Deborah Guarino

Taking a spin on the outskirts of a well-known fairy tale, this book holds all the magic and cleverness to become a fairy tale in its own right.

Murray is a meek and mild shoe maker, who secretly harbors feelings for one of his employees, but she, in turn, only has eyes for the prince...a man she'll never get on her own. When the Fairy Godmother begs Murray for help on a glass slipper issue, he unwittingly opens the possibility for his heart's desire to wrangle in the prince. All she needs is show more a little more help from him. And if it means making the love of his life happy, he'll do about anything. Even risk losing her if it seals her own happiness.

While many Cinderella re-tellings have appeared of the years, this one ranks under my favorites. It steers clear of Cinderella, in many ways, and concentrates on those glass slippers instead. The tale weaves into a story of its very own, making Murray a character to love and root for thanks to his selflessness and true caring for another individual. There's a nice bit of humor and just a dash of 'what-will-happen-next', and a sprinkle of magic as well. The moral to the story is clear, and the smiles of a fairy tale ending are guaranteed.

The illustrations are amazing and make the tale really take flight. The style has a traditional flair and yet allows the characters to mold into their own style, making the connection to Cinderella fall away even more. It's one of those books to be treasured and read again and again.
I received a complimentary copy and we thoroughly enjoyed the story. So, I'm leaving my honest thoughts. show less

This book was actually a very interesting read. I am surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did to be honest. I very much enjoyed a few different aspects of this book like the illustrations, rhyming/rhythmic language, and the call and response language involved. The illustrations, for starters, were incredibly detailed for such a short book. They were hyper realistic, especially when involving all of the different types of animals. I especially enjoyed the texture of the llamas and ripples show more of the water on almost every page. It made the reader feel as though they were in the story.
I also enjoyed the rhyming language that was used. The rhythm that it gave the story made the book more engaging for me versus just writing in an unorganized language pattern. My favorite lines of the book were, “’She hangs by her feet and she lives in a cave. I do not believe that’s how llamas behave. ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘You are right about that. I think that your mama sounds more like a…Bat!’” (p. 3-5). The sentences and dialogue were spread out wide enough over the length of the story that it gave a good meter when reading aloud. The last thing that really struck me about this book was the call and response nature of the book. For each animal that the llama talked to, like the bat, the description of the animal’s mama was given and then rhythmic language was used to lead the reader into saying the name of the animal mama. “That is certainly true. I think that your mama’s a…Kangaroo!” (p.20-21)
The main message of this book was about diversity. Although all of the characters were animal and friends of the llama, they were al different. There were bats, swans, kangaroos and much more that made up the animal kingdom of this book. It is relevant to our lives because there are so many diverse groups, but at the end of the day, we are all still human beings! show less

Personally I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it for a few reasons. First, I think it really evokes thought process in the reader. The book is sort of like a guessing game which is really interesting to readers. The story is about a young llama trying to figure out who his real mom is and each picture shows him talking to his different animal friends and he asks “is your mama a llama?’ Instead of the different animals simply responding “yes” or “no” they respond with clues as show more to what animal their mama really is. For example “she hangs by her feet and hangs in a cave, I do not believe thats how llamas behave.” Before the author gives the reader the answer on the same page she allows the reader to think about it for a couple of seconds until they turn to the next page. For example “Oh,” I said. “You are right about that. I think your mama looks more like a ...” When the reader turns the page there is a giant illustration of a “BAT!” I think it is a really fun book for a child to read. Also, the pictures are really vivid and colorful. I like how every animal in the book is illustrated. The book introduces the reader to some animals they possibly were not familiar with. The illustrations take up the whole page. I love the whimsical rhyming scheme. Young readers i believe really enjoy rhyming not only because it is fun but, because the constant repetition of sounds teach kids what letters make which sounds when together. For example “dave and cave” kids know what the “ave” sounds like so they learn to pronounce and read words that look similar like “gave, rave, and save”. The rhyming scheme is very beneficial to the reader. The book is a great read for young children to grade 1. I loved reading the book. show less

I really liked this book because it is a great book to introduce different types of animals and their characteristics. I believe this story would be a great read for a first grade class because the language is simple yet informing. The illustrations are beautiful and helps the young readers see exavtly which type of animal is being represented. The best thing about this book is the rhyming and rhythm, which makes the reading part enjoyable. Another good thing about this book is how the show more students can guess which animal the baby animal belongs to. This will informally help teachers assess whether or not students know their basic animals or not. Students could learn a lot from this simple book, This book would be a great lesson to use in a classroom (in which I am planning to do). The idea of this book is to represent different animals by using a main character (the llama), to teach children about the characteristics and appearances of different animals. show less