in its mouth was a sarong made of gold [Indonesia]... a cloak sewn of kingfisher feathers [China]... a kimono red as sunset [Japan].” Even the last line of text is patched from several sources: “Such a wedding it was, and such an adoring couple [Iraq]... and such a wondrous turn of events [Korea]... that people today are still telling the story.” Paschkis emphasizes the storyteller's voice by beginning and ending the narrative with illustrations of a mother reading to her daughter—a daughter who, appropriately, looks much like Cinderella herself.Ages 5-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2007)

K-Gr 4 Capitalizing on the frequently made assertion that Cinderella is the most widely told folktale on earth, Fleischman and Paschkis have created a pan-cultural, universally pleasing interweaving of variants from 17 distinct cultures. This clever books reads nearly seamlessly and somehow manages to convey simultaneously the essential sameness of the story and the particularities of the different versions. Dressing for the royal shindig, our heroine, "looked in her mother's sewing basket (Laos). Then she reached into the hole in the birch tree (Russia). Then a crocodile swam up to the surfaceand in its mouth was a sarong made of gold (Indonesia)a cloak sewn of kingfisher feathers (China)a kimono red as sunset (Japan)." Paschkis's backgrounds to the text and gouache illustrations alert readers to the shifts in locale by the use of color-coding and of folk-art design motifs drawn from each culture until the final scene where costumes, dances, music, and cuisines from across the globe convene at a wedding so wondrous "that people today are still telling the story." Endings don't get any happier than in this global tour de force. Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY

Horn Book (Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2003)

Helpful notes to adults accompany this book that features clear and simple text and art that are well geared to preschoolers. The young audience will easily grasp the concept of "traffic light foods": stop eating junk food, limit foods that slow you down, but go ahead and eat lots of healthy foods. A handy poster and recipes and hints for making healthy food appealing to kids are included.

Kirkus Reviews

A gem of a book shines a light on the multifaceted Cinderella. The familiar tale begins in Mexico, continues in Korea, then Iraq, until 17 variants, from Appalachia to Zimbabwe, unfold the story in sequence. Thus, familiar motifs—glass slippers (France), lentils thrown in ashes (Germany)—share space with strikingly different ones: Godfather Snake (India), a breadfruit coach (the West Indies). Fleischman blends the different versions skillfully, adopting an Irish lilt here, an Appalachian twang there, pacing the telling brilliantly to accommodate the shifts in culture without sacrificing the tale's narrative tension. Paschkis places brightly painted folk-art vignettes in panels against backdrops inspired by the textiles of the cultures represented. Her frame, of a mother and daughter reading the book together, ties the lush presentation up in a bow. Richly colored endpapers feature a map of the world, the regions where the tales originate indicated clearly. For anyone who ever thought they'd seen enough of Cinderella, here's an offering that, in celebrating both its universality and specificity, makes the old tale new again. (Picture book/folklore. 4-10)