Book Reviews

Yeh-Shen A Cinderella story from China retold

Retold by Ai-Ling Louie 

Illustrated by Ed Young 

We all know the Disney classic version of Cinderella. I had heard of both the German version written by the Grimm Brothers and the Chinese ones since 8th grade. My favorite is the German one because of what happens to the step mother and step sisters but this one comes as a close second. I had also gotten the Korean Cinderella from the library and I plan on reading that so I can write a review on that too to tell you what I think. 

Throughout history and in different cultures there have been a version of Cinderella. In every version you can see similarities but there are a lot of differences in each version. I feel that the main similarity in the three Cinderellas I have already knew The Disney one, the German one, and the Chinese one is the slipper. What makes the slipper different is that in the Chinese one the slippers are gold. In the Disney one the slippers are glass. There is no fairy godmother in either the German one or the Chinese one. In Yeh-Shen there is a fish. This version start of in the same way as the others with her mother passing away, the father remarried and then he died and she had to be raised by the step mother. In this one she only has one step sister. Yeh-Shen had a pet fish but then the step mother found out about the fish and killed it. Then an old man came and told her about the fish bones and how magical they are. He told her "Whenever you are in serious need, you must kneel before them and let them know your heart desire. But do not waste their gifts." So I guess you could say this old man would be like the fair god mother but he only appear that one time to tell Yeh-Shen of her fish. Another difference is instead of a ball there is a festival and instead of the prince it's the king. After the festival she of course had lost her slipper and the King would look for the girl that can fit the slipper. When he found Yeh-Shen they lived happily ever after and like the German one, the step mother and step sister were punished but not as Grimm. How they were punish was Yeh-Shen couldn't bring them with her to the palace and that they had to stay in their cave home. Where one day, it is said, they were crushed to death in a shower of flying stones. 

I really liked this version and I think you should go to your public library or a library at your school and check it out if they have it. It's a easy ready and it's really good.