Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper
Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper is a book adapted and illustrated by Marcia Brown. Released by Charles Scribner's Sons, the book is a retelling of the story of Cinderella as written by Charles Perrault, and was the recipient of the Caldecott Medal for illustration in 1955. The book takes place in France, in a palace similar to other Cinderella stories. Plot. A widower marries a haughty woman with two daughters of her own. Both the woman and the two daughters hate the man's daughter called Cinderella. Cinderella is very gentle and  beautiful. However, her stepmother and sisters treat her cruelly. Cinderella is always assigned to do all the chores around the house and also sleeps in the attic. One day, it is announced that the prince is having a royal ball and invites all the ladies of quality to the ball. Cinderella wants to go to the ball but she can't because she is forced to stay home and clean the whole house. Cinderella starts crying as her stepsisters go to the ball. Her fairy godmother appears out of nowhere and asks, "Why are you crying?" Cinderella explains why she  is upset. After Cinderella explains everything, her fairy godmother uses her magic power to help Cinderella. The fairy godmother transforms all the mice, lizards, and rats into horses and coachmen for the golden coach. She gives Cinderella a gown made of gold and silver and slippers made of glass. The only thing her fairy godmother asks is for Cinderella to get home by midnight when the magic will end. Entering the ball, Cinderella goes unrecognized by her stepsisters and dazzles everyone there, especially the prince. The prince pays her special attention because he has never seen her before. As Cinderella  dances with the prince, she loses track of time and must leave the ball. Fleeing away from the ball and the prince, one of her glass slippers falls. The prince tries to keep up with her but he can't, so he picks up the glass slipper and vows to find her and marry the one that fits the glass slipper. As soon as Cinderella gets home, her gown turns back to rags, the horse and the coachmen turn back to animals, but the glass slipper remains as is. The next morning, the stepsisters tell her that the prince is  in love with some unknown lady that was at the ball last night. Also, that the prince is going house to house to see who fits the glass slipper, and whoever fits, he will marry. As the prince arrives the stepsisters try to fit their feet into the glass slipper but it is an unsuccessful attempt. Cinderella tries the slipper and it is a perfect fit. A few days later, the prince marries the girl who fits the glass slipper as promised. Cinderella forgives her stepsisters for their past cruelty. Theme. Morality and grace are primary themes and are shown  through the main character's (Cinderella) ability to achieve success through perseverance and positive behavior when faced with negative circumstances. cap Reception. Kirkus Reviews praised "Cinderella" as having "the smoothness of a good translation and a unique charm to her (Brown's) feathery light pictures." and concluded that it was "Gentle."