Ella's Big Chance: A Jazz-Age Cinderella (Kate Greenaway Medal)
Starred Review. Grade 1-4–Is there room for one more "Cinderella" variant in your collection? The answer is yes if it's this charming version set in the 1920s. Ella Cinders, her father, and Buttons the doorman/delivery boy run a dress shop until the terrible day when Mr. Cinders remarries and his nasty new wife moves in with her equally nasty daughters, Ruby and Pearl. "His new wife seemed to pop up from nowhere like a sharp-eyed, expensively dressed jack-in-the box." Ella's life is misery from then on, mitigated only by the care and attention of the faithful Buttons. Her Fairy Godmother sends her off to the ball where the Duke of Arc is smitten with her, but in the end Ella chooses a different happily ever after, with Buttons. Hughes's gouache-and-pen-line illustrations exhibit her usual meticulous attention to detail, with the ball scenes inspired by Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movies, and the original dress designs by important French couturiers of the period. This insightful retelling also offers a fascinating visual peek at a glamorous time.–Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.