The Irish Cinderlad

by Shirley Climo, Loretta Krupinski (Illustrator)

Ever since he was a baby, Becan's only worry has been his big feet - until his widowed father remarries. His new stepmother and her three daughters feed him crusts of bread and banish him to work in the fields. So Becan runs away.
With the help of his only friend, a magical bull, he defeats a giant, slays a dragon, and rescues a princess. But before she can thank him, Becan disappears, leaving behind him one of his enormous boots. The princess scours the kingdom for the owner of the giant boot. Will Becan's feet give him away? And what will his fate be if they do?
Folklorist Shirley Climo retells an age-old Irish tale that is an unusual twist on the popular Cinderella story. Just like his female counterpart, Becan has a mean stepmother and stepsisters. Unlike Cinderella, Becan has large feet and a magical bull for a fairy godmother. He defeats a sword-swinging giant, slays a fire-breathing dragon, and rescues a princess. But before the princess can thank him, he runs off, leaving her with only an enormous boot to aid her in the search for her rescuer. And, as in all Cinderella stories, true love prevails.

Genres: Picture Books, Cinderella, Fairy Tales, Childrens, Fantasy, Ireland, Folklore

32 pages, Paperback

First published February 29, 1996

About the author

Shirley Climo was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1928. She attended DePauw University until her mother died unexpectedly in 1949. She dropped out of college and took up her mother's work writing scripts for the weekly WGAR-Radio children's program Fairytale Theatre. During her lifetime, she wrote 24 books including The Korean Cinderella; Magic and Mischief: Tales from Cornwall; A Treasury of Princesses: Princess Tales from Around the World; A Treasury of Mermaids: Mermaid Tales from Around the World; and Someone Saw a Spider: Spider Facts and Folktales. She died on August 25, 2012 at the age of 83.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

An evocative, descriptive retelling of an Irish Cinderella-type fairy tale, featuring a male Cinderella (and yes, author Shirley Climo is actually combining two traditional Irish tales here), I have quite enjoyed Shirely Climo's The Irish Cinderlad, both as a tale in and of itself, but also and for me even more importantly, as an interesting addition to the many Cinderella type folktales that can be found throughout Europe and beyond.

Now in the excellent and massively informative author's note for The Irish Cinderlad, Shirley Climo states that tales of male Cinderellas can be found in Scandinavia, England, Hungary, the Balkans, as well as in India, Japan and Africa (and my own personal collections of global fairy tales also contain quite a number of different Cinderella-type tales, including both an Estonian and a German variation that feature a distinctly male Cinderella). But one of the intriguing aspects of this particular tale, of The Irish Cinderlad is actually and in my opinion that the necessary “fairy godmother” is in fact a huge and magical bull which feeds and protects the young (and male) protagonist. And according to the author, according to Shirely Climo, the concept of a magical bull is likely Celtic in origin (as cattle were often thought to come from the sea and possess magical and mystical, divine powers). Personally though, I am by no means certain and convinced that the concept of, that the belief in magical cattle, magical animals is necessarily purely and only Celtic in origin, as I have quite a number Cinderella variations in my own fairy and folk tale collection that feature cows, bulls, sheep and even magical deer as the helpers, as the fairy godmothers of the orphaned and generally bullied heroes and heroines. And while some of these tales certainly do seem Celtic in origin, others have their origin in Afghanistan, Turkey and Greece (thus perhaps the concept of magical cattle or other types of magical hoofed animals might rather be a pan-Indo-European belief, and even ancient Turkey absolutely could and should be considered part of this diaspora, as the ancient Hittites are now considered to have been an Indo-European speaking people and while their languages are now extinct, their culture likely has retained at least some folkloristic roots even in modern Turkey and its environs).

