Cinderella--with Dogs!

Linda Bailey (lindabaileybooks.com) is the author of more than thirty-five books for children. Her picture books and novels have been published all over the world and have won multiple awards across North America, including the California Young Readers Medal, the Ontario Blue Spruce and Silver Birch Awards, the Arthur Ellis Crime Writers Award, and the Georgia Picture Book Award. Linda lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, close to the sea.Freya Hartas (freyahartas.co.uk) is a UK-based illustrator of children’s books. She lives in the vibrant city of Bristol with her partner and their ancient black cat Katsu and works from her cozy, cluttered desk in a shared studio down the road. Upon graduating from Falmouth University with a BA in illustration in 2014, Freya won The Roald Dahl Funny Prize Award. Freya would probably consider herself more of a cat person, but she very much enjoyed drawing all the silly dogs in this book!

“Who doesn’t love a good “furry tail”? . . . ‘Cinderella’ details get ‘doggified,’ and the ball ends up being a howl in more ways than one. Spoiler alert: There’s a twist on the glass-slipper-leading-to-marriage ending. Not to worry. This one’s much better—and involves squirrels. This rollicking story will arouse plenty of giggles as young readers enumerate the ways in which it veers from the original. Adults can encourage little ones to think of how ‘Cinderella’ might work with other animals subbing in for the fairy godmother. The imaginative, colorful digital illustrations burst with energy and expressiveness. . . . The brown, floppy-eared, tutu-wearing dogmother is adorably memorable. A barking good time will be had by all.” —Kirkus Reviews“Although the jaunty text ruff-ly follows the traditional tale, in the end, Cinderella exhibits independence with a prince she likes but doesn’t know well enough to marry. Cheery, cartoonish illustrations lend to the cleverness in this feminist, fractured fairy tale.” —Booklist“Something gets hilariously lost in translation in Bailey’s fairy tale retelling, in which a cat lady Cinderella makes a wish for a fairy godmother and instead gets a pink-tutued fairy dogmother (‘WOOF!’). . . . Additional humor abounds in Hartas’s depictions of Cinderella’s multiple cats and the exuberant pack of palace pooches who bowl Cinderella over with kisses.” —Publishers Weekly