Cinderella the Dog and Her Little Glass Slipper

Name: Cinderella the Dog and Her Little Glass Slipper
Author & Ilustrator: Diane Goode
Publisher: The Blue Sky Press
Publishing City: New York, New York
Publication Date: 2000
ISBN:0-439-07166-6

Summary
In this telling of the Cinderella story, Cinderella is a dog who looks like a little spaniel. Cinderella's father has married a well-bred lady, who thinks of only herself and her two daughters. Cinderella is a nice dog, so she does everything for her stepmother and stepsisters. She does not tell her father because her father is afraid of his new wife. Not once does Cinderella complain even when her stepsisters are getting ready for the Prince's ball and ridicule her. Cinderella even mentions that a ball is not a place for her to go. When Cinderella cries after her sisters have left, her fairy godmother appears and wisks her up a carraige, horses, footmen, and a ballgown complete with little glass slippers. The story twists here from the original, Cinderella has to attend TWO balls before the leaves her glass slipper behind.

Review
One of a few Cinderella adaptations that features dogs, Cinderella the Dog and Her Little Glass Slipper offers a little twist to the traditional tale. Diane Goode uses almost every breed of dog to tell the story of Cinderella. Cinderella is a loyal spaniel while the step-sisters and step-mother look like the meaner breed of pit-bulls. The Prince is a charming Jack Russell Terrier, and the fairy godmother is a cute little brown & tan mutt with a pink tutu.

Cinderella's father is still living, but is so afraid of his wife he does nothing to help his daughter. He lets his wife and step-daughetrs take all the room in his house, leaving poor Cinderella living in ashes. In this day and age it is hard to imagine a girl not eventually standing up for herself or having such a noble heart that she doesn't evenmention her suffereing to her father. But when the invitation comes for the Prince's ball, she doesn't even question if she should go.

In the other Cinderella stories the Prince has only one ball, but this version the Prince holds two balls. One wonders how the stepsisters did not recognize Cinderella twice. The tale is a feel-good version. Once the sisters find out Cinderlla is the mysterious princess they begged for her forgiveness which the noble Cinderella gave with no thought.

The illustrations of the dog characters are lively despite the use of the pastel colors. Dogs inhabit all of the architecture and some of the dresses. For example, the gargoyles are dogs and inside the castle are bas-reliefs of other dogs. Cinderella's gown has a wolf chasing bunnies, her wedding dress has paw prints, and so do the step-sisters bridesmaids dresses.

Professional Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
As she did in The Dinosaur's New Clothes, Goode gives a familiar fairy tale an unexpected cast, this time introducing a pack of canines with a good-natured spaniel as the title character. The author interjects some witty wordplay (Cinderella's stepmother is a "well-bred" lady; and one of her mangy stepsisters scoffs, "Everyone would laugh to see such a dirty dog at the ball"), but it is the art that throws youngsters the juicier bone. Silly images abound: the nasty stepsisters, dressed in their finery with powdered wigs towering above their ears, primp for the ball; Cinderella's fairy godmother, a winged dog wearing a pink tutu, hovers above the ground; and the tongues of canine revelers hang out literally as the transformed beauty enters the royal ballroom. Goode works dog motifs into her luminous paintings with amusing frequency (dogs are featured on furniture and wall moldings, as weathervanes and statues and a paw-print pattern decorates Cinderella's wedding dress). This imposing heroine and the much smaller prince, a Jack Russell terrier, make quite the fetching couple as they celebrate their wedding at the tail end of this waggish volume. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 4-Goode, who cast dinosaurs in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Emperor's New Clothes," now makes dogs the actors in this version of "Cinderella." Though she does not acknowledge her source, her shortened, colloquial retelling follows Marcia Brown's free translation of Charles Perrault's story (Scribner, 1971). Dogs dressed as 18th-century French courtiers provide boundless opportunities for verbal and visual jokes. For example, the bodice of one stepsister's ball gown fastens with bones, while bones decorate her extravagant wig. She mocks Cinderella by saying, "Everyone would laugh to see such a dirty dog at the ball." The scenes of the gala feature a wild assortment of breeds, as well as an elegant wolf couple. The prince, looking adoring as only a canine can, is half Cinderella's height, not counting her wig. Goode dresses the animals in pretty pastel colors and displays them against buff stone architecture, carved with dogs in bas-relief. Librarians who enjoy the humor of dressed-up animals as human surrogates may relish the silliness and informality of this story, an irreverent contrast to the standard version. Traditionalists may find it all a bit arch and tedious, and will prefer Brown's classic for storyhour. Collection builders may want to add it to meet demands for comparative retellings of the famous tale.
Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Connections

Have Students write their own versions of Cinderella.
Have students choose a different animal and tell the Cinderella story using that animal and have them illustrate it.
Compare & Contrast this feel-good version of Cinderella with the original Grimm Fairy Tale. Have the students rate which one they like best and give reasons.