Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
— William Shakespeare
For all my fairy tale lovers (and to beat the March doldrums), I’ve scooped together various flavors of International Cinderellas, an ice cream sundae of humor and romance, for kids of all ages:
In the style of radio’s heyday, there’s a wonderful theatrical version accompanied by Rossini opera music (produced by Minnesota Public Radio | American Public Media).
Adelita, by Tomie dePaola, is spiced with Mexican phrases and culture.
Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China, retold by Ai-Ling Louie, is a beautiful tale of a girl whose kindness to a fish results in her being rescued from her stepmother.
Cendrillon, by Robert D. San Souci, has exotic Carribean colors interspersed with French words and beautiful illustrations by Brian Pinkney.
Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal, by Paul Fleischman, visits Cinderellas around the world in a whirlwind to delight the senses, with divine illustrations by Julie Paschkis.
For older kids, the Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer, start with a cyborg Cinderella whose story spans all the books in the series: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, Winter and Fairest. Yum. My kids and I love the engaging and relatable cyborg with the blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Have you read any of these? Do you like the American Disney movie versions? You’re welcome to add your favorite Cinderella tales in the comments.
Copyright 2018 Brenda Davis Harsham
20 thoughts on “A Book by the Brook — Cinderella Around the World”
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Friendly Fairy Tales 
Great list. I’m going to see if I can download some for my Kindle. Thanks for compiling it!
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I always love a god Cinderella story. 🙂
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Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
I RATHER LIKE THE WAY ARCHIE CAMPBELL TOLD IT ON “HEE HAW. “SHE SLOPPED HER DRPPER!”
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I missed that one. 🙂
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I love the idea of ‘Cinderella around the world’ some of those had beautiful cover art as well! I’ve read a couple of the ‘Lunar Chronicles’ and really enjoyed them… I should probably get back to them one day! Lol!
And the American Disney version is ok.. But, Disney is usually a watered down version of any tale or folklore. I do love the music in old Disney movies though!
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I think Ever After is one of my favorite movie Cinderellas.
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That definitely was a cute story!
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I liked how flawed the characters were allowed to be. Disney’s Cinderella is hard to relate to, she’s so perfect.
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… You mean, you don’t wake up singing in the morning while wild animals and small rodents dress you?? Happens to me ALL THE TIME!! 🎶🐇🐀🐦🎶
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LOL Yes, the mice make me tea.
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different approach and visions – well done and creative!!!
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Thanks!
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ooh, i’ve recently been interested in different versions, i’ll check these out )
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There are so many good movies, too. I should do a list of them sometime. 🙂
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Wow very neat. Cyborg Cinderella! I’ll have to look into that one. Thanks so much for sharing this.
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It’s a great series. 🙂
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Yay ! Thanks !
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🙂
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Tongues in trees. Nice
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Thanks.
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