Italian artist Roberto Innocenti's elegantly rendered illustrations breathe fresh air into this age-old tale of the girl who rises from the depths of sadness and misfortune to become the belle of the ball, surprising those who mistakenly think they know her.
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Reviewed with Madame D'Aulnoy's Beauty and the Beast.
Gr. 9-12. High-school art students are the likely audience for these handsome new picture-book editions. The mostly straightforward text veers into the archaic and convoluted in parts: "Cinderella, would you not be glad to go to the ball?" ask the stepsisters. "You only jeer me; it is not for such as I am to go thither," she replies. It is both volumes' artwork that is noteworthy. Roberto Innocenti sets Cinderella in the 1920s, illustrating the clothes, cars, households, and boozy decadence of the era in intricate spreads. High-school students reading The Great Gatsby or looking for visual representations of the flapper era will pore over these pages. Etienne Delessert's Beauty takes a more symbolic approach. A fairly representational blond Beauty and Georgia O'Keefe-like flowers blend with startling compositions of abstracted claws and toothy snouts representing the beast. For older design students, both titles offer intriguing examples of how such familiar material can be visually reinterpreted. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French
Original Language: French
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Unique and Compelling Cinderella,
By
This review is from: Cinderella (Fairy Tales) (Hardcover)
If you are a Cinderella fan, this book, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, is a must. I have read countless versions of Cinderella and looked at numerous illustrations. I have never seen the story treated like this. Innocenti sets Cinderella in the 1920s with flapper clothes and cars (instead of a pumpkin carriage). Never fear, a glass slipper is still here. I am usually tired of Cinderella books, to be honest, but this one kept me turning pages to see what was going to happen. I have become selective in my Cinderella purchases, but I had to own this one.The ISBN for the Roberto Innocenti version is 1568461305. The reviews for the different versions of Cinderella sometimes get confused, but this is the book you will want to get.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of a multitude of Cinderellas ...,
By
This review is from: Cinderella (Fairy Tales) (Hardcover)
and one that is beautiful and very different. It takes a bit of chutzpah to recommend a particular Cinderella. Google Books is a rich source of the Cinderella stories: there's a collection of 345 different versions in CINDERELLA by Marian Roalfe Cox (1892), over 2,300 books with "Cinderella" in the title, an opera by Gioacchino Rossini, and 37,600,000 hits on Google. This "Cinderella" is special in a couple of ways. It reminds the reader of Charles Perrault who gets pride of authorship for this book. He published "Histoires et Contes du Temps Passé" ("Mother Goose Tales", 1729). There were eight fairy tales told in a polished style, including five that have become icons: "Cinderella", "Sleeping Beauty", "Puss in Boots", "Bluebeard", and "Red Riding Hood". Roberto Innocenti paints in a realistic and detailed style, with delicate colors and a refined lines. This CINDERELLA is one of his first major works in English. He placed Cinderella in an English village during the Roaring Twenties. That would reduce the influence of previous illustrators and freshen the tale. He kept the glass slipper, of course, although in some versions the slipper is made of fur. The story is very easy to read, either to oneself or aloud to kids. Here's the introduction, for example: "There was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. She had, by a former husband, two daughters who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things. He had, by another wife, a young daughter, but of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world." The cover is a fair representation of the artwork; there are many details that kids love to look at after the reading is done. If you aren't convinced, search Google Books for " Roberto Innocenti Cinderella ". You'll find several other illustrations. A small drawing of Cinderella in a window is achingly poignant -- she might be in a prison cell. The illustration at "Once upon a time" is more complex but equally poignant. The man tips his hat to his wife and her two daughters while Cinderella washes clothes below them. The details are wonderful: Cinderella's hair net contrasts with the flapper hats of the three women; there is a strong family resemblance, but each of the three women have their own personalities; the snow in the wall crevices makes your hands ache with cold as you empathize with Cinderella. [As an eight year old pointed out, no steam comes up from the running water on this cold winter day.] Is the man Cinderella's father? Both the man and Cinderella are brunettes, and the hair cut is similar. But would the husband tip his hat to his new wife and daughters in the Roaring Twenties? Generally, where was Cinderella's father in any of the versions of this fairy tale? How could a father have permitted a good and sweet tempered girl to be so mistreated? Innocenti may have left a clue in the pinched face of the man in this image. Patty Campbell wrote in the "New York Times Book Review" that this "witty flapper era [rendition] has been widely admired." This book will appeal to book collectors, but more importantly will appeal to children of all ages. I admire it greatly. Robert C. Ross
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fresh perspective on an old tale.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Cinderella (Fairy Tales) (Hardcover)
Sweet telling of the old story. The illustrations are the recommending factor here. I personally was touched by this version because it is the only Cinderella I have seen portrayed with dark hair.
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