But as much as I enjoyed and appreciated Shirely Climo’s written words (both the retold story and her notes on the Irish Cinderlad‘s genesis) the same cannot, unfortunately, be said with regard to Loretta Krumpinski's illustrations. For while the magical bulls and other animals are generally well enough drawn and even realistically depicted, there is simply too much pink and pastel colouring used throughout, rendering the pictures much too cutesy and rather insipid (at least for my own and personal aesthetic taste). And indeed, with better and more realistcally expressive illustrations, The Irish Cinderlad would have been a truly magical illustrated tale for me, but as it stands, I can only rate it with three stars, five stars for the narrative, for Climo's retelling, but only two stars for Krumpinski's accompanying pictorial offerings. I would however, my personal dislike of the illustrations notwithstanding, still highly recommend The Irish Cinderlad to and for anyone interested in variations of the Cinderella story, as it certainly is a wonderful, intriguing and imaginative rendition of the same.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know it's a fairy tale and we're supposed to accept the default culpability of "monsters", but that giant was totally minding his own business...

Anyway, kind of generic main character as usual per these tales, instalove and happy-ever-after marriage to a wealthy stranger as a reward for killing some non-humans.

Is there a version from the magical bull's pov? That sounds more interesting, although it would be sadder. The fight to the death between the two bulls seems like part of a different myth.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taken from two variants of the same Irish folktale - The Bracket Bull, found in Douglas Hyde's 1898 Four Irish Stories, and Billy Beg and His Bull, from Sara Cone Bryant's 1905 Best Stories to Tell to Children - Shirley Climo's The Irish Cinderlad follows the story of Becan, a small boy with big feet. Driven away from home by a wicked stepmother, and three unkind stepsisters, he is aided by a magical bull companion, whose sacrifice allows Becan to defeat, first an arhach**, or giant, and then a sea dragon intent on eating the king's daughter. Fleeing before the princess can thank him, but leaving behind one of his over-sized boots, Becan finds that his new royal admirer isn't content to just let him slip away...

I enjoyed this retelling of a traditional Irish tale (well, really a conflation of two tales), and was reminded, not just of the Cinderella tale type, with its identification-by-footwear motif - a parallel that the author clearly intended to emphasize, given her choice of title - but also of Norwegian folktales like Kari Woodenskirt (found in collections such as East of the Sun and West of the Moon ), and many others which also feature magical bulls that prove helpful to the protagonist. I was pleased to see that Climo had included her source material, as some of her other folkloric adaptations ( The Korean Cinderella , King of the Birds ) omit that information.

All in all, an enjoyable tale, although I can't say that Loretta Krupinski's artwork appealed to me greatly. Others might enjoy her aesthetic style more than I, of course. In any case, young readers with an interest in folklore in general, or Irish tales in particular, will undoubtedly enjoy this gender reversal of a well-known tale-type! As for me, I think I might track down an alternate retelling, Curley's Billy Beg and the Bull , just to compare and contrast.

**I thought the Irish word for giant was fathac? Or is this some alternate form...?

[MaryannP · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an irish cinderella tale with a twist. The main character is a boy named Becan whose mother raises him. HIs mom ends up passing and his dad is a peddler who was often away from his family. His dad ends up coming home with a new wife and three grown girls who become his step-sisters. The three step-sisters and step-mother made him do all the herding work and were often times mean to him.

Becan ends up befriending a bull which makes this story fantasy. The bull ends up providing Becan with food and the step-mother finds out because he doesn't touch the creed crust that she gives him for supper each night. A step-sister finds out that the bull is feeding Becan and they are determined to butcher the bull. Becan runs to warn the bull and off they go to be free. The bull ends up having to fight the grey bull and Becans bull friend dies. Becan is then greeted by a man on horseback who offers him a ride because he is in need of a cowherd.

This book shows the strength Becan has as he has to fight a giant and then a dragon. The dragon was after the kings daughter. The story then becomes similar to Cinderella again by the princess wanting to thank Becan for saving her life. Becan ends up taking off on donkey when the princess is left with his boot. The princess claimed that she will marry only the person who the boot belongs to so a royal messenger is sent off to find Becan. A year later Becan and the princess end up together and live happily ever after.

This is a nice alternative to the traditional Cinderella story but it doesn't depict Irish culture at all. If it wasn't titled, "The Irish Cinderlad", I would have never known that it took place in Ireland or was an irish tale. The author could have included better pictures/ illustrations that showed Ireland as well as incorporated more history or irish traditions. I would read this and do a compare and contrast activity with my students so they can pick out the similarities and differences in this and the traditional Cinderella story.

[LauraW · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had the money to collect Cinderella tales, as I find the cultural variations rather interesting. This one is, of course, most notable because the "Cinderella" is male. But a further variation is that the "fairy godmother" is a bull.

