Cinders: A Chicken Cinderella

I was pleasantly surprised to open this book. It is absolutely adorable and the artwork is so pretty. My daughter is going to have a blast reading this in the years to come.

I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for a friend's daughter, who is about two and a half. She enjoyed it when I read it to her; admittedly, she has a penchant for chickens, so she may be biased. That, and my own love of fairy tales, account for two thirds of my reasoning when purchasing this book. The other third is because it's a Jan Brett book, an author I loved during my own childhood.It's "what it says on the tin" -- a simplified Cinderella, set in Russia, with chickens. There is one ball (not three), and no pitch on the stairs to catch Cinders' glass slipper; however, I think this shortened version is an excellent choice, as this book is for young readers who may or may not have the attention span for the original version. It also allows the story to occur during a single night, after the chickens' young handler, a girl named Tasha, falls asleep in the coop when she is snowed in.Because the story is essentially the same, this story is in no way feminist or modern (Cinders yearns for the love of Prince Cockerel and pretty much nothing else), but I feel better about it since it's from the viewpoint of chickens. Cinders does get her happy ending, as Prince Cockerel is adopted by Tasha and her father and lives in the coop with Cinders and the rest of the chickens.The "costumes," for lack of a better term, are thoroughly researched, as are the various breeds of chicken. I thought having a fluffy, funny-looking Silkie chicken as the fairy godmother (godchicken?) was a nice, creative touch: it made her stand out. My favorite touch of Brett's is that the cubbies (for lack of a better term) in the chicken coop each is labelled with a name, one for a "Vasilisa." Vasilisa is a stock Russian fairy tale character; if you were not impressed by Brett's research before, you should be now!The names for the stepmother/sisters chickens are cute, too: Largessa is the stepmother, and Pecky and Bossy are the stepsisters. Brett ensured the character designs for these chickens were distinct. The small lady I read this too could distinguish them from one another. The illustrations are, of course, gorgeous, including the usual Brett hints-in-the borders-of-the-pages and a beautiful fold-out spread of the ball that this little girl gawked at for almost a full minute (seriously!).

The traditional Russian dressed chickens are beautiful. It is a clever idea for the Cinderella story.

Stunning illustrations and an amusing story. Perfect if you love Cinderella but your child is a boy (like me). Telling the story through the voice of animals makes it accessible to both genders, and the pictures are simply beautiful. This book is for older kids 8years and upwards, or to be read to younger children. It is a large-format hard-cover book, so it may be difficult to hold for little hands. This book made me fall in love with Jan Brett's illustrations, and I immediately bought another book after reading this one! Even if you own a traditional Cinderella story, you should still buy this book, as it is completely different and fun.

Exquisite illustrations for this Russian chicken Cinderella! Unfortunate that it is difficult to find.

Beautiful Beautiful artwork. Super cute characters. Love it.

I bought this book because I knew the author, Jan Brett was going to be at a chicken show I was planning on attending. She graciously signed my book and even added her own little illustration. She is a warm and unassuming lady who absolutely loves her chickens! (She won best in show for her Polish Hen!) I got to see the real "Prince Cockerel" who also won first place at the chicken show!The story of Cinders is wonderful, and the illustrations are, of course purely Brett. If you have young children you must have some Jan Brett books in your home library!

Great fractured fairytale.

Beautiful

This book, ' A Chicken Cinderella ' is wonderful in everyway, I loved it especially for the beautiful illustrations which are stunning, quite magical, I bought one for my Grandchildren and one for myself

Beautiful illustrations and a stunning presentation! I bought one for myself too!

This book is absolutely beautiful. It is gentle and sweet, and SO pretty. What made me cry is that Cinders looks so much like my own precious princess, Sugar-Star, whom I had to surrender to a sanctuary to escape domestic violence. May Sugar's life be as peaceful and happy as Cinder's, with an equally glorious rooster-prince.

No me gusta, y a mi peque tampoco. La cenicienta es una gallina que encuentra a su principe un gallo. No veo la necesidad de cambiar el cuento clasico, no aporta nada. El texto no es interesante. Las ilustraciones que tanto nos gustaron en The Hat, aqui tienen un nivel mucho mas bajo.En general me arrepiento de esta compra.