Cinderella Penguin: A Fractured Fairytale

Cinderella Penguin by Janet Perlman is twisted version of the Disney Cinderella. While it follows the same story line as the normal Cinderella, a young girl who must be a maid for her step mother and step sisters that has a fairy godmother. Once the fairy godmother has made Cinderella into a beautiful ball ready girl she meets a prince that falls in love with her, searches for her by the shoe she left, and marries her. However, in Cinderella Penguin, the story is about a penguin rather than a girl.
 Perlman does a great job illustrating and writing this book. While the language does have extremely simple language, it is simple enough that young readers have little to no difficulty reading this story. The use of slightly more advanced language, allows the students to broaden their language barriers. While the illustrations are very colorful and straight forward, they add a great visuals to the story which allows the students to see the story progress as they read.
Other books written by Perlman include:
  • The Penguin and The Pea
  • Emperor Penguin's New Clothes
  • The Delicious Bug
  • Rabbit on Bear Mountian 
Discussion Questions:

1. Compare and contrast the original story of Cinderella and Cinderella Penguin.
2. How would you put your own spin on the story of Cinderella?

Motivational Activities:
  • Create your own fractured fairy tale based on the story of Cinderella.
  • Create a triple Venn Diagram based on Disney's Cinderella, Hans Christian Anderson's Cinderella and Cinderella Penguin. 
References:
Perlman, J. (1994). Cinderella Penguin. Oxford University Press.

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