Cinderella and a Mouse Called Fred

by Deborah Hopkinson, Paul O. Zelinsky (Illustrator)

This fresh, hilarious retelling of Cinderella --told by the mouse who will become Cinderella's coach horse--has a girl-power ending, a celebration of inclusivity, illustrations by a Caldecott Medalist...and even an explanation of how fairy tale pumpkins got their name!

If you thought you knew the fairy tale CINDERELLA, think again!

Did you know that the fairy godmother was actually grouchy? Or that the rodent she transformed into the coach's horse was named Fred? Or that Cinderella hid from the prince when he came looking for her with that uncomfortable glass slipper?!

A best loved fairytale is given the ending it deserves in this clever picture book that shows a heroine shape her own destiny...and find her fairytale princess.

Genres: Picture Books, LGBT, Fairy Tales, Humor, Childrens, Fiction, Fantasy

48 pages, Hardcover

Published August 15, 2023

About the author

I write nonfiction and historical fiction, picture books, and Golden Books. I speak at school, libraries, and conferences. I also love to garden and offer manuscript critiques. (Deborahhopkinson@yahoo.com)

NEW books in 2024 include DETERMINED DREAMER: THE STORY OF MARIE CURIE, illus by Jen Hill, ON A SUMMER NIGHT, illus by Kenard Pak, TRIM HELPS OUT and TRIM SAILS the STORM, illus by Kristy Caldwell, EVIDENCE! illustrated by Nik Henderson, and a nonfiction work called THEY SAVED THE STALLIONS. I'm delighted to say that Trim Helps Out, Trim Sails the Storm, On a Summer Night and Evidence! are all Junior Library Guild selections.

I live and work in Oregon and travel all over to speak to young readers and writers.

Reviews

[Annie Gordon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, first of all, the illustrations in this book are atrocious. They are just plain ugly. Secondly, it's the typical, eye-rollingly boring Princess story re-imagined as an independent "I don't need no man," feminist. Oh... and, of course she also ends up being a lesbian. No thank you!

[skcocnaH · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ella marrying the farmer came out of no where! It seemed like they just threw that in there to be up with the times. I’m gonna need a little more than that, please.

[Kami Mauldin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a fan of a woman-woman romance being snuck into a children’s book. I was so shocked I couldn’t even finish it. I totally get the fairytale reimagining, but this was not for me and my family.

[Meg McGregor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Charles Perrault is spinning in his grave!!!! And NOT in a good way!

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the intention here, and the ending. A great way to start conversations with kids about the problems with the original Cinderella story.

[Thomas Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the mouse was interesting.

I think the people were drawn ugly. I think the original story was ruined, even before the ending. And Cinderella is a lesbian? Really?! Oh, boy.

[Kelly]

I don't usually like longer picture books, but I love Hopkinson and Zelinsky, so I gave this one a shot. I also saw John Schu liked the ending, so I knew I had to make it there. It was surprising indeed! And what a perfect fall book about pumpkins to some extent.

[Alexandria Burnett · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok. I liked how it was told from the perspective of a mouse. It threw me off that the fairy godmother was mean because if she was mean then why would she have done all of these nice things for Cinderella. I think it was cute just some of the parts seemed a bit off.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

First sentence: Once upon a time, there was a small gray mouse who lived in a pumpkin patch. It was a quiet life--until the night a stranger appeared.

My thoughts, part one: I did not do my 'due diligence' with this one. The book I thought I was getting and actually wanted--a Cinderella retelling from the point of view of one of her mice. I was up for some novelty--the mouse's point of view. I guess I wasn't expecting every other single element to be changed up in this 'fractured' fairy tale. Some retellings remove the romance and make it pure silliness.

Premise/plot: Fred, the mouse, observes Cinderella's so-called magical night. It's nothing like the traditional tale (as you might imagine.) For one thing, Cinderella can't wait to get away from the whole affair. She did not have a magical evening with the Prince--far from it. She can't wait to go back home and get back to work. So the story does not end with a disappointed prince NOT finding Cinderella...it ends with the marriage of Cinderella and a female farmer--both love gardening and pumpkins.

My thoughts, part two: For better or worse, the book does not address her mistreatment by her stepmother or stepsisters. Not a word--that I could find. In this retelling is Cinderella not being forced into servitude? Is she not being bullied by her stepfamily? If she is being used 'as a servant,' or mistreated/bullied how is this resolved by the end? Why doesn't this come up? I mean Cinderella is usually all about escaping one's situation--miserable life--whether she escapes with or without the prince, she's usually depicted as having a bad home life since her dad died.

