A southwestern Cinderella story with a twist. "Way out West, where dreams come true, lived a poor cowboy named Joe Cinders." Joe does all the chores while his mean stepbrothers, Buck, Bart, and Butch Bronco, spend their days counting buzzards in the sky. When pretty Miss Rosalinda invites them to her fall fiesta, the Bronco boys are determined that one of them will sashay her up to the preacher. Poor Joe is left at home to watch the cattle. Suddenly a mysterious fella in baggy overalls appears, and with a few waves of his crooked stick Joe is ready to knock Miss Rosalinda off her feet--if the escaped prize bull doesn't do it first. This hilarious southwestern Cinderella story will make every reader wish for a fairy godfella. Kindergarten-Grade 2-Another retelling of a traditional fairy tale, dressed up in Western clothes, and with a sex change. Joe Cinders is a picked-on little ranch hand suffering under the tyranny of his lazy stepbrothers. An invitation to the fiesta at the big ranch arrives, but poor Joe is left out. His stepbrothers have heard that Miss Rosalinda is "scouting for a husband" and they think they've got the inside track. But they haven't reckoned on a mysterious stranger who magically produces nice new duds, a shiny red pickup truck, a pack of prairie dogs turned into cowboys for help, and a warning to be back by midnight. When the fireworks start, Joe skedaddles, leaving one of his red boots behind. A few days later, Miss Rosalinda comes looking for its owner, and you know the rest. Langdo's watercolor cartoons are light and cheerful, showing the sad, overworked, but ultimately triumphant boy and his bullying brothers set against a Western landscape. Younger readers familiar with the traditional form of the story will enjoy noting the similarities and differences. Ruth Semrau, Upshur County Public Library, Gilmer, TX Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. PreS-Gr. 3. This Wild West version of the Cinderella story, with cowpoke Joe and three ornery stepbrothers in starring roles, is a hoot. Joe Cinders moves in with the ugly Bronco brothers after his parents are swept away in a gully washer. The brothers spend their days counting buzzards while poor Joe does the work. Joe is miserable (underscored by the flat desert colors used in the pictures and the bare, barbed-wire landscapes) until the Broncos are invited to wealthy Miss Rosalinda's fall fiesta. On party night, as Joe sits dejectedly on his swayback horse, a comet swirls into view, delivering Joe's fairy godsomething, a fat little guy in a sombrero and serape who jolts Joe into spanking-new jeans and transforms his horse into a shiny, red pickup. Of course, Joe has to vamoose when the fireworks start at midnight, but he leaves behind a cowboy boot. How Miss Rosalinda and Joe get together and how the Broncos fare after that make for a clever, satisfying ending. An effective, thorough makeover with plenty of hearty laughs. Connie Fletcher Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Marianne Mitchell kicked up her boots on a desert ranch called the Rafter Five when she was a child. Now she spends her time wrangling with writing and roping in readers for her stories. She's living happily ever after with her husband and her two cow-dogs in Tucson, Arizona. Bryan Langdo is the author and illustrator of The Dog Who Loved the Good Life . Since there aren't many ranches in New Jersey where he lives, Bryan had lots of fun watching Westerns and eating popcorn while he researched the illustrations for this book. Used Book in Good Condition