Cinderella Skeleton

Cinderella comes to the graveyard in this rhyming tale from the prolific Robert D. San Souci, an author known for his varied folkloric adaptations. With her long, lank build, 'dankish' hair, yellow nails, and green teeth, Cinderella Skeleton made an exquisite corpse. But despite this beauty (or perhaps because of it), and her hard-working nature, Cinderella's stepmother Skreech and stepsisters Gristlene and Bony-Jane treated her unkindly, making her do all the cobweb hanging, dead flower arranging, and leaf littering. When Prince Charnel holds a ball, Cinderella must appeal to the kindly local witch to help her, in obtaining suitable raiment and transportation, and she (not unexpectedly) enchants the Prince while attending. The token show more she leaves behind, in the form of her broken-off foot, when she must flee at midnight, allows Charnel to find his skeletal love again...

A deliciously dark retelling of this classic fairy-tale, Cinderella Skeleton is tons of fun to read, with its rhythmic text, gory details (the broken-off foot, rather than the slipper!), and appealingly creepy illustrations! David Catrow is an artist whose work sometimes appeals to me (as with She's Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head!), and sometimes doesn't (Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon), but here it just works, providing an excellent visual accompaniment to San Souci's rollicking rhyme. Recommended to young readers who love both fairy-tales and Halloween, and don't mind a little bit of the grotesque in their holiday fare. show less

As you may have noticed, I have a fondness for the odd and offbeat in books. Something about the quirkiness calls to my black and twisted heart. Edward Gorey is my hero. I want to hang out in a bar with Angus Oblong and Tim Burton. But a Gashlycrumb Tinies, a Creepy Susie, or a Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy comes along so rarely that I am forced to look beyond the borders of books for grown-ups and take my search to the kids department, where occasionally I am rewarded beyond my wildest (or strangest) dreams. Ladies and gents, I give you Cinderella Skeleton.

As the title implies, Cinderella Skeleton gives us a re-telling of the familiar tale we grew up with. San Souci’s twist is to set the story in a Nightmare Before Christmas-esque show more shadowland populated by skeletons, bats, black cats, and other Halloween-ish delights. The story is told in rhyme and gives us the story of Cinderella Skeleton’s wish to attend the Halloween Ball and meet the dashing Prince Charnel. I won’t give away any of the delightful tweaks San Souci gives to the story—you’ve just got to check it out yourself.

But as clever as this updated version is what makes this book David Catrow’s amazing illustrations. Colorful without being too cheery, clever without distracting from the story, these pictures are a joy to behold. Surely you know of child (or child at heart) who you wish to mold in your own mis-shapen image. show less

What a delightful retelling of the Cinderella story! This tale has been redone so many times, but San Souci takes a whole new approach. Cinderella is a skeleton living in a huge mausoleum in the graveyard, and wants to go to the (Halloween) ball that Prince Charnel is having. The only problem: her skeleton stepmother and stepsisters.

It's morbidly hilarious. Cinderella doesn't just lose a shoe; the Prince accidentally snaps off her entire foot bone. Her coach is from a jack-o-lantern, and she doesn't have horses, but rats that turn into dragon-nightmares.

The story is told in verse, which can be really irritating when poorly executed, and lilting when done well. Fortunately, San Souci turns a pretty rhyme. (I just hate reading kid's books show more with a couplet rhyme scheme where the author feels like they have to make the rhyme work, even if the sentence sounds wretched.)

Some parents might object at reading this to a six-month-old, but she really enjoyed it. The pictures are bright (strange, I know, but true), Cinderella is actually very fetching, for a skeleton, and frankly, my girl is too little to understand the more disturbing elements. We had fun reading this together. show less

A quirky, fun and deliciously ghoulish adaptation of the Cinderella fairy tale, Robert San Souci's Cinderella Skeleton is a perfect tale for a Halloween read-aloud (I don't want to give away too many spoilers, but Cinderella and all of the other characters are skeletons, they live in a mausoleum, and the Prince's name is Prince Charnel, instead of Prince Charming, perfect). Although some sensitive, easily spooked children might find the lush, descriptively ghoulish illustrations a bit frightening (parents should make sure that the illustrations will not be too spooky before reading this tale with or to their children), the story itself is actually quite sweet and not all that creepy (with some interesting and humorous twists, like show more Cinderella Skeleton's stepfamily leaving for the ball in a hearse, and Cinderella being claimed by her prince by means of a lost foot instead of a lost glass slipper).

I don't know if I like the illustrations in and of themselves, and I do wonder wether some of the illustrations would have perhaps frightened me a bit as a child (first reading Cinderella Skeleton as an adult, I find the illustrations creepy, but fun, a perfect complement to the ghoulishly quirky, poetic narrative). However, the story itself, the narrative had me smiling and giggling right from the start, and I think I would have enjoyed the story even as a child, the rather creepy and ghoulish illustrations notwithstanding. I have always enjoyed clever, fun adaptations of fairy tales, and Cinderella Skeleton is both fun and imaginative, while at the same time retaining the general feel, the emotions, the themes of the original story. show less

Cinderella Skeleton, by author Robert D.San Souci, illustrated by David Catrow, is a retelling of the original Cinderella fairytale many know. The biggest difference in this retelling is the world that the team has created to give it its own tone too sweet it apart. As the name suggests Cinderalla is a walking skeleton in this rendition, and so are her evil stepsisters and stepmother, the prince she ends up with, and everyone else in this spooky and macabre world. It seems like a place where Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas dark stop motion film's main character Jack Skellington hails from. The land has twisted buildings, rats scurrying about, and tombstones scattered in dead forests. Very different from any version I have read show more or seen, both Disney or original tale. The writing style adds a layer of delight and fright to the story with its witty rhymes, as the entire story is told in this way. It is a very halloween type Cinderella reimangining that does justice to the love tale while taking a new approach for anyone who may be interested in looking for something new and different. show less

In this adaptation of Cinderella, we travel to the depths of the underworld to find Cinderella is, in fact, a skeleton. I very much enjoyed the art style in this book. It reminded me of a Tim Burton movie (Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, etc.) The use of cinquain added to the mystical, eerie tone. Overall, I would give it an A+ and would not only consider using it in a classroom during Halloween but also use it to teach a little about poetry styles. A lot of literary elements can be pulled out of here.

Cinderella Skeleton is a cute, cruel adaptation of the original fairy tale. Cinderella Skeleton goes through all the work and torture like in the original tale. Her stepsisters and stepmother treat her cruelly, make her do all the work, and put her down. She goes to the ball to find her Prince Charnel where she losses her foot, not only her shoe, but her foot. Soon the prince finds her and they lived happily ever after.
The illustration in this book is my favorite. The bones of the skeleton figures, the graveyard, the houses and furniture are all done in pale, pasty colors. They are grey, green, and yellow mixtures of colors. But the beautiful clothing, the color of the sky, the background are all bright vibrant shades of pinks and show more purples. The contrast truly sets the boney, skeleton figures apart and makes the readers attention separated. The beauty of the bright colors makes the skeletons and their surrounding look more grotesque. This hopefully makes the reader think about the ideas of beauty. And that the skeletons in love, despite their grotesque look see beauty in different ways.
This would be a cute book to read to students around halloween, or as a comparison when doing lessons on fairy tales. show less