Review by Booklist Review
Ages 5-8. "Prince stared at Elly / And said, `Glad to meetcha. / After the game, let's / Go get some pizza.'" This contemporary urban Cinderella lives in New York City with her mean, brash sisters. Her godmother is a plump lady with a shopping cart and a cane, who gives Elly trendy clothes and changes a garbage can into a bike so that Elly can ride to the basketball game. There she meets the star shooter, Prince Charming, and the moment is magic. But she has to be home by 10 p.m. As she rushes away, she loses her glass sneaker . . . The story's told in fast-paced rhyme, fun for reading aloud, and the bright illustrations are like street murals, bold and rhythmic. Some pictures are new wave in style, especially the transformation scenes in which Elly, her godmother, and the prince find magic in the ordinary streets. Older readers and storytellers might like to compare this with Mary Carter Smith's "Cindy Ellie," collected in Best Loved Stories Told at the National Storytelling Festival (1991), in which Cindy Ellie rides to the Baltimore mayor's inauguration ball in a white Cadillac, her hair set in 100 shining braids. ~--Hazel Rochman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Minters "updates the classic with singular flair," said PW; Karas's "collages, wild patterns and funky fashions mimic music videos and build up the snazzy urban setting." Ages 4-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-An annoying hodgepodge of stilted, cloying verse; a modern New York City setting; and traditional elements. But each of those elements is not quite what it should be. The sisters are cruel for no apparent reason (they're not even step-sisters), and Cinder-Elly inexplicably submits to their abuse. There's also a Prince Charming who is a basketball player and a glass sneaker instead of a slipper. The three girls are all invited to one of his games and there's really nothing stopping Cinder-Elly from going-her sisters are walking; so why can't she? Her ``Godmother'' appears and transforms her clothing into a new outfit, even though she looked just fine before. Prince notices her because she catches a flyaway ball and throws it back to him; he asks her out for a pizza. There are the expected problems with time running out and the search for the owner of the glass sneaker. And yes, ``everyone lived/Forever happy.'' Flat, modern watercolors try their best to add to the hip feeling this story tries to portray, but they are often as cluttered as the text. A jumbled path that leads nowhere.-Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A jazzy, rhyming, modern retelling of the Cinderella story has Cinder-Elly left out of her sisters' video games and unable to go to a basketball game for lack of a cool outfit. The artwork, which fills the page with images of New York City and pop culture, is much more fun than the verse. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Minters makes her picture-book debut with a verse update of ``Cinderella'' (see also Jackson, above) set in present-day New York City (``I'm never allowed/To speak to strangers'' Elly informs her godmother; still, her trust is easily won: ``Last time I saw you/You were two or three,'' explains ``Godma''). Riding a bike Godma makes from a trash can, Elly goes to the school basketball game where Prince Charming is the star; he asks her out for pizza but she has to get home.... Though Minters's doggerel limps a bit, her contemporary substitutions are fun. And although she's no match for Jackson's independent-minded Cinder Edna, Elly is a bit more self-reliant than the classic heroine. The book is much enhanced by Karas's sophisticated montages of the city's textures and rather muted colors enlivened with perky stylized characters plus informal doodles and graffiti that invade the text. Both books are of interest, and kids will enjoy comparing them. (Picture book. 4-10)
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