The classic French fairytale of Cinderella gets the galline treatment in this picture book from prolific author/illustrator Jan Brett, who transplants the story to an eighteenth-century Russian henhouse. As a young Russian girl named Tasha goes to feed her flock of chickens one bitterly cold night, falling asleep in the cozy hen tower, the chickens themselves (dressed in traditional Russian finery) head to a ball at Prince Cockerel's ice palace. Only drab little Cinders doesn't go, until her fairy godmother, a beautiful Silkie hen, give her everything she needs to attend. The rest of the story plays out as one would expect, and the book closes with the return of Tasha's father, bringing a handsome cockerel with him...

Apparently Jan Brett keeps chickens, and is a great admirer of their lively personalities. After a discussion with her editor, also a chicken admirer, she decided to retell Cinderella in this form, and to set it in a Russian winter. She and her husband travelled to St. Petersburg to visit palaces and country dachas, in order to gain aesthetic inspiration. The result is a book that, although visually pleasing—beautifully painted and ornately decorative, it has the lovely side panels I have come to expect from Brett's work—failed to appeal to me as it might have done. I think in the end I just couldn't warm to the idea of a chicken Cinderella, despite the book's other good qualities. Other readers might feel differently of course, and it is to them, and to fans of Jan Brett's artwork that I would recommend this one. ( )

Another beautifully illustrated picture book by Jan Brett. Having chickens as the characters in a Cinderella fairytale is kind of an unusual choice, but why not? It's still a (prince) charming story for early elementary kids. ( )

Age: Primary
Genre: Folklore
Media: watercolor
Review/Critique: This is the classic Cinderella story, but the main characters are chickens. Obviously a fantasy based on the actions of the chickens, but also a folklore because it follows the pattern of Cinderella. ( )

The classic tale of Cinderella adapted around a society of chickens!

Beautiful illustrations and fun new twist on Cinderella fairy tale. ( )