Cinderella: An Art Deco Love Story
Flapper fashions and a posh, Gatsby-esque mansion situate this fairy tale in the Jazz Age.Cinderella sports a blond bob and has kohl-rimmed eyes. Her kindly father marries a regally witchy, fur-swathed woman with two gangly daughters, "Elvira and Ermintrude. Elvira was as wicked as Ermintrude was dim, and Ermintrude was very, very dim." They lounge in wicker garden chairs while Cinderella launders their silk stockings (with a hand-cranked wringer) and tidies the kitchen (where everything from the ceramic coffee service to the toaster to the electric wall-socket is period specific). At party time, a ghostly godmother attires Cinderella in a gauzy beaded gown, then transforms four white mice and two glowworms into the wheels and headlights of a silver roadster. Lynn Roberts's concise storytelling directs attention to her brother's meticulous illustrations. David Roberts alludes to the 1920s and '30s with designer wallpaper, fan-shaped mirrors and Japanese screens, while remembering to forward the plot with pratfalls and drama. Clumsy Ermintrude can't keep her nose out of Elvira's feather headband, and hesitant, graceful Cinderella moves smoothly among the flamboyant types in the supporting cast. With this volume's attention to accessories and interior decoration, the familiar story and the Prohibition era make a perfect fit. Ages 4-8.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.