Shirley Hughes (1927–2022)

The classic fairy-tale of Cinderella gets the Jazz-Age treatment in this Kate Greenaway Medal-winning picture book from celebrated English children's author and artist Shirley Hughes. The daughter of a successful dressmaker, Ella becomes a talented seamstress and dressmaker herself, living a happy life with her widowed father and her good friend Buttons, the shop boy in her father's establishment. But when her father remarries, and her new stepmother, Madame Renée, takes over, everything show more changes. Now Ella must wait on her vain and lazy stepsisters, Ruby and Pearl, and is reduced to a life of drudgery making all of the shop's clothing, but living in the basement. When the Duchess of Arc invites the family to a ball she is throwing for her son, Ella is not permitted to attend, until her umbrella-toting godmother shows up and provides her with the transport and clothing needed. Not surprisingly, Ella enchants the duke, who seeks her out when she flees at midnight, leaving behind her glass slipper. But is Ella in love with the duke? Or does she have someone else in mind...?

Awarded the 2003 Kate Greenaway Medal, the UK's most prestigious illustrator's award, Ella's Big Chance: A Jazz-Age Cinderella is an absolute delight, from an aesthetic perspective. I loved Hughes' artwork here, with the wonderful Jazz-Age clothing and settings, the delightfully expressive characters, and the overall composition on each page. Some of the artwork is in full color, but there are also charming little black and white illustrations throughout, in the vertical boxes containing the text on each page. I appreciated the fact that Ella's stepsisters are depicted as rail thin, whereas the more attractive and appealing Ella is more full-figured. Not plump, but not excessively slim either. The story itself was engaging, and felt like a real retelling, in another place and time, with details that were true to that time. I would consider this a fractured fairy-tale, as well as a transplanted one, because the ending has been changed, but even there I found myself pleased, despite not usually liking retellings that meddle too much with the story in question. Here I strongly felt from the beginning that Ella belonged with Buttons, who had been a faithful friend to her, so I was happy to see that ending come to be. All in all, a wonderful fractured/transplanted retelling of this tale type! The only similar retelling I can think of, that equals it in my estimation, is Nancy Willard and Barry Moser's Hudson Valley version of Beauty and the Beast. Recommended to young fairy-tale fans, particularly those who appreciate unconventional retellings, as well as to those who appreciate stories in which fashion, and the art of making clothing, is an important element. show less

I learned of Shirley Hughes from Jim Trelease's The Read-Aloud Handbook. We just picked up this one and another of her books from the library this morning.

Let's Join In is an adorable book. The illustrations are detailed, kinetic, and fun, and the stories capture the spirit of young childhood well. I love the feeling of togetherness and love that's evident between the big sister and the baby. The stories convey a sense of understanding and empathy with the joys and trials of both the show more children who enjoy the stories and the grown-ups who read them aloud. The picture that accompanies the text, "When Mom is busy, she says that there are just too many chatterboxes around," could have been of me and my kids during dinner prep.

This is one my two-year-old asked me to read again as soon as I closed the back cover. (Actually, I'm not sure if this is a positive or a negative.) show less

So, not only does Hughes creatively set this in the Jazz Age, so we can enjoy looking at flapper dresses instead of ball gowns, etc., and not only does she give her heroine a healthy body instead of making her a fragile waif, but she adds a wonderful twist at the end that I think I've seen only once before.

On a side note, I think one of the main themes of every version of Cinderella is 'hope your father is strong enough to resist the will of your stepmother. ?áSheesh."

I'm fairly clued up about the Resistance in France in WWII, but far less so about the situation of the partisans in Italy, so I seized upon this story by Shirley Hughes - her first for older children. Its main characters are two teenage children in Florence left with their English mother as their partisan father is - who knows here? - involved in the anti-Fascist struggle. There's also 13 year old Paolo's dog, and even more crucially, his bicycle. Hughes paints a convincing picture of a life show more of privation and fear under occupation, and makes clear that it's far too simple to think of war as being Goodies versus Baddies. It's a story of love and fear that should provoke thought as well as excite the imagination of its target readership. It would make a cracking film, too. show less