Prince Cinders

Prince Cinders is a goofy retelling of Cinderella with the roles switched. Prince Cinders's older brothers are big, hairy, bullies. When Prince Cinders appeals to a fairy for help, things don't exactly go right. However, in a humorous twist Cinders is mistaken for a hero by a princess at the bus stop. (Why she's alone at a bus stop on the night of a ball is beyond me.) When the Prince races off without his trousers, (yes, trousers) the Princess uses them to find him. The couple lives happily ever after while the bullying three brothers become their fairy housemaids.

This delightful little story is complemented by comical illustrations. The good prince is rewarded and the bad princes are punished. An older child might realize that Prince show more Cinders's relationship with his new wife is based on a lie, that he saved her from a big hairy monkey. But this story is not to be taken seriously. It pokes fun at sexism and stereotypes in a zany romp. Children will giggle at the final picture of the big brothers with pretty fairy wings, white socks, short white dresses, and hairy legs. show less

Take a classic story, substitute a few key ingredients, season freely with silliness and imagination, dress it all up in jaunty illustrations, and what have you got? In the case of Cole's Prince Cinders, an outrageously funny romp of a picture book. Prince Cinders is a spotty, skinny fellow who envies his brothers' brawn and hairiness. Left behind to do the laundry while they zoom off to the Palace Disco, he is visited one evening by a fairy who seeks to grant his wishes. Trouble is, the fairy hasn't quite gotten the knack of spell-casting and "big and hairy" translates into an oversized ape. Blissfully unaware of the slip-up, Prince Cinders heads off in his new incarnation to the Rock 'n' Royal Bash to claim his princessa conventional show more end he achieves through most unconventional means. A madcap, highly entertaining spoof. show less

Delightful spoof of the Cinderella story with the genders reversed and a large dose of Babette Cole's humor.

This is a wonderfully funny "fractured fairy tale" retelling of Cinderella.Very fractured, as the fairy can't get anything right.

I do have trouble rhyming "ta" and "car" in one of the spells - in my dialect, they don't rhyme - but I get around that by saying "tar" instead.

Not my favorite artwork, though.

This is an excellent book simply because it is a variant male version of Cinderella. Prince Cinders is about a male who can be compared to Cinderella in the traditional story. This book breaks gender stereotypes because it is told from a males prospective. Prince Cinders has three hairy, muscular brothers and he is the small one. A fairy grants him a wish to be big and muscular like his brother but turns him into a hair ape instead. He didn't lose a shoe, he lost his pants, so all the men came without there pants to see if they could into cinder's. This book is great for variants of fairy tales and students will love the twist to it.

Prince Cinders by Babette Cole is a retelling of the classic fairy tale Cinderella. This version has Prince Cinders as the main character rather than Cinderella and his three hairy brothers instead of the stepsisters. The story is very funny because it is different than the original story but similar in some ways. It would be a fun book for children to read because it is entertaining. It would also be good for both genders because boys would be more likely to enjoy it since it is about a prince rather than Cinderella. This book could be used to help teach children about comparing books and have the class read the original Cinderella story at the same time and then compare the two. Another way to use this book in a classroom would be to show more explain the aspects of the fairy tale genre. show less

Nothing brilliant or classic, but truly silly. And we all need more silly in our lives. So, yeah, I do recommend it if it's readily available to you. If not, maybe you can find something else by [a:Babette Cole|110570|Babette Cole|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1442455785p2/110570.jpg]. Or maybe something by [a:William Cole|78761|William Cole|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png], for example [b:Oh, What Nonsense!|255349|Oh, What Nonsense!|William Cole|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|1399544]... so, are the authors related?