"McClintock's pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations emulate old-fashioned wood engravings, and the traditional story seems suffused with magic...A splendid (and kindspirited) retelling of a well-known tale." - Publishers Weekly, starred review Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 4–McClintock's faithful adaptation combines readable text and enchanting pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations filled with minute details of architecture and dress from the era of Louis XIV. The artist's aesthetic sense is evident in the layout of text and illustrations, for she has carefully placed pages of vignettes–some of them quite humorous–as breathers between the larger, more detailed spreads. The smoothly flowing story, lightened by snippets of conversation, has been divided so that each page has more white space and artwork than print. This fresh, appealing version of the perennial favorite belongs in every collection. –Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. K-Gr. 3. Here's a gentle version of Perrault's classic tale: no stepsister cuts off her toes to fit a shoe and everyone is forgiven at the end. McClintock places her sweet Cinderella in the Paris of Louis XIV , with period fashion and interior and architectural detail from Versailles and the Paris Opera. Pen, india ink, and watercolor make for delightful dancing lines and exquisite color: Cinderella's first ball gown is a profusion of roses under a plum overskirt, and her hair is decorated with a huge rose trellis. The stepsisters, one fat and one thin (both mean), and the prince, a graceful boy in a powdered wig, make a pleasing supporting cast. Cinderella's little gray cat appears on almost every page. GraceAnne DeCandido Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Hb 9/05 Barbara McClintock, reteller Cinderella; illus. by the reteller 32 pp. Scholastic 10/05 ISBN 0-439-56145-0 $15.99 g (Primary) McClintock's pre-ball Cinderella looks as if she's stepped out of the pages of a Kate Greenaway picture book; despite her tattered clothing, she is all innocence and sweetness. The lavish furnishings and costumes, however, clearly set this version of the Perrault tale in the magnificent French court of Louis XIV. In McClintock's intricate pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations, bedrooms boast canopied beds with ornate velvet draping, gold mirrors adorn the boudoirs, and crystal chandeliers hang from palace ceilings. McClintock pays no less attention to the clothing and coiffures of the day: all the female gentry appear in beribboned gowns, their male counterparts in lacy cutaways; both sport fashionable powdered wigs. To balance the grandeur of the court and accent the humility and goodness of Cinderella, a plain gray cat, unidentified in the unpretentious text, accompanies Cinderella throughout her travails -- to be rewarded on the final page, following Cinderella's marriage to the prince, with a gilded, richly upholstered chair. S.P.B. Kirkus 9/15/05 CINDERELLA Author: McClintock, Barbara McClintock adapts Charles Perrault's version of the familiar tale, taking inspiration from the fashionable pretensions of the court of Louis XIV for her richly detailed watercolor and line illustrations. Her retelling is lively but economical, the better to allow the fulsome double-page spreads and episodic spot illustrations to reign. For several spreads, McClintock depicts two linked scenes. In one, Cinderella lies on a sleeping pallet in her crumbling upstairs garret while the two stepsisters, wielding hairbrushes and face cream, preen before a soaring, gilded mirror in their richly appointed bedchamber. While children will enjoy McClintock's tiny liberties with Perrault's narrative (Cinderella's godmother transforms the pumpkin with the magic words "FOOMUS BALOOMUS!"), they will be most apt to pore over the pictures, locating Cinderella's cat in the domestic scenes, noting the stepsisters' over-the-top coiffures and ball gowns and spotting the godmother, glowing wand in hand, as she observes from a distance Cinderella's garden wedding. Charming. (source note) (Picture book/fairy tale. 5-8) SLJ 10/05 Starred *MCCLINTOCK, Barbara, retel. Cinderella. illus. by retel. unpaged. CIP. Scholastic. Oct. 2005. RTE $15.99. ISBN 0-439-56145-0. LC 2003024883. K-Gr 4–McClintock's faithful adaptation combines readable text and enchanting pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations filled with minute details of architecture and dress from the era of Louis XIV. The artist's aesthetic sense is evident in the layout of text and illustrations, for she has carefully placed pages of vignettes–some of them quite humorous–as “breathers” between the larger, more detailed spreads. The smoothly flowing story, lightened by snippets of conversation, has been divided so that each page has more white space and artwork than print. This fresh, appealing version of the perennial favorite