Cinderella Skeleton [Paperback]

Robert D. San Souci (Author), David Catrow (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 3 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Meet Cinderella Skeleton, as sweetly foul as only a ghoul can be. Poor Cinderella has no one to help her hang the cobwebs and arrange dead flowers--certainly not her evil stepsisters. But the Halloween Ball is just around the corner. . . . Will Cinderella find happiness at last?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-7-Not for the faint of heart, this retelling continues the author's fascination with "Cinderella" tales. In challenging vocabulary and a complex rhyme scheme, the clever narrative tells of Cinderella Skeleton, a wraith who lives in a mausoleum with her horrific stepmother, Skreech, and stepsisters Gristlene and Bony-Jane. She wiles away her days streaking the windows, hanging cobwebs, and feeding bats until the Halloween Ball invitation arrives. A good woodland witch conjures up the usual participants into a funeral wagon, dragon steeds, a gown, and slippers, but in fleeing from Prince Charnel at sunrise, Cinderella breaks off her slippered foot mid-calf. Gross, yes, though later other ghosts break off their shinbones with the hope of fitting the leg-and-slipper remains ("Wire or glue; you're good as new!" snaps the stepmother as she pulls off each girl's foot). Catrow's wonderfully weird pencil-and-watercolor illustrations feature wiggly lines, lurid pink and bilious green accents, large-eyed skeletons, and grotesque mutantlike creatures. The envious stepfamily conveniently shrivels to dust, which is certainly less horrible than other endings (though younger readers will still be disturbed about those broken legs). This darkly humorous and spooky variation will tickle the twisted tastes of upper-elementary and middle-school readers if it is displayed where they'll find it.
Susan Hepler, Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-5, younger for reading aloud. San Souci puts a bizarre spin on the world's most familiar folktale. Cinderella Skeleton "lives" in Boneyard Acres, where she's forced to keep an entire mausoleum supplied with cobwebs and dead flowers while stepsisters Gristlene and Bony-Jane primp and pose before stepmother Skreech. Thanks to the offices of a good witch, Cinderella gets to Prince Charnel's ball and makes her escape just before dawn. As expected, she leaves behind a shoe--but this one has a foot inside. The text is cast in verse, with a complex rhyme scheme that takes getting used to but keeps the lines from sounding sing-songy. Catrow's artwork seems to have taken a tip from Tim Burton's film Nightmare before Christmas (1993). The backgrounds are eerie and elaborately detailed, and the figures are not really skeletons but rather elongated stick figures with mummified heads and moldering, garishly colored finery. In the end, Cinderella Skeleton hobbles out of hiding to be united with her Prince, and off they float, trailing clouds of--something. Share this macabre rib tickler with Stinky Cheese fans. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 3 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152050698
• ISBN-13: 978-0152050696
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.4 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Culture
  • #12 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Popular Characters > Fairy Tales & Folk Tales > Cinderella
  • #25 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Holidays & Festivals > Halloween

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Macabre twist to a timeless fairy tale!, July 31, 2001

By 

Dana H. Pasterjak "Dana" (Palm Coast, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cinderella Skeleton (Hardcover)

This book is wonderfully written in a fresh rhyming verse. It is an excellent re-telling of the too well-known story of Cinderella. The illustrations are colorful and over-the-top! Lots of laughs everytime you look closer and see more in the intricate and colorful pictures. Kids of all ages will love this book.

It certainly gives a fun and creative spin to a tired old tale. I love the story of Cinderella, but there are not many new ways to tell it. This story proves that theory absolutely wrong! I agree with the observation that the drawings are very Tim Burtonesque. It reminded me of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and yet it has it's very own identity. If you like Halloween or gothic humor, you will love this story.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Boys and Cynical Babysitters Love This One, December 21, 2005

By 

Julia Masi "Julia Masi" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cinderella Skeleton (Hardcover)

Reminescent of Tim Burton's "The Corpse Bride" this book appeals to adults and older children. Its a sardonic, witty version of the Cinderella story. The illustrations are lush and colorful, but a bit too scary for young children. The text is also too wordy for beginning readers. But the humor and pictures will not be lost on adolescents. I recommend this book for older kids or maybe that slightly morbid 4th grader. Great for anyone who has read the Disney version too many times.

Boys and cynical babysitters love this one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Semi-Gothic Fairy Tale, April 12, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Cinderella Skeleton (Hardcover)

Cinderella Skeleton is a great and simple children's book with a setting like a Tim Burton film. Set in a graveyard, Cinderella Skeleton is the classic tale of Cinderella retold with an undead cast of characters. The story is full of wonderful and mildly creepy rhymes and great word choice. An example of the great word choice is, "Her build was long and lean and lank; her dankish hair hung down in hanks." The book offers lots of wonderful illustrations and plenty of interesting twists in the story. One such example is when Cinderella is running away from the prince and instead of her shoe falling off, her whole foot just snaps off. All of the illustrations are wonderful and wonderfully creepy, too. In closing any early or starting reader would love Cinderella Skeleton; it also makes a great book to read out loud to your kids or class, too!


This reveiw writen by a poor child forced to write this for his reading class...who still liked the book even though he's in 7th grade