Review - Cinderella Penguin: or, The Little Glass Flipper

Cinderella Penguin: or, The Little Glass Flipper
by Janet Perlman
Date: 1992
Publisher: Crow Cottage Publishing
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

The most romantic penguin tale ever told!

Here is the classic tale of Cinderella, featuring a cast of penguins. Poor Cinderella Penguin. Her stepmother and stepsisters are off to the Penguin Prince's ball, and she's left behind and feeling very sad. That is, until the Great Fairy Penguin arrives to grant her greatest wish. Cinderella Penguin is going to the ball! Based on the Academy Award-nominated NFB animated film, this is a Cinderella story for the 21st century.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

At this point, if you're going to retell a fairy tale, you need to be able to bring something new or different to it. Either that, or the illustrations need to be spectacular. This book just didn't get there for me, as it's a basic retelling with very few changes from the original and the illustrations are nothing special.

This is just "Cinderella" but with penguins in all the roles. Even the mice and horses are penguins. The only thing that's a little different is that when the Prince's footmen come looking for Cinderella, her family shoves her in the cellar and her foot gets caught sticking out of the cellar door; when the stepsisters fight over the glass flipper and drop it, it lands squarely on her foot, fitting perfectly. You can guess the rest.

Maybe this was original when it was first published in 1992, but there have been so many fairy tale retellings in recent years that I suspect there are probably some better ones out there. This one is pretty weak. The penguins' expressions are kind of goofy and the book tells the story fairly well, but it's not something I'd particularly want to read again.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 1/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 2.33 out of 5