Unlike Gundula, I rather liked the illustrations, although the colors are very stereotypical (pink for girls; green and brown for boys).

This would be a good book for teachers to add to their collection if one of their writing projects is to take a familiar fairy tale and change it in some way. I have seen this done with the Cinderella tales, but also with The Three Little Pigs and other standard kids' fare.

Fun.

[Kathy Roderer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the reversal of gender roles in this interesting twist on the Cinderella tale. Becan has a wicked stepmother and stepsisters, and bemoans the size of his extra large feet. His “fairy godmother” is a bull who gives his life for Becan, but even after death stays with him, magically helping and protecting him. Becan is a hero, kills a giant, slays a dragon, and rescues a princess. The princess, who decides she wants to marry him, uses the extra large boot that he left behind in order to find him. I love the way it is the girl who is pursuing the boy in this version of the story!

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

WE STAN IRISH FAIRY TALE ROMIONE

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice enrichment to a collection but the telling of the longish story and some of the illustrations are rather lackluster. I wish she'd left out the whole episode with the giant... just like Jack's beanstalk giant, he gets killed just for having something a youth wants. I suppose it's a metaphor out of unconscious myth or something, but I just don't like the trope. The 'dragon' deserved to die, though. Interestingly, the boy Becan didn't really do anything to show that he deserved his luck... I guess, since the magic bull loved him, we must too?

Also, what does the episode with the speckled bull battling the gray bull mean?

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Irish tale of a knight, a dragon and a beautiful princess. I love the illustrations, one of my favorites.

[Colleen Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the story The Irish Cinderlad by Shirley Climo in my school library. I liked that the protagonist is a male compared to the typical female who needs to be rescued in traditional literature.
The Irish Cinderlad starts off with the birth of the protagonist Becan. He grew into a young lad with unusually large feet and bright red hair. The author describes his feet as “so large he’d splash a puddle dry just by stepping in it.” Unfortunately, his mother passes away and his father is often away because he is a peddler. Becan’s father came home one evening with a new mother and three new sisters for him. His new mother tells him that he needs to go and watch the cows in the heard. Becan does not want to go because there is a speckled bull that is dangerous. One day, Becan runs into this speckled bull but Becan sees commonalities between the bull and himself. They both have large feet/hooves, a white face with freckles, and red ears. They become fast friends. The speckled bull takes care of Becan and takes Becan away from his awful step mother and step sisters. The speckle bull dies but leaves Becan his tail which is magical just like the bull was. Beacn goes on and fights a giant using the tail to win and finally gets some shoes that fit his large feet. He hears about a fair maiden named Princess Finola who will be the sacrifice to the dragon that wreaks havoc on the town. Becan uses the magical tail to save Princess Finola. He rides off once he has defeated the dragon, but the Princess pulls off one of his boots. Princess Finola goes around the land to see whom’s foot fits this large boot. She eventually finds Becan and they get married.
At the end of the story, the author writes a note about Irish storytelling and how there are many versions of a Cinderlad. Along with explaining that in Ireland, cattle that had a white face and their red ears were magical. The authors note helped me to better understand why the speckled bull was like his fairy godmother. The pictures in the book are detailed, however a student who was just reading the pictures would not be able to completely put the story together. The words are important for the reader to understand the story and the pictures just add imagines for the reader to visualize the characters better. This is a book that would be good for third grade and above, because it has a lot of text. I could see using this book for comparing and contrasting plot for fiction literature.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like almost every kid in the United States had a unit about Cinderella. Specifically, about different versions of the Cinderella story across the United States and around the world. It usually happens in the second grade, and I vividly remember studying it in school and my teacher reading us several versions of it when we were studying it. It was one of my favorite activities that we did in her class, and that love stayed well into adulthood.

My favorite international version would probably have to be Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, but in reading The Irish Cinderlad, I remember how much I enjoyed this one as well. One of the few variations that features a male Cinderella, the story is about a boy named Becan who is rather small for his age… with the exception of his unusually large feet. He lives with his father, evil stepmother, and two evil stepsisters. Since he’s not about that life, he runs away to tend to sheep and make a new life for himself. With the help of some unlikely friends along the way, poor unwanted Becan has the makings of an unlikely hero for his times.

