I know the title says “13” picture books about Cinderella, but if you follow me to the end I’ve added additional titles on the topic. Needless to say, there are so many good options for studying the Cinderella fairy tale that you’re bound to find a few that resonate with your educational purposes.
We worked through a year-long unit on folktales, and we decided to work with one fairy tale (Cinderella, obviously) rather than read a variety. We did this partially because my girls were already familiar with a range of fairy tales, and because I wanted to encourage conversations around what is the same and what is different – both for the genre and for cultural expectations.
As we read through these picture books about Cinderella, we kept a large chart so we could identify certain aspects of the stories that are common in fairy tales as well as distinctions that the books brought to light.
The similarities that emerged were of a person challenged by life’s circumstances who escapes through his or her unlikely pairing with another person, aided by magical assistance. How they meet, what draws them together, and how they connect in the end is all up for interpretation and imagination.
13 Picture Books about Cinderella
The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo
The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo
Cendrillon by Robert D. San Souci
The Irish Cinderlad by Shirley Climo
The Golden Sandal by Rebecca Hickox
Adelita by Tomie de Paola
Cindy Ellen: A Wild Western Cinderella by Susan Lowell
The Salmon Princess by Mindy Dwyer
Sootface by Robert D. San Souci
Jouanah: A Hmong Cinderella by Jewell Coburn
Anklet for a Princess by Lila Mehta
Bubba the Cowboy Prince by Helen Ketteman
Fair, Brown & Trembling by Jude Daly
13 More Picture Book Recommendations
13 picture books about Cinderella is not the end of the reading line. These were just the books that we could find at our local library.
I had another 13 on my list from my initial research that I would have liked to include but couldn’t find. Some are silly, some are global, and some are just-for-fun variations.
All that to say, swap some of these titles out if you’d like to study Cinderella in depth but can’t access some of the titles in my original group. These look like a good variety on the tale also!
Cinderella by Marcia Brown
Cinderella: Stories Around the World by Carl Meister
Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella by Paul Fleischman
Smokey Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella by Alan Schroeder
The Gift of the Crocodile by Judy Sierra
The Persian Cinderella by Shirley Climo
Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story by Ai-Ling Louie
Cinderella: A Fashionable Tale by Steven Guarnaccia
Gospel Cinderella by Joyce Carol Thomas
Kongi and Potgi: a Cinderella Story from Korea by Oki S. Han
Abadeha: the Philippine Cinderella adapted by Myrna J. de la Paz
The Way Meat Loves Salt by Nina Jaffe
Cendrillon: a Cajun Cinderella by Sheila Hebert Collins
So, all in all, over 25 picture books to read on a beloved fairy tale echoing around the world. For a list of the folktales we read from around the world as part of our unit study, read 18 Must-Read Folktales for Kids.
Your Turn…
Do you have a favorite book from this group? Any other Cinderella recommendations that you’ve used in your own reading time?
Have you studied one particular fairy tale before that has different versions from around the world?
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