Patricia S. Daniels

Summary:
This version of Cinderella, retold by Patricia Daniels, is a unique version of the classic traditional literature that many people know and love. Cinderella is the story of a young girl whose life was suddenly changed as her dad re-married another woman with two daughters. The evil stepmother and ugly stepsisters, as they are known as, torment Cinderella, and make her do all their cooking and cleaning. When the stepsisters receive an invite from the royal family, to attend a ball, a fairy godmother appears and unbeknownst to her family, Cinderella becomes the most beautiful girl at the ball. The Prince ends up falling in love with the mysterious girl at the ball and throws a second ball in the hopes of catching the girls name. During the second ball, Cinderella stays past her midnight curfew, causing her fairy godmother’s magic to be over. In her rush to leave the palace, Cinderella leaves behind a glass shoe. The prince sends out men to find the girl who fits into the glass shoe, so that he can marry her. This version ends differently with everyone involved in the story, living happily ever after.

Personal Reaction:
I grew up as a Disney child, and loved anything Princess. I’ve heard many versions of Cinderella, but they all end with Cinderella living happily ever after, and her stepsisters and stepmother live out their days alone. This version was a nice surprise to find that even the step sisters ended up living happily ever after. Traditional literature, is literature that has been orally passed down from generation to generation until someone gathers up the information and creates a written story. Cinderella is one of the oldest folktales there is. In the back of the book, there is a brief history section about the story, and it says that Cinderella is over a thousand years old, with over a thousand different versions. The version I read is from the 1980, and the hand drawn illustrations provide much detail to the text. It’s a special feeling when you get to pass on such an old story to your children; my three-year-old, loves Princesses as much as I do.

Extension Ideas:
The story of Cinderella, would be a great sequence of events lesson. In my classroom, I would have various cut outs of the story, and as I read the children the story, I would ask them to place the cut outs in the correct order. This story is also a great way to introduce the concept of perspective. I would have a variety of different versions of Cinderella in the classroom, and after reading a few, I would invite the students to look at the other versions, and how both the text and the pictures could tell a different story. Lastly, I am an advocate for imaginative play in the classroom, so after reading the story, I would have props and clothes available so that as a class we can recreate the story.… (mere)

For anyone wanting to learn about the solar system without being blinded by science, this book is the ideal way to find out what’s gone on, going on, and will be going on “out there”. The author does a wonderful job in relaying facts and predictions in a manner that’s easy to follow.

Well-known planets, little-known and unknown planets, moons, stars, comets, asteroids, meteors, and the all-important sun are all given attention in this absorbing work. Each section is accompanied by photos or artists’ impressions of the amazing entities that play their part in our diverse solar system.

I was interested in astronomy as a child, though was never into the real technical stuff, like x + y = “Eh?” I say that with no disrespect to the talented scientists, it’s just something that I fail to grasp.

Anyway, my interest in astronomy has remained with me into adulthood, albeit more in the background, but having recently completed a free online course about all the moons in our solar system I found myself wanting to learn more. After reading “New Solar System” my old interest in astronomy has become a fascination. It’s incredible what advances have been made in the last decade or so, and more have been made since this text was published in 2009.

Truth really is stranger than fiction.

Can’t really praise this one high enough. I knew after the first few pages that this would be a five-star book.

A magnificent read.… (mere)