Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella by Susan Lowell Illustrated by Jane Manning

Overview from Barnes and Noble

Once upon a time, there was a sweet cowgirl named Cindy Ellen, who lived with the orneriest stepmother west of the Mississippi and two stepsisters who were so nasty, they made rattlesnakes look nice! But when a fast-talkin' fairy godmother teaches Cindy Ellen a little lesson about gumption, Cindy lassos first place at the rodeo and the heart of Joe Prince....

You may think you've heard the story before-but you'll get a side-splittin' bellyache after you're through with this hilarious rendition told Wild West-style!

Cindy Ellen loses one of her diamond spurs at the square dance in this wild western retelling of the classic Cinderella story.

My thoughts:

This is a fun retelling of Cinderella from a Wild West point of view with diamond spurs instead of glass slippers and a rodeo and square dance instead of a ball.  The step sisters are still ugly on the inside and outside and the father is largely absent in the tale.  I think this retelling is more appealing to both boys and girls than the classic Cinderella tale sometimes is.  My two year old loved this one!

Details

•Pub. Date: December 2001

•Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

•Format: Paperback , 40pp

•Age Range: 4 to 8

•ISBN-13: 9780064438643

•ISBN: 0064438643

Meet The Author

Susan Lowell's family has lived in the American West since Gold Rush days. She is the author of several picture books for children, including The Three Little Javelinas, a Reading Rainbow Book, and The Bookmaker and the Elves, winner of a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. Her novels for older children are I Am Lavina Cumming and The Boy with the Paper Wings. She and her husband and their two daughters divide their time between Tucson, AZ, and a ranch near the Mexican border.