Short, sweet, and to the point, this swashbuckling Cinderella story has enough adventure, heart and wit to warm the hardest of hearts. Becan makes for an extremely likable hero, and his adventures help him grow into a confident young man. I think at the heart of all Cinderella retellings, we want to feel sympathy for the hero so we can root for them. We want them to triumph over the evil stepmother and stepsisters who have abused them throughout their childhood and adolescence so they can have their happily ever after.

Whether it’s introducing children to this twist on the timeless tale for the first time or reliving some childhood nostalgia, The Irish Cinderlad is a charming and rollicking retelling of perhaps the most famous fairytale of all time.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shirley Climo's retelling of this traditional Irish tale is sparkling with wit and well-paced. Part of the story parallels the traditional western Cinderella story, but also departs from it in several ways.
When young Becan starts growing, his feet outgrow the rest of him, so that he has enormous feet. After his mother dies, Becan's new stepmother tasks him with herding the family cows. (When will these fairy tale men stop bringing home new wives?!) While watching them one day, he meets a large bull, whom he befriends, and who becomes his benefactor by providing him with a noon meal every day. When the stepmother finally finds out, she wants to butcher the bull, but Becan warns him, and they leave together. The bull is destined to fight another bull and die, but before he does so, he tells Becan to twist off his tail after his death. Becan does so, and continues on his journey, until he meets a man who needs a cowherd. Becan accepts the job, and with the bull's tail, defeats a neighboring giant, absconding with his boots. Upon hearing that a dragon will be eating a local princess, Becan hurries to the sea and saves her as well with the tail. The princess wants to thank him, but Becan sees his stepsisters approaching and flees, leaving one of his boots with the princess. She scours the countryside looking for the boy whose feet will fit the giant boots, and eventually finds Becan again, whom she marries.
Loretta Krupinski's colorful, stylized paintings invite the reader deeper into the story, and are pleasantly appealing.

[Lindsay Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Irish Cinderlad" is a traditional folktale because it descended from the original folktale, Cinderella. The Irish Cinderlad is an Irish version of the original fairy tale. This version is a bit different than Cinderella. Becan, a male, is the main character whose dad marries his step mother and gains three older sisters. The step mother and step sisters treat Becan poorly, so Becan decides to leave his family, where he meets a magical bull who feeds him lunch each day. Becan's stepsister follows Becan to the pasture where the bull is at and witnesses Becan being fed by the bull. The stepsister tells the step mother, and the step mother decides that the bull needs to be butchered. The bull and Becan disappear from Becan's home and start a new journey. Becan ends up saving the life of a princess, who aquires Becan's boot, but Becan leaves the kingdom before the princess can talk with him. The princess looks for the man who fits the boot for a year before Becan tries it on. Becan and the princess marry and live happily ever after.

This book would be a great book to introduce to students when learning about different cultures throughout the world. Most children would be familiar with the original folktale, Cinderella, so the students would be shown how different countries and groups of people have different story lines for similar stories. An idea I have for a writing lesson for students in intermediate grade levels to go along with the reading of "The Irish Cinderlad" would be to prompt the students to write their own version of Cinderella or The Irish Cinderlad.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another interesting story that brings the Cinderella tale alive from the perspective of a particular country. Shirley Climo has written several of these books and we've read them all .

This Irish tale presents the basic story with a boy as the lead character. The addition of a magical bull is an unusual facet of the story and we liked the way in which he defeats the giant and the dragon. The story is entertaining and the colorful illustrations complement the story nicely. We enjoyed reading this story together.

Our oldest daughter was convinced that the author also had a Japanese version of the story. We didn't find any such books, but we did google the terms and found a three-page play about a Japanese Cinderella, adapted by Carole L. Cooney here. It was a short story and very fascinating.

This book was selected as one of the books for the March 2014 - Ireland discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.

[Elizabeth Hendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: This book gives the classic "Cinderella" book a new twist, but this time with a whole new twist! Becan rescues a princess, and instead of leaving behind a heel, he leaves behind a boot. He is gone before the princess can say thank you. But, will she be able to find him?

