#206 of 1001 · February 22, 2021

Second in my weeklong project of featuring a new version of Cinderella each day, we have a lovely edition adapted and illustrated by @ruthsandersonart. This iteration foregrounds Cinderella’s loneliness and despair at the start of the plot, giving way to a pleasingly magic-tinged conclusion. Both the elegant text and the stately oil paintings contribute to an air of refinement and grandeur throughout the book. A note for folklore enthusiasts: Sanderson bases her retelling on Charles Perrault’s 1697 narrative from Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé. To this foundation she adds a lovely tree and a helpful bird, elements from the Brothers Grimm’s 1812 variant of the tale from Kinder- und Hausmärchen (with some notably macabre scenes of mutilation judiciously excised). Fascinatingly, she introduces the Grimm-derived section of the plot with the motif of Cinderella’s father asking each daughter what gift they would like him to bring back from his travels, a motif borrowed from Beauty and the Beast. #cinderella #glass #slipper #fairy #godmother #fairygodmother #magic #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks