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    Cinderella Liberator
    Cinderella Liberator
    Cinderella Liberator
    Ebook46 pages26 minutes

    Cinderella Liberator

    By Rebecca Solnit and Arthur Rackham

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    “What would the world look like if girls grew up reading fairytales made from the magic they carry inside themselves? Breathtakingly beautiful, is what.” —Lidia Yuknavich, national bestselling author
     
    In her debut children’s book, Rebecca Solnit reimagines a classic fairytale with a fresh, feminist Cinderella and new plot twists that will inspire young readers to change the world, featuring gorgeous silhouettes from Arthur Rackham on each page.
     
    In this modern twist on the classic story, Cinderella, who would rather just be Ella, meets her fairy godmother, goes to a ball, and makes friends with a prince. But that is where the familiar story ends. Instead of waiting to be rescued, Cinderella learns that she can save herself and those around her by being true to herself and standing up for what she believes.
     
    “Being a princess is absolutely fine if that’s what you choose. It’s having those choices taken away from you that make for big problems. Cinderella in Solnit’s book is given that choice. She’s allowed to say what her dreams are, and then she goes out and attains them. And they’re not huge ridiculous dreams but small, happy, manageable ones. Ultimately, that’s the gift Ms. Solnit is giving kids with this book.” —School Library Journal
     
    “This is a reminder of hope and possibility, of kindness and compassion, and—perhaps most salient—imagination and liberty. Through the imaginations of our childhoods, can we find our true selves liberated in adulthood?” —Chelsea Handler

    “This is, hands down, a wonderful book—one that even the jaded reader will clasp upon completion with a contented sigh.” —The New York Times

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateMay 7, 2019
    ISBN9781642591194
    Author

    Rebecca Solnit

    REBECCA SOLNIT is the author of more than twenty books, including Orwell’s Roses; Hope in the Dark; Men Explain Things to Me; A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster; and A Field Guide to Getting Lost. A longtime climate and human rights activist, she serves on the board of the climate group Oil Change International, and the advisory boards of Dayenu and Third Act.

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    Reviews for Cinderella Liberator

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Great contemporary retelling of the Cinderella story by Solnit, kind of a Stories for Free Children (dating myself here) for the new century. If I had youngsters I would definitely read them this... guess I'll just hold out for grandchildren someday. In the meantime it was fun, though, and I love her use of Arthur Rackham's original--and totally timeless--illustrations.
    • 5/5
      I loved everything about this - both the retelling and the vintage illustrations. It's a super-charming version that values friendship and accepting people for who they are and the potential they have within them. in In this version, Cinderella, the Prince, and at least one of the stepsisters come to realize what makes them happiest and are 'liberated' by pursuing a path and life that is fulfilling to them. This is a generous version in which everyone can attain their own version of a happily ever after.It is refreshingly positive, encouraging and motivating, without being wedded to gender role stereotypes for those who follow the beat of a different drummer OR resorting to bashing conventional perspectives for those who are more traditionally-inclined. If I was curating a small library of things everyone should read at least once, this would be in it. Recommended.
    • 3/5
      I appreciated this retelling in that it didn't really change the story as much as modernize it and give the characters more agency to find what they want to do with their lives. Solnit's short afterward/explanation at the end of the book was very informative. I also loved her choice to bring Rackham's watercolor silhouettes to a modern book.
    • 5/5
      full of positivity and awe to people, just like me, who have been brought up and lived in one stereotypical world.
    • 5/5
      An amazing retelling. Wise and enhanting. I sit taller for the reading of it.
    • 4/5
      I was first drawn to Cinderella Liberator because of the author, Rebecca Solnit. I have found her other books to be very informative while also being enjoyable reads. In this case, I was not disappointed.

      Like any retelling this will have pluses and minuses for each reader. Partly because fairy tales fall into that middle ground, in spite of the whitewashing and "cleaning up" that has culminated with Disney being most associated with them. They were never meant strictly for children, they were meant for both children and adults (the ones who have to repeat them ad nauseam) and, since children weren't quite so coddled when fairy tales were first being told, they weren't all sweetness and bubble gum. So as contemporary readers we tend to lament that they are either to much for the children and don't serve whatever purpose we think they should, or they are too much for the adults and again don't serve the purpose we think they should. Given that, most readers will easily find something to complain about, that is the easy part. Complaining and pointing out flaws has become second nature in contemporary society and often confused for intelligent discourse. So, yes, this book, in places, appeals more to the children (repetition and basic tropes adults grow tired of) and appeals more to adults (clear lessons we might think are important, certain humorous asides). The funny thing is, even those generalizations don't hold because we want lessons there FOR the children whether they notice or enjoy that part, and the repetition, for an adult reading a fairy tale as a fairy tale, the repetition should, for an active reader, take them back to when they were young and enjoyed that aspect of fairy tales. It is part of why we still enjoy reading them to our children.

      Having gotten by all the obvious and easy targets for "critique" I really just want to say that if you want a retelling of the Cinderella story that serves as both a bedtime story for small children (this can't realistically be compared, favorably or not, with retellings meant for middle school or older) and a story that gives lessons that are more pertinent to this period in history, this will be a wonderful option for you. If, however, you just want to compare and contrast with real or imagined retellings that aren't even aimed at the same demographic, well, this might make you feel pretty smart, though not likely in the eyes of those you whine to.

      Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.

    Book preview

    Cinderella Liberator - Rebecca Solnit

    Cinderella

    Liberator

    Rebecca Solnit

    •
    with illustrations by

    Arthur Rackham

    Text © 2019 Rebecca Solnit

    Illustrations by Arthur Rackham

    Published in 2019 by Haymarket Books

    P.O. Box 180165, Chicago, IL 60618

    www.haymarketbooks.org

    ISBN: 978-1-64259-119-4

    Haymarket Books offers discounts for organizations

    and schools for orders of ten copies or more.

    Cover design by Abby Weintraub. Book design

    by Abby Weintraub and Rachel Cohen. 

    Typeset in William Maxwell and 14pt Hoefler Text.

    Illustrations based on Arthur Rackham’s

    paintings appearing in the 1919 edition of

    Cinderella and the 1920 edition of Sleeping Beauty,

    both published by William Heineman, London,

    and J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia.

    1

    The Cinders

    Once upon a time there was a girl named Cinderella. She was called Cinderella because she slept by the fireplace in the kitchen of a great house and sometimes the cinders burned holes in her clothes. (A cinder is another

    name for a red-hot bit of wood from the fire.) Her clothes were old and worn and tattered.

    She slept there because she was in the kitchen cooking and washing all day and because she did not have a bedroom. She did kitchen work all day because her stepmother made her do it. Her stepmother made her do it all, because even though there was plenty for everyone, and plenty of people to do the work, her stepmother believed there was not enough for everyone. And she wanted lots for her own two daughters, Pearlita and Paloma. (Nobody asked what Cinderella or Pearlita or Paloma wanted.)

    Sometimes Cinderella was sad and wanted to go play with other children. Sometimes she was happy to go to the market to buy eggs from the chicken lady and apples from the apple farmer and

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