Evaluation: I gave this book 4 stars simply because it was so fun to read. The images were so detailed and the text used incredible descriptive language. It was a interesting and easy to follow book.

Teaching Idea: I would use this to compare and contrast two stories in order to help my students pick apart details of a text. I would read this and the original Cinderella, and complete a compare and contrast chart about things that they found in both texts.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Irish version has a young lad, Becan, who befriends a bull and runs away from his unkind stepmother and stepsisters. The bull then fights a gray bull and dies, but tells Becan to take his tail and use it when he needs help. Becan has to face some difficult challenges, but uses the bull tail along with his considerable courage to overcome these challenges. I appreciated the author's note.

[Amalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Name: The Irish Cinderlad
Genre: Fairy Tale/Folk Lore
Version: Ireland/ celtic culture

*** A male version of Cinderella

Cinderella: A boy named Becan
Magical element/"fairy godmother": A magical bull and its tail
Glass Slipper: A boot
The ball: A fight with a sea dragon
Message: Courage to overcome any challenge

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Level: Primary

This is a great book to compare with the original Cinderella. It can also be used to demonstrate how different cultures can have different versions of the same story. I love the role reversal in this story. The princess is looking for the man who lost his boot!

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retelling, with reasonable illustrations, for an Irish tale. Anyone who wants to read a Cinderlad tale will find this fits the bill nicely. I was not familiar with this one personally, but it does touch on many of the classic tropes.

[Katrina Lybbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many Cinderella retellings, but this was the first Cinderlad retelling I have read. I loved it. The story was similar to Cinderella, but very unique in its own way.

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping for more of an Irish feel, but this was still a nice retelling.

Interesting how the male Cinderella sees a lot more action. Instead of cleaning the house and tending the fire he is a cowherd. He gets to fight giants and dragons instead of dressing up fancy for a ball.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

This retelling with a male Cinderella was unique and entertaining, and I liked the use of color and light in the illustrations. Also, I now want a female Cinderella story where the main character's shoes only fit her because she has such big feet!

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Irish Cinderlad was written by Shirley Climo and illustrated by Loretta Krupinski. It is important to mention that the author also wrote a few other versions of Cinderella stories that I read this week, including the Korean Cinderella, the Egyptian Cinderella, and the Persian Cinderella, which I did not know until reviewing this book. The Irish Cinderlad was published in 2000. The main character is a boy named Becan. I found this book while searching on Amazon for Cinderella stories from around the world. I chose to read this book because it was one of the only versions that I saw that featured a male in the place of Cinderella and I thought it would be interesting to read a gender swapped version. This book is recommended for ages 4-8 years old in grades K-4, but again based on how you are using it, you could use it with students a little older too. Though it is only 32 pages, there is a lot of text on each page, so again, I think this book would need to be read in multiple sittings for younger students. There are quite a few vocabulary words that would most likely be unfamiliar to students that would probably need to be pretaught first so students could understand the story better. This story hasn't received any awards or accolades, but it has been reviewed by Kirkus Reviews and ALA Booklist. I read this story in the traditional format.

