Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella - Paul Fleischman

I don't consider myself to be an expert on many things. I'm an avid cook and baker, but am by no means an expert on everything related to culinary arts. But as a little girl, I was an expert on princesses, much like many other little girls. When my mama and daddy read to me at night, I constantly requested books about princesses and castles and far-away lands, and had tattered copies of all of the classic fairytales, including Cinderella. I spent afternoons with my mama, using my children's record player, breaking out the big pink sleeve (see picture) that held my beloved (and slightly scratched) vinyl record soundtrack of Walt Disney's classic movie, twirling around the den to "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" and "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," and waltzing with my pretend Prince Charming. I remember fondling sitting with my mama, curled up on our red-and-white-checkered couch, watching the VHS of the Rodger's and Hammerstein's version from 1965 (see this clip) that my mama watched with the same awe at age 10 that I had at age 4. I remember sitting again on that same very couch with my mama as we watched the 1997 release of the new Rodger's and Hammerstein remake with Whitney Houston and Brandy. 


Okay. Enough background. We now all know that I love Cinderella. Thus, when I saw I just had to read two Cinderella tales and Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella by Faul Fleischman (illustrated by Julie Paschkis), I was thrilled.

Taking tales of Cinderella from Appalachia to Zimbabwe to Poland to Iraq to Laos to Japan to the West Indies (and many more), Fleischman has interwoven nearly seamlessly the traditional tales of all of these countries and cultures into a Cinderella quilt, so to say. Although I was impressed with the foresight that Fleischman must have used in carefully planning and organizing the transition from tale to tale, I was more impressed by the illustrations of Julie Paschkis. After I finished reading, I thought of the incredible importance that her illustrations demonstrated throughout the story. Without them, the book would be a disjointed and rather confusing mess. However, with them present to serve as indicators of countries and traditions, the book makes much more sense.

Paschkis's illustrative style is extremely folsky, which seems to fit with the overall folktale/fairytale categorization of this book. Her illustrations provide little snapshots of each individual culture, and I was particularly enamored with her depiction of the Indonesian Cinderella at the ball towards the end of the picturebook (see image to the right). Everything from the image itself to the background pictures that appear almost carving-like is intricate and beautiful. I went and did research to find out what type of medium Julie Paschkis used when illustrating this book, and found out that she used a medium entitled Gouache Colors, which are described as "a range of opaque water colours, mainly used by designers, illustrators, and commercial artists to create vibrant illustrations in solid colour. Gouache is also widely used in fine art as an opaque water colour" (definition found here). Her use of this medium makes the illustrations more relevant and "pop" much more than they would have if she had used another medium.


From the blending of many cultures into one to the intricacy of illustrations, I think that Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella provides a fantastic alternative to the traditional Western Cinderella tale and has potential to let children know that there are similar stories and traditions in other cultures, too!