Cinderella: Picture Book Review
A Charles Perrault Fairy Tale-Illustrated by Susan Jeffers
Amy Ehrlich and Susan Jeffers pair together to create a 'sweet' adaptation of Charles Perrault's Cinderella.
The Story
Amy Ehrlich and Susan Jeffers adapt their version of the story of Cinderella from the Charles Perrault rendering, in which Cinderella is forgiving and generous and the sisters are not punished for their nasty and mean behavior. In fact, Ehrlich takes goody-two-shoeism a step further than Perrault and allows the greedy sisters to marry two lords of the court. For purists, who feel that the more gruesome Grimm version of the story is the definitive tale, this picture book will be an unsatisfying story.
The Illustrations
The illustrations are gentle muted renditions of the story. Jeffers created them using penciled drafts, which she then traced over with pen and applied dyes too. Finally, she carefully erased the pencil marks. The soft gentleness of the illustrations appeal to romantic little girls who love fairy tales and princesses.
Particularly captivating is Jeffer’s illustration of the transformation of the six mice into white carriage horses. Jeffer’s uses nearly two full pages of intricate detail filled with gorgeous white steeds and mice in stages of transformation to illustrate the magical moment.
Another highlight in the illustrations is the image of Cinderella on the way to the ball. Jeffers fills two full pages showing us an image of the castle in the distance and the carriage holding a pensive Cinderella racing towards it. The entire scene is both obscured and framed by a bower of rampant magnolia blossoms.
Another two page spread illustration by Jeffers is the image of the prince riding up to Cinderella’s home to see if any of the inhabitants will fit their foot into the slipper. The stepsisters and their mother hang out an upper window while Cinderella calmly sweeps the front stoop. The prince and his companions are all riding black horses in contrast to the white horses that carried Cinderella earlier.
In Conclusion
For those who believe that fairy tales are representative of the trials and horrors of life and aren’t necessarily intended to contain a moral for children, this book will be a travesty. For those who wish that fairy tales were gentler, kinder, and contained useful tools for training children, this book will be a delight.
Regardless of the reader’s taste and expectations of fairy tales, the illustrations by Susan Jeffers contain an element of magic that is hard to deny.
For another story illustrated by Susan Jeffers, read the review for Thumbelina.
Cinderella. Charles Perrault. Retold by Amy Ehrlich, Illustrated by Susan Jeffers. Dutton Children’s Books, 2004. ISBN 0-525-47345-9