In a gender-swapped version of the classic story, Cinderella is now a Cinderlad named Becan. Becan lives with his stepmother and three stepsisters who treat him cruelly, offering him crusts of their bread and forcing him to work in the fields and tend to the cows. He meets a magical bull, who becomes his fairy godmother. Once his stepmother finds out about the bull, she kills him and Becan soon runs away. With the help of the magical spirit of the bull, Becan slays a dragon, fights a giant, and rescues a pretty princess. Before the princess can thank him, he runs off in classic Cinderella fashion, leaving his gigantic boot behind. The princess goes on a quest to find the owner of the boot who will become the new prince. What will Becan's fate be? Will he live happily ever after like the princess in the classic version of the story, or will something else entirely different happen to him? There is not too much diversity in this version of the story. Most of the characters appear to be Irish, including the Cinderlad. The characters are described with "typical" Irish features, pale and fair skin, freckles, and bright red hair, which could be considered stereotypical and a problematic representation, though I do not know enough about Irish culture to know if this is acceptable or a stereotype. Though the characters are white, it does showcase a European culture that isn't featured in typical literature; Irish people. I haven't seen a lot of stories featuring Irish characters portrayed in a positive light. Whenever I have seen this represented in literature, the stories often feature leprechauns. I enjoyed reading these different cultural versions of the stories because in every one, the author wrote a note at the end explaining the details of the original or their specific version of the story. I am unsure of the cultural background of the author and illustrator, but the author seems to be knowledgable about the culture she wrote about in this book. In the author's note at the end of the book, the author writes that in Ireland for over a thousand years, the seanachaoi (also called the storyteller) was second only to the king, and the Irish harpers sang their ballads in every court. In 1366, an English law banned bards and poets from using their native language. Because of this only a few Irish legends or folktales were turned into print, and not until the 1800s. This version of the story is an adaptation of one of the old stories from the 19th century. The author writes that this tale isn't unique and around the world there are many variations of the Cinderlad story, including in Scandanavia, England, Hungary, and the Balkans. India, Japan, and the Hausa people of Africa also have similar tales, especially those that involve the lad being identified by a shoe test. The reason the author wrote the fairy godmother as a bull was because a long time ago in Ireland, cattle were thought to have come from the sea and came with unusual powers. A cow with a white face and red ears in particular were considered enchanted, which are the features of the bull in this story. Her version of the story is based on Douglas Hyde's "The Bracket Bull" and Sara Cone Bryant's "Billy Beg and His Bull". The only other diversity in this story is that the roles are reversed. Instead of a female, the main character is a male. Even though these gender roles are swapped, the gender roles are still very rigid in this tale. The Cinderlad is male, and typically does male-centric things. He fights a dragon and a giant, and he has to save the princess from being tied up and sacrificed to the dragon.

The point of view of this story is an outside narrator, told in third person omniscient. The narrator knows things that not all of the characters know, and can dive into the thoughts and feelings of some of the main characters, especially Becan. This is the typical point of view of these kinds of traditional tales. The illustrations in the story are very subdued with a lot of brown, yellow, and green in the pictures. I think this is intentional because the pictures and colors are very male-centric. It isn't until the Cinderlad meets and saves the princess that the colors around him start changing. Readers start to see brighter colors and more pink and purple. I think this is supposed to show readers that the mood of the book has changed. Throughout most of the story, Becan is not happy. He is miserable and treated unfairly. Once he saves the princess, his life is starting to change. He falls in love and she falls in love with him. He is going to become a prince and he is recognized as a hero. He will end up, just like many of the other versions of this story , "happily ever after". The illustrations are very detailed. The illustrator does a good job of showing readers exactly where the characters are with her detailed settings and does a good job showcasing the emotions of the characters as well. For example, on the page where Becan is going to save the princess, the day is just beginning, so the sun is beginning to rise. Readers can see this in the sky. The author describes the sea as blue/green and readers can see this, along with an almost purple hue. The waves are crashing in the words and it is also shown in the pictures. There are little flowers all along the detailed grass, and even the birds have a lot of detail in their faces and the feathers on their body. On the page where Becan and the Princess meet and she declares him a Prince, readers can see how bashful and shy Becan is by the expression on his face and the blush on his cheeks in the picture. Another thing about the illustrations and the text is how they represent the Irish culture. Though I am not familiar with the Irish culture, there seem to be authentic aspects of the culture in the illustrations and the pictures, especially of the culture long ago. On the page where readers are first introduced to Becan and his mom, readers can see a fireplace with a pot hanging over it, a kettle sitting on the floor, and wooden furniture, including a wooden rocking chair and a wooden crib. On another page, the buildings are made of cobblestone, there are lots of green, open pastures, and the clothing the characters wear definitely seem of a different time. The women are wearing white caps, long dresses, and aprons over their dresses. Becan is wearing short pants that come up to his knees, white shirts with puffy sleeves, and a shirt or sweater over the white, collared, blouse-looking shirt.

