My Very First Story Time: Cinderella: Fairy Tale with picture glossary and an activity

A lovely story for age 18 month plus. My little girl enjoys it and points to the characters. I particularly like how it refers to her stepsisters as "silly" instead of ugly. I always think ugly us not a nice word to use in stories as it mocks a person's appearance. Also Cinderella sews dresses instead of relying on mice or other animals. It's a lovely book for small children.

Nice

Despite my best efforts, my 4 year old loves Cinderella, (ok I did as a child too until the feminist surfaced) and usually I'm rolling my eyes with another Cinderella victim book, however this one is one I'm not as harsh on for a few reasons.Linguistically it's very short and simple befitting the 'very first story tale' a quick couple of minutes to keep the attention span of a toddler and equally long enough to help build independent reading stamina of a developing reader within a familiar story context.There's additional learning potential with a double spread at the front showing the key plot recall/sight words and a double spread at the back with a 'you shall go to the ball' choose your outfit activity which gave my daughter plenty of fun.The plot itself dwells less about the 'victim' Cinderella, meaning it's about her actions and the plot rather than 10 minutes of scrubbing and cinders and domestic abuse/slavery that makes you wonder where her gumption is.This girl has skills other than looking fine in a dress in particular does have a dressmaking skill (rather than the mice doing everything for poor Cinderelly) which gives her more value than a 'pretty face'Most characters are ethnically ambiguous, and other than the step-family there is plenty of diversity. Cinderella herself could be white European, Mediterranean, Arabic even South East Asian (a bit of the K-pop look about her) or mixed heritage, the prince is a medium dark tone that could fit a Hispanic, Polynesian, Arabic, African or South Asian heritage or mix up of anything else which is a big change in most story books as it is a clearly mixed race wedding at the end- great for any bookshelf but especially those looking for a little diversity in their books or for their child to see characters like them too.And a BIG bonus in my opinion, the prince remembers and values her when she walks in the room at the end in the raggedy dress not just because her foot fits the shoe or she has a pretty face which is a big bonus in the story.Overall, my 4 year old isn't independent reading yet but likes this book and likes to use the images to tell her own interpretation of the book and pictures, for me it's a lot less annoying than the Disney type versions and has a lot going for it otherwise from an images and moral point of view..

Cinderella: Fairy Tale with picture glossary and an activity (My Very First Story Time) by Pat-a-Cake, Rachel Elliot, Tim Budgen is a retelling of a much loved story, only with a difference, this has a multicultural slant.Cinderella, (along with many of the other characters in this book) is portrayed as mixed heritage. She is also more capable of looking after herself, and a much better role model for young girls since this story is less about her being a slave to her ugly sisters and her "woe-is-me" pity-party and more about how she makes things happen for herself as a valued member of her society. Albeit a magical one.I'd say this is great reading for children three years and up, as this has paper pages and doesn't seem to be for an early self-reader, despite the title, but you can still read this story out loud to younger children at bedtime.A charming book, full of diversity, simple rhythmic words and brightly coloured illustrations.

When this arrived my lo was straight on it and wanted it read and re-read over and over and over ...This is a nice book, perfect size for little hands. The illustrations are lovely and the paper is great quality. The story is kept simple and the ugly sisters of old are now silly sisters but don't worry the stepmother is still mean!This is currently new favourite story of choice in our house, with lo commenting on what is happening in each picture and also on the characters and objects illustrated on the inside covers. I live books myself and am so happy that lo seems to take after me and love them too. When I was little I'd have loved this too!