Mindy Dwyer

There are hundreds of cultural variants of the Cinderella story. Two of the earliest such narratives are the Ancient Greek story of Rhodopis from the 6th-century BC and a 9th-century Chinese version, Yeh-Shen. Mindy Dwyer’s The Salmon Princess is not a traditional cultural variation of Cinderella; rather, it’s the author-illustrator’s own creative reworking of it a non-indigenous Alaskan context.

Dwyer’s heroine, Cinder, named for her gray eyes with a spark of fire in them, is the show more daughter of a salmon fisherman. The author tells us something of her happy early family life. While Cinder’s father fished, the girl and her mother cleaned and smoked the salmon, singing old songs of miracles and possibilities as they worked. Alas, Cinder’s mother died.

In Dwyer’s telling, Cinder’s father remarries years later. Cinder’s stepmother is a modern woman from south of the 48th parallel, strikingly dressed in purple, a real contrast to Cinder’s mother who’s depicted in trousers, plaid shirt, and kerchief. Instead of stepsisters, Cinder gets two fisherman brothers. They’re not as vindictive as the nasty step siblings in the well-known fairytale, just very greedy.

Cinder’s story revolves not around a ball but the “Silver Salmon Festival”, which includes a dance and a raffle for a prize of real silver bars. Of course, Cinder isn’t allowed to attend, as there are so many fish that need gutting and smoking. Fairy godmothers not being a thing in Alaska, a magical eagle comes to the poor girl’s aid. The bird delivers a shimmering silver dress for Cinder to wear to the festival but is apparently unconcerned about appropriate footwear. No glass slippers in Alaska! Luckily, the long dress supplied hides the girl’s “Sitka Slippers”—rubber boots—one of which is left behind when Cinder later flees the festival to return her silver dress before dawn.

The boy who finds the stranded boot (along with the young woman’s winning raffle ticket) is not a prince, but he is the son of the owner of King Salmon Cannery. He travels to a hundred coastal islands in a 24-hour period to locate the owner of the boot. Of course, he finds Cinder and the two live happily ever after.

While I found Dwyer’s illustrations attractive, I was unimpressed with her narrative. In spite of the sometimes lyrical prose (which seemed a bit forced and precious to me, often drawing on fishing and water metaphors), the telling lacked magic. There’s no spark between Cinder and the boy, for one thing.

There are some wonderful variations on the Cinderella tale: Robert San Souci’s moving Sootface: an Ojibwa Cinderella Story and Shirley Climo’s lovely The Persian Cinderella come to mind. Dwyer’s The Salmon Princess, however, is not in that class. It’s competently told, but I found it uninspired and lacking in charm.

2.5 rounded up (for the illustrations) show less

"Aurora: a tale of the northern lights" is about a native american girl named Aurora which means "rosy light of dawn". she is very intact with her surroundings including the sky and the caribou that live on her land. She goes on a journey to find the northern lights as she is guided by the spirits of her grandmother. She notices the different colors of the sky and makes note of them. I would definitely have this book inside my classroom as I think that this book could be very useful for show more comparing the colors of the sky and how Aurora takes note of them (specifically the dark blue sky. she admires the lights and as she ends up finding the northern lights as she was guided by her grandmother. There are a lot of imagery and descriptive words throughout this book. show less

folktale about origins of Crater Lake; The coyote is rejected by his love the blue star and cries blue tears filling the crater made when she threw him down from the heavens. I didn't find this story particularly compelling and the part about throwing the coyote is a little frightening for young children. Illustrations are colorful and abstract, but not my usual taste.

This book was beautiful. The story of how Coyote the trickster fell in love with a star. He serenaded her nightly. When the star laughs off his marriage proposal, he climbs to the top of a mountain and he touches the star, the star grabs him. She scolds him and drags him into the heavens. She drops him to the earth and he crashes into the mountain and leaves a gaping crater. Coyotes cries enough tears to fill the crater. This is the creation story of how Crater Lake was formed.