This story contains many typical features of a classic traditional fairy tale. While it shares structural similarities with the classic Cinderella story, it is a very different story. One of the biggest elements of traditional literature that is present in this story is the hero cycle. The hero, Becan, begins at home. He receives a call to adventure by running away from his unhappy life at home. He faces many challenges along the way, including the death of his friend, the magical bull, having to fight the giant, and slay the dragon to rescue the princess. There is a helper, usually a magical creature (in this case, the bull) who the hero would not be able to get what they need without them. Then, the hero reaches the land of adventure, which would be the kingdom where he goes to save the princess. The cycle continues to play out in this story like it does in typical traditional literature. Once again, there are themes of clear good vs. evil. Becan is pure and good and is being trated unfairly. Meanwhile, the stepmother and stepsisters are evil and wicked and are seen as such through their words, actions, and illustrations. The giant is considered evil and so is the dragon and the theme of good defeating evil is a major focus in this story and good triumphs over evil at the end, with Cinderlad becoming a prince and living happily ever after with the princess. This story has a very strong plot, pulling the reader in with exciting and dramatic event after event, until the final resolution. The story begins in the typical fashion, introducing the place, the time, and the character in one sentence "In Ireland in the old times there lived a lad named Becan." The story wraps up nicely, although it doesn't explicitly end in the typical fashion, but it is implied with the line "You shall be Prince Becan" said Princess Finola. She hugged him, and the lad blushed as red as the hair on his head."

Lastly, this would definitely be a book to use in the classroom. This is a great version to read and compare against the original, or even other cultural versions of the story. This story is a gender-swapped version and it is also reminiscent of a very long time ago in a culture that students may not be familiar with. Not only would it be beneficial to use this to compare/contrast with other versions, it could also be a good story to use to introduce students to life in the past versus life now. This story takes place long ago. As I mentioned, there are things reminiscent of the past in the pictures, such as the wooden crib and the pot hanging over the fireplace. This could be a book to include in a unit on then/now. This is also just a good story to analyze traditional literature. Readers could analyze the various elements of traditional literature with this book, including studying the hero cycle, the themes, and the plot (as this also has clearly defined story elements and climax, problem, and resolution).

[Mary Kay Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

target audience -

Folktale motif orphan summary – Becan, an irish orphan and cowherd makes friends with a magical bull, who feeds him lunch everyday. His jealous stepmother discovers the bulls helping Becan and plots his slaughter for stew. Becan saves the bull and flees far away. The bulls magic protects the boy, even after he dies. The boy keeps the bulls tail as a belt and it gives him powers to defeat his foes. Becan eventually fights off a dragon to save an irish princess. Of course he wins the day with his bull tail, and then returns to his cowherd job. A year later the princess searches for him, and once discovered they marry and live happily ever after.

strengths/weaknesses - The boy fights giants and dragons and loves his simple life with the cows. He does not seek the hero's life, but rises to the occasion when needed to fight off the foes he comes upon. He is awkward and has big feet, red hair and freckles. He gets the girl in the end, because she knows he is the one for her. This is a male perspective for the orphan story. He makes a friend in the bull, and learns to trust the powers that friendship brings.


personal critique - I would recommend this to a shy boy, in that awkward 7 to 10 years where his feet are big and he is still a little boy. It is basically a mashup of several irish folktales smoothed over with the popular shoe fit search. It lends itself to many of our popular cliches. The story adds meaning to common and popular phrases and myths. Dragon's breath, bull's tail and many more.

illustrations - Simple pictures filling the whole page, with white panels for text. Easy to read font, and plain and simple style until you get to the dragon. I would say the drawings are formulaic cartoon style as if you were seeing a disney cartoon until you see the dragon. The dragon is elaborate scaled and more fantasy like in its depiction.


notable awards - The hook for this author is the repetitive motif of the shoe fit story. She has 4 in that flavor and several other myth based stories.

[Kristi Feliksik]

Interest level: K-2
Lexile Reading Level: 730L
Genre: Fairy Tale/ Fantasy
Main Characters: Becon, Step Mother, Step Sisters, The Magical Bull,
Setting: Ireland

In the story of "The Irish Cinderlad", Becan's mother passed away and his father remarried. The woman had three daughters that she brought with her to live with Becan and his father. Neither the step mother, nor the step sisters were kind to Becan. The step sisters gave him all of the chores and the step mother did not take care of him like she did with her own daughters. One day, Becan met a man who offered him a job herding his sheep. Becan took the job. He was warned not to cross over a fence because there was an angry bull living on the other side. This bull turned out to be the Magical Speckled Bull. Becan pet the bull and they became friends. One day the bull knew that he was going to die and he told Becan that when he died, Becan should take off his tail and it would provide him with help when he needed it. The Magical Bull's Tail saved Becan's life twice. Because of the magical tail, he was able to save the princess from being eaten by a Dragon. He left the princess with his overly large shoe and she refused to marry anyone but the main who's boot she held. One year later the princess found Becan and they got married and lived happily ever after.

