Cinder Edna

Got a daughter with an identity crisis? If she's waiting for her handsome prince, but her feet are too big for glass slippers and are planted firmly on the ground, Cinder Edna is the role model for her. A '90s kind of girl who doesn't sit around waiting for a fairy godmother (she takes the bus to the ball), Edna will delight readers of all ages with her practical approach to life. And who wants a boring handsome prince, anyway, when an Edna-esque guy makes for a perfect match?! A must-read for every girl (and every would-be prince who needs to get his head on straight)!

Karen Bridgers ([email protected])

I loved this book! It teaches children self-reliance. It also teaches that dreams are attainable, good looks are over-rated, situations and people aren't always as they appear, and that with a little planning we can make good things happen for us & don't need a fairy godmother to rescue us. I read it to my 4-year old daughter and she loved it. After reading Cinder Edna, I'll never read her the original version of Cinderella.

Funny, engaging, and has a strong counter-character to Cinderella. Another help in my parenting attempts to have my daughter grow up strong and owning her destiny instead of buying into the "I must look pretty and wait for my metaphorical prince to come and rescue me" princess stereotype.

I'm a father, by the way.

This book is great if you can handle Cinderella being made fun of a bit. The overall message is that there is no need to be a damsel in distress when you are strong, spunky, and know a few good jokes. It teaches that happiness isn't just for the pretty girls who have a handsome prince come to the rescue, but the girl who isn't so pretty can claim happiness by taking initiative, working hard, and being smart. Love it!

I was hoping this wouldn't be just another version of Cinderella. You know, the same story, with the same outcome, just different illustrations. It wasn't. This book tells the story of two women and shows you their fates. Actually there are lessons to be learned from this book. Super cute. My daughter loves it!!!

... This is a great book-- the message is not feminist. ...[It's]about making your dreams come true versus waiting around for them to come true; about being sensible rather than trying to live a fairy tale. While Cinderella gets lucky, Cinder Edna makes her own luck. Cinderella cries at her misfortune and dreams of a prince to save her, but Cinder Edna makes lemonade out of her lemons, and also gets a prince.
The book is a little long for the younger set-- my four-year-old can barely sit through it unless I read it fast, hence the one objection I have about pronouncing "Cinder Edna".

I bought this book for my teen girls because I love it so much!
This book is wonderful. It supports what I am working so hard to teach my girls. Along with industry, thrift and hard work, I am working to teach them about their value. Go Cinder Edna!

Thank you Ellen Jackson for a wonderful story and to Kevin O'Malley for the great illustrations!

I am a teenager and I read this book as part of an assignment in class. The book of Cinder Edna shows the plasticy-type "teenager," with a perfect, paper thin look, versus the homely, sensible girl with character. Cinderella marries the prince and has to sit through royal meetings and all of that, and Cinder Edna gets to marry the not-so-handsome prince and live happily. and have fun.

Any teen like me who ISNT one of the pretty or popular girls will get a boost of self-esteem when they read this book. I would reccomend this book to be in psychologist's offices and anorexic hospitals and the like ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.

I loved Cinder Edna. Your child will too.

Can't recommend this book highly enough for females of all ages. Cinder Edna is an incentive to become an actor in life, taking joy in doing, being, and sharing. The Cinderella story, on the other hand, emphasizes the superficial, and her value is obtained by being picked as the most beautiful by a prince. There's nothing wrong with beauty, but that's not where one will find happiness. I want my daughter and granddaughter to live their lives to the fullest, and Cinder Edna is a excellent role model of that. An inspiration for little girls and an awakening for women who have spent their whole lives wishing to be Cinderella.

What a refreshing retelling of an old tale, especially for todays young girls. Being a big-footed mother of a big-footed young daughter, we both enjoyed this fun story. Cinder-Edna doesn't wine around about all that has been bestowed upon her. Instead, she makes the best of the situation and takes matters into her own hands. Spunky and spry, Edna ends up living happily ever after while beautiful Cinderalla lives with her beautiful husband in beautifully boring bliss!

This is a marvelous remake of the Cinderalla story. While Cinderella goes through the usual romance and is "won" by the Prince, she ends up a bored socialite with an egotistical husband (who had to resort to finding her by her shoe size; it never occurred to him to ask her name!). Her sister, Cinderedna, in contrast, is practical (takes the bus to the ball), funny, and truly lives happily ever after with the Prince's younger brother.

A MUST for every little girl.

I've had this book for years, long before I was married and had a little girl. As I was going through my books, I found this and started reading it to my 3 1/2 year old a few days ago. She can't get enough of it! It might be a little above her head in parts, but it sparks good discussion.

It really is the "anti-Cinderella"....finally a female character that rescues herself! What a wonderful heroine for a young girl. I highly recommend this book to parents who, like my husband and I, are totally fed up with princess stories that seem to dominate store bookshelves.

