Customer Reviews

The Egyptian Cinderella

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm surprised to hear this book described as racist. The inaccuracies in that review leave me to wonder whether the poster actually read the book.

The heroine's name, Rhodopis, referenced her sunburned skin. A real person may have inspired the fable, a light-skinned slave who married a Pharaoh.

The other girls were not step-sisters as the reviewer states, but servants. Rhodopis was a mere slave, making their unkind treatment of her more logical. Due to their rank in the Ancient Egyptian class system, she would be expected to do the less-desirable chores. For a lowly slave to be favored by their master would spawn jealousy and resentment. I don't recall any inference that their demeanor related to their skin color, and the reviewer overlooks the kindly Master and Pharaoh also being dark-skinned.

Such hotly-debated subjects a the race of Egyptians or of Cleopatra have no bearing on the story. Rhodopis is a Greek slave girl, and is neither described as Egyptian, nor called Cleopatra.

A good story with interesting historical references, it's a shame to see it dismissed as racist by a reviewer who clearly has overlooked many details of the book.

This retelling of Cinderella is rather different from the classic version, but still retains much of the same plot. Rhodopis, a Greek slave, is picked on by the Egyptian servants in her master's household. She befriends the animals, and dances for them often. One time, her master saw her dancing and was so impressed that he gave her a pair of slippers gilded in rose-red gold.

When the servant girls go to visit the pharaoh, Rhodopis is left behind to do the washing. A falcon steals one of her slippers, and brings it to the pharaoh, who decides to search for and marry the girl whose foot fits the slipper.

The suddenness of the pharaoh deciding to search for and marry Rhodopis annoys me, but other than that the story is told very well, and the words flow nicely. The illustrations in this book are very beautiful, but slightly different from those I am used to. The manner in which animals and plants appear on every page, especially when Rhodopis is around, is a nice touch.

This book is a good variant on a popular story, and the pictures make it very memorable. A very good book.

Loggie-log-log-log

Climo and Heller are a superb team. This is not only an excellent book for a children's comparative literature study on fairy tales, but also for examining ancient Egyptian art. Heller's work contains surprisingly accurate illustrations of ancient Egyptian decorative motifs and historical and cultural traditions. Students can compare Heller's work to the real thing and find many similarities, such as the lotus blossom architectural columns, the Pharaoh's crook and whip, the feather-patterned jewelry, the false beards worn by royalty, the distinctive combination side-view/frontal-view depiction of humans, etc. Climo's historical notes at the end of the book are fascinating. Her enchanting tale also provides a focal point for class discussions of racial prejudice. This is a gem of a book.

My kids really liked this one. We had been talking about Egypt and they loved hearing this version of the story. There's no fairy godmother, but the god Horus intervenes in the form of a falcon. And there's even a happy ending. I liked the historical fact at the end of the book.

I had to read a version of the Egyptian story when I was in the 6th grade,I don't think it was this exact take on the tale, however I remember enjoying it very much--it opened me up to people across the world sharing the same story in different ways. Climo seems to have really zeroed in on that idea, with all of her various retellings of the Cinderella tale from all over the world.

As usual, her writing is great, it completely creates the characters and I really enjoyed reading the story. The illustrations are a little better that I thought them to be, upon thought. I feel the faces were not as nice as they could have been, nor the colors quite right. But I was amused by all of the characters always being drawn in profile as if they were Egyptian hieroglyphs.

In this story Cinderella is a slave girl who likes to dance, and who's master buys her special dancing shoes (this and her greek heritage) sets her apart from the local egyptian women.

I really was intrigued by the explaination that Climo gives at the end about this Cinderella and how she was actually a real person, it made me want to read up on her (Cinderella that is).

THE EGYPTIAN CINDERELLA is a wonderful story to read to a young child or outloud to a classroom. It is a book that has outstanding illustrations in bold and rich colors. It would be a great way to introduce Egyptian history to an elementry class or a unit on fairy tales. The author's note in the back should not be missed!

This book is not "racist". The fairy tale is based upon the tale of "Rhodopis", Greek word for 'rosy cheek or sunburned', in antiquity. "Rhodopis" stories were popular Greek tales among ancient Greeks since the 6th century BC, told in different versions. A well told account in one of these older versions had her finance a pyramid in her honor, the Pyramid of Mycerinus or Menkera. Shirley Climo's version is based upon these versions of "Rhodopis", Strabo's "Rhodopis" is an archetypal Cinderella from the 1st century BC. He immortalized a woman by the same name in what historians consider the first "Cinderella" basing his story on both facts and fictions. The woman who's story is somewhat based upon was believed to be the beautiful Rhodopis born in Northern Greece, kidnapped by pirates, sold to a man on the island of Samos, a fellow slave, a homely little man called Aesop, used to tell her stories of animals. When she was grown the man in Samos sold the girl in Naucratis, bought by Charaxos in Egypt who spoiled her as if she was his own daughter giving presents of jewels and beautiful clothes, she later married a Pharaoh. She is of whom some Greeks believed the Pyramid of Mycerinus or Menkera were build by, while others dispute this. One thing can not be disputed is that by Strabo times and many centuries afterwards, "Rhodopis" was renowned through out ancient Greece and Rome for her beauty, promoting various different versions of "Rhodopis" stories. The wind according to Strabo takes away one of her rose red slippers, an eagle according to Aelian's version. It is a historical fact that a Greek maiden did marry Pharaoh Amasis (Dynasty XXVI, 570-536 BC), Amasis was actually the king's Greek name. His birth name was Ahmose II, who was of common origins. She was the princess Ladice, daughter of King Battus II from the Greek colony Cyrene. As to the comment regarding the inhabitants of ancient Egypt would have been of " African, Mediterranean, Semitic, or Arabic descent and dark-hued", true in most cases but not always true when it comes to Greeks, Romans or other Mediterranean people; yes some are of "dark hue" but some are also very fair and Greeks definitely are not "African, Semitic, or Arabic" in descent, especially Cleopatra and the Ptolemies, given their habit of inter marrying with one another. Plus many ancient writers make a point to describe Rhodopis as having fairer coloring and "different looking" from native Egyptians because Greeks, of whom Cleopatra and the Ptolemies descent from, were different looking and fairer in coloring from native Egyptians. The story has a Greek as the "heroine" because the audience of whom Strabo and most of these ancient authors were speaking to, including the Hellenistic Pharaohs of the Ptolemy Dynasty, were of Greek origins.

I am delighted with the book. The pictures are gorgeous and the story is pretty too. The delivery was excellent, it arrived very fast.

My Granddaughter loves this series. When she read this one, she said "I wish this was the real Cinderella story".

I read this a long time ago when I was little, and it's a cute retelling of Cinderella. The story is quite different - instead of some horrible stepmother, Cinderella is a slave to a kindly master. The artwork is nice to look at though the anatomy could be improved just a bit. Overall it's a pretty nice book for children, and unique enough that it's not a boring rehash of Cinderella.