I would use this book in my classroom in order to compare and contrast the Cinderella stories from around the world. I would have the students write, discuss, and draw pictures of the ways that the stories are similar and different from one another.

[Halle Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary:
This book is a twist on the classic tale of Cinderella. This is a story about a little boy, named Becan, whose father married an evil woman. The little boy is starved by his step-mother and forced to live out in the stables. The little boy befriends the spotted bull who ends up having a magical tail. He ran away to escape his evil family who was trying to kill his friend the bull. His bull dies in a battle but gives Becan his magic tail. This tail helps Brecan defeat a giant who gives Brecan his shoes. Later Brecan is faced with fighting a dragon who tries to kill the princess. He saves her but has to run away from his family. In the end, the princess found Brecan and married him.
Evaluation:
This book is a type of traditional literature. The story is relatable because most of the kids will know the story of Cinderella and will be able to follow along to the story. The book had Irish words in them which could be tricky for most kids.
Lesson Plan:
I would use this book as a way to make inferences in texts. I would ask the kids who were familiar with Cinderella to share what they know. I would read the book and while I was reading I would have the kids practice making inferences. I would also read the original Cinderella for those who haven't read it.

[Jessica Wilker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Genre: traditional literature: fairy tale
Grade Reading level: 1-3

This book was about a young lad in Ireland who had very big feet and was shunned by his family. He then ran away with a bull and the bull died and gave him his tail, a magical tail. This story was very different from the original Cinderella fairy tale.

This book is a good book if you need to address different cultures because you can visually tell how culture is involved through dragons and giants. I enjoyed reading it because I did not know what was going to happen next, I became very interested in it.


But overall this was a weird but good book.

[Handan · Rating 4 out of 5]

You mean to tell me there are variations of Cinderella where the protagonist is a boy?

Oh yes there are, my friends.

Okay, to get the formatting out of the way: I like the composition in this book between text and image. It's pleasant.

Now, to the fun part. Little Becan has really big feet, which have never been an issue for him till his father remarries. And his new mum and sisters basically boot him out (no pun intended) to herd the family's cattle. While doing so, he meets a giant bull, who ends up doing much good for Becan (I feel like I've read about bulls or a variation of this tale somewhere else, probably in Celtic Fairy Tales. After he bests an arhach, a giant, Becan finally has shoes that fit, shoes that will prove crucial to his ultimate happiness after he rescues a princess.

There's an afterword that briefly discusses other Cinderlads. I'll likely be recommending this one, unless I find another Cinderlad tale I find more enjoyable.

[Lindsey Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story that is similar to the traditional Western folktale of Cinderella. This story has the main protagonist as a male instead of a female. The young man has abnormally large feet and is teased about it by his older stepsisters. He becomes friends with a bull who has non-animal like characteristics like being able to talk and magically provides the boy with food. The stepsisters do not like that the boy is a friend with the bull and they have him killed. The bull had told the boy that if he were to die he should take his tale and wear it as a belt. Once the bull dies the boy takes the bull’s tale and wears it like a belt. The boy then uses the tail to save a princess in a neighboring town but leave before the princess can properly thank the boy. The princess finds an abnormally large boot that belonged to the boy that saved her. She conducts a hunt for the boy that fits the large boot in hopes that when she does find them they can be married. The princess eventually does find the boy and they decide to get married.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great book that told the story of Cinderella only with a few twist. First, it was about a male rather then a female. Next, it took place in Ireland. The young man has abnormally large feet and is teased about it by his older stepsisters. There are many things that are different in the plot too but they are very similar. I enjoyed the new perspective this book brings to such a traditional tale. It is a wonderful example of folktale. I also liked how the story ended with the girl asking the boy to marry her. This shows children that everything does not always have to be traditional. Some of the vocabulary was from Irish decent which made the story even more authentic. In the classroom this book could be used to show the difference in culture especially because it was so easy to see the differences between Irish Cinderlad and the typical American boy.