Sure, there are plenty of retellings and variations on "Cinderella", but this one takes the cake. It compares the fates of TWO victims of cruel stepmothers and wicked stepsisters. Bringing the story up to date gives it a deliciously anachronistic feel, and the narrative pokes some sly and well-deserved fun at the original. The hilarious illustrations enhance the text perfectly. Don't let the fact that "Cinder Edna" is aimed at young children keep you away. This is one of the funniest and cleverest books to come along in a long time.

I bought this book for my 6 year old niece for Xmas 2005. It quickly became her favorite book. We must have re-read it over and over about 12 times during Christmas and we laughed every single time. All little girls are familiar with the story of Cinderella, but this one still keeps the original intact and adds a differnt perspective to the mix. I loved it and could not recommend the book enough. The book sends a positive message to little girls who can be so impressionable. Please buy it for all the little girls in your life!!

Yes, a great book for girls 5 and up! Funny, ask your daughter who she thinks she is after reading the story a few times. Then ask her opinion on who she thinks you are. Ha, ha, you may get a good laugh!

I wouldn't worry about any feminist undertones, I want my daughter to grow up and marry someone who not only cares about the environment, but someone smart enought to make enough money so he can support his wife and children and have extra money for (a lot of) fun with the family.

This wonderful and funny version of the Cinderella story is about a girl with spunk, imagination and drive. She ends up happier than the girl who is pretty, but dependent and needy. It's a must-read for every young girl. I bought one for all my daughter, the school library and my friends' little girls.

This is on our favorite book list. It is great! The message is multi-leveled, so the young ones will like the different Cinderella thing. Teens need the message it sends, and adults will also enjoy the message and the quirky, fun illustrations. You can miss with this book!

This is a book used as a battering ram. Throughout the book, the author compares Edna, a homely, politically correct young feminist with the classical fairy tale character, Cinderella except this Cinderella is seen through a post-modern, radical feminist lense. Don't get me wrong, I love books about strong females doing amazing things, but I do not appreciate books that try to tear apart classic stories because they are just not PC enough for those who are ignorant of the symbolism and moral goodness of fairy tales. This is basically the point of this book. The author portrays Cinderella as a helpless woman who gets by on her looks while Edna is interesting and self-reliant although she is plain and dumpy. The prince is conceited and boring. While his less than stellar looking brother is funny and interesting. (Although what is interesting about dumb jokes and militant recycling, I'll never quite understand.) I couldn't find anything to like about this one and although I finished reading it to my daughter, I wished I hadn't started it in the first place. I honestly hated this book, and I rarely hate books. The classic Cinderella has stood the test of time and will continue being a classic long after this generation is dead and gone; whereas this book is a flash in the pan that will go out of style with the next new social fad that comes along. My advice: don't waste your time.

My husband and I were totally disappointed with this book -- it is honestly going in the trash. Cool pictures, but that's really it.

The overall story line follows the same one as Cinderella, including some of the parts that I like least -- falling in love at first sight, getting married right away. The revision of the story lacks creativity or subtlety: "And the girl who had been know as Cinder Edna ended up in a small cottage with solar heating...".

Worst for us is that to prop up Cinder Edna, the author ends up characterizing Cinderella as a stupid, frilly dolt: "Meanwhile, Cinderella's big, bright eyes brimmed with tears. 'But, Fairy Godmother, how will I get to the ball?' The fairy godmother was surprised that her goddaughter couldn't seem to figure anything out for herself". I was looking for an improvement over the Cinderella story, not a total bashing of the girl Cinderella, who in the original story is kind, thoughtful and hopeful.

Hate the Cinderella story and its concept all you want. Don't hate on the little girl herself -- that's another bad example little girls don't need.

I got this book for my daughter because it's supposed to be an empowering book for little girls where the "princess" doesn't depend on a prince to save herself. I was very disappointed to find that Cinder Edna's triumphs are all compared to Cinder Ella's failures. Cinderella is portrayed as self indulgent, vapid, stupid, and these things are played for comedy. I felt the tone was very judgmental and really quite mean towards Cinderella's desire to be pretty and her use of the fairy godmother. I like Cinder Edna's part of the story but it wasn't necessary to be cruel about Cinderella to be proud of Cinder Edna's spunk.

Overall I was disappointed and will not be reading this to my daughter again.

I just read this to my grand daughter, sort of. I didn't buy it she asked me to read it to her. A liberal relative gave it to her. The first page I came to had propaganda about recycling and solar panels. That was an immediate turn off to me and showed the author to be pushing his liberal agenda. So to the author, .....the rest of your message was lost because you had to insert your environmental liberal ideology in your message. It was also quite apparent that you have a disdain for wealth producers and the free market. Typical liberal brainwashing is all I saw in this book. No worries I did what you liberals like to do... I censored the liberal BS while reading to her.. By the way, my daughter is an independent successful business owner who embraces free market capitalism. She had not read the book so I forewarned her. Your message is great (Sarcasm if you didn't notice) ... embrace mediocrity and don't bother reaching for greatness as it is unattainable.