Prince Cinders ends up looking like a big hairy monkey, although when he looks in the mirror he views himself rather differently. Unfortunately, although she is well-meaning, she is rather inept (and grubby to boot) and the mistakes she makes with her spells to transform him have most unexpected results.

One Saturday night, a small dirty fairy falls down the chimney and promises Prince Cinders that all his wishes will come true. True to the original's ugly sisters, all this trio of bullies ever do is live the high life, whilst poor Prince Cinders cleans and scrubs and tidies up after them. The next page intoduces his three big hairy brothers, who are “always teasing him about his looks”, and the accompanying illustration is of their three fatuous, self-satisfied, grinning faces in close-up. Here he is on the first page, looking rather self-conscious and embarrassed. He was small, spotty, scruffy and skinny.”Īnd indeed he is. “Prince Cinders was not much of a prince. The book is hilarious, very silly, and takes only a few minutes to read. Prince Cinders is our hero, and in the scene shown he is not losing his glass slipper, but his trousers. The cover alone gives you a big clue as to its feel. Based on Charles Perrault's 'Little Glass Slipper', it twists the story, providing the reader with a revision which qualifies as a fractured tale, rather than a parody. The picture book of Prince Cinders is different again. 'Cinderella' is one of the worlds best known fairy tales, with its origins lost in antiquity, although the modern version as we broadly know it was first transcribed by Charles Perrault in 1697. She lives in Lincolnshire with a menagerie of animals.How do you feel about the story of 'Cinderella'? Do you fall into a dream-like swoon? Or do you conversely feel a great yawn coming on at the prospect? Babette won The Kurt Maschler Prize for DROP DEAD!.

She has produced animated storyboards for the BBC, illustrated numerous greetings cards and books by other authors as well as her own. funny, unrestricted and totally unforgettable' Independent on Sunday.īabette Cole graduated from Canterbury College of Art in 1973 and has been a writer and illustrater ever since.

Find out how Princess Smartypants fights to preserve her independence in this hilarious fairy-tale-with-a-difference. But being a rich and pretty princess means that all the princes want her to be their Mrs. Princess Smartypants does not want to get married. Babette Cole's riotously funny picture book, Princess Smartypants.

Prince Cinders by Babette Cole