Prince cinders (sandcastle) [Hardcover]

Babette Cole (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 1992

"Take a classic story, substitute a few key ingredients, season freely with silliness and imagination, dress it all up in jaunty illustrations, and what have you got? . . . A madcap, highly entertaining spoof."--Publishers Weekly. Full color.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sexual equality comes to fairy tales in this jaunty, contemporary version of the put-upon sibling. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Babette Cole is the zany, inspired pen and brush behind a number of wildly popular and successful children's books. In a review of The BAD Good Manners Book (Dial), Publishers Weekly hailed her as "a connoisseur of the ridiculous." Ms. Cole lives in Lincolnshire, England.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile (April 29, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399218823
• ISBN-13: 978-0399218828
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,847,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great twist on the Cinderella story, June 11, 2000

By 

K. Bennett (Rolla, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prince cinders (sandcastle) (Hardcover)

In this Cinderella story, Cinderella goes by the name of Prince Cinders. He looks like the "before" picture in an ad for a mail order body-building course, while his big and hairy older brothers look like the "after" picture. The older brothers party all night at the Palace Disco with their princess girlfriends, while Prince Cinders cleans up their beer cans, cigarette butts, and macho magazines.

One night, while Prince Cinders is doing a load of dirty socks, a fairy drops down the chimney. She tries to make all his wishes come true. She changes a crumpled beer can into a red sports car, a toy red sports car, that is. "That can't be right," the fairy muses. She gives him a new suit to wear to the Palace Disco -- a swim suit. Finally, she makes him big and hairy, like his brothers, sort of. Now he's a big hairy ape wearing a swimsuit!

The fairy is pretty sure the spell will wear off by midnight. In the meantime, Prince Cinders admires himself in the mirror -- he sees a dashing prince in an Armani suit -- and hops on (not in) the little red sports car to check out the Palace Disco. He's so big that he can't fit in the door. He wisely decides to take the bus home, and bumps into pretty Princess Lovelypenny. "Luckily, midnight struck and Prince Cinders changed back into himself. The princess thought he had saved her by frightening away the big hairy monkey. 'Wait!' she shouted, but Prince Cinders was too shy. He even lost his trousers in the rush!"

Soon all the princes in the land are standing around in their underwear, waiting for the chance to try on the trousers. Of course, these trousers only fit a scrawny guy like Prince Cinders. He tries them on; they fit, and Prince Cinders and Princess Lovelypenny are wed. The princess tells the fairy about the way Prince Cinders' older brothers used to treat him, and suddenly they are turned into house fairies, in charge of keeping the palace spic and span forever.

My four year old son loves this story, especially the illustration of Prince Cinders as the big hairy ape, peering through the window at the royalty dancing at the Palace Disco. My six year old daughter likes Princess Lovelypenny's leopard print outfit. Both my kids think being doomed to clean the palace forever is a fate worse than death, and from the expressions on the faces of the house fairies, Prince Cinders's brothers would probably agree.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A charming prince., August 6, 2001

By 

slomamma (San Luis Obispo, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prince Cinders (Paperback)

This is one of the most charming and funny modern rewrites of a fairy tale IÕve ever read. In this version, the poor over-worked kid with the wicked stepsiblings is a boy, Prince Cinders. Just like Cinderella, he does all the dirty work around the house, while his three big, handsome (well, they think they are anyway) brothers go out dancing and carousing. Also like Cinderella, Cinders has a fairy godmother. Unfortunately, his fairy seems to lack any qualifications for the job, and in trying to turn him into a big, hairy, hypermasculine hunk like his brothers, she messes up and turns him into ape. I wonÕt go into all the details, but after he loses his pants (no glass slipper here), a clever and beautiful princess chooses him over the big, hairy hunks.

The gender switch is clever, and food for thought. But this book works because itÕs just a terrific story with a central character whoÕs a real charmer, and the illustrations are laugh-out-loud funny. My daughter and I both love this book.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Twist of Cinderella, August 2, 2000

By 

Adam Berardi (Clemson, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prince Cinders (Paperback)

Prince Cinders is a fantastic male version of the highly popular children's tale, "Cinderella." The plot is similar to that of "Cinderella", but the details are changed to fit a boy's desires rather than a girl's. The slippers, which play a major role in the original "Cinderella" are changed to jeans. Prince Cinders' three antagonizers are his brothers rather than sisters. The brothers of the prince are all hairy males who represent what the prince wants to be. The chariot, which is the means that Cinderella uses to magically get to the ball, is changed to a sports car, and the ball is actually changed to a disco party. The story is very much orientated to a child of the 90's. At the end of the story the three brothers turn into house fairies to clean the prince's home for ever. The men are now the ones cleaning the house and doing domestic chores, rather than the woman. This is another fairly modern concept found in Prince Cinders. Readers will feel familiar with some of the events that happen in the story and possibly feel like the same thing could happen to them. Prince Cinders motivates the readers' imagination and allows them to feel like they are actually in the story themselves. The book carries a strong message but gets the point across in a humorous way. The author shows young readers that boys can be self-conscience and intimidated just as girls can. Prince Cinders delivers a serious message but in a way that is fun for young children. The illustrations (by Babette Cole) are excellent and funny. He's done them in a way to make the pictures more appealing to boys: the characters are not beautiful but rather comical and laughable. I would definitely recommend Prince Cinders to children of all ages. Prince Cinders seems to have the potential to be a future classic.