For better or worse, the book doesn't show Cinderella ever wanting to go to the ball in the first place. Are we to believe that the fairy godmother just showed up and forced Cinderella against her will to go? Maybe. Probably. If she doesn't want to go, is it because she's self-aware that she has no interest in the Prince OR any guy? But again, we're not told that she doesn't want to go. She doesn't seem cranky until after meeting the Prince and spending time with him. He seems infatuated with her, but it is not mutual.

Are we to assume that when she meets this lady farmer at the fair it is love at first sight? Probably. Apparently. I wasn't surprised that this classic fairy tale has to have a shift of some type--can't send the message that women need men to rescue them, or, that instant love exists. But apparently it's not bad to have insta love if it's same-sex? I don't know.

This lesbian retelling of Cinderella--we don't learn about Cinderella's romantic interest until the second to last page--wasn't my cup of tea personally. I just think there is not much characterization or depth.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just how "fresh" does a fairy tale have to be?

According to our fine Goodreads Blurber:

"This fresh, hilarious retelling of Cinderella --told by the mouse who will become Cinderella's coach horse--has a girl-power ending, a celebration of inclusivity, illustrations by a Caldecott Medalist...and even an explanation of how fairy tale pumpkins got their name!"

THAT'S A PRETTY HEAVY LOAD TO STUFF INTO A LITTLE FAIRY TALE, YES?

And are the proposed readers... Ph.D. students or four-year-olds? Cinderella is a fairy tale, for crying out loud.

Do preschoolers really need overwrought dialog like the following, when the mouse first meets Cinderella?

[Cinderella] smiled and said, "Hello, little friend.

What kind and curious eyes you have. You look like a Fred."

"Such a distinguished name. I like it!" the mouse decided.

He'd shot her a glance that he hoped was kind, curious, and fabulously Fred-ish.

SO, ABOUT THIS LANGUAGE AND COY WAY OF SPEAKING...

Is this really meant for a picture book reader?

Maybe it's designed more for a teenager, or an adult reader -- the kinds of readers who thrill to romance novels.

MY RATING

FIVE STARS on behalf of such readers as the intended audience.

As some of you Goodreaders may have guessed by now, I am not among this intended audience.

[Elle Bouchard]

I loved this book!! I had never heard of it before and while reading it I think I would have loved it as a kid. The illustrations are very whimsical and animated and take up the entirety of each page. I have read a million Cinderella variations, and after a while they tend to get boring. This is a version I haven’t encountered yet before. The addition of an LGBTQ+ couple to end the story provides a good representation for children who may be a part of that community, or even those with parents or loved ones in their lives who are. Additionally, Cinderella is characterized to have her own aspirations outside of marrying the prince. The original tale is one that I also loved as a child, but seeing a figure who a lot of young girls put on a pedestal searching for things that make her happy is empowering and could provide a good image for these children. I love that the illustrations are clearly hand-drawn rather than digitally rendered, as it adds that classic storybook feel to an otherwise modernized fairy tale. Overall, I would recommend this book to be read to children, and I feel like most audiences would find humor or some form of entertainment within it.

[Janie Collins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Look, everyone’s gonna have an opinion about lesbian Cinderella one way or the other. Regardless of whether you like that or not, I think something like that should be obvious from page one (a good example is the lovely book Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack). I was not happy to have sexuality issues thrown at me out of nowhere while I thought I was reading a cute version of Cinderella to my two and four year olds. I abruptly closed the book on the “marrying the girl farmer” page, but my kids didn’t seem to mind. My daughter’s only comment was “why does Cinderella’s nose look so weird and why is the fairy godmother so mean?”. Even if I wanted my kids reading gay lit, this is a poorly drawn book with a stupid approach to a controversial message. Disappointing considering I’m a massive fan of Hopkinson’s other works. Don’t let this one turn you off to her other good ones - Sky Boys, Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, Steamboat School and Letter to my Teacher are all magical.

[Read Ribbet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deborah Hopkinson, who gave us a different take on Lincoln in Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, gives us a different take on Cinderella in this new version of the old fairy tale. She creatively shifts the narrator and the perspective of telling the story to a mouse Cinderella has named Fred who was turned into a horse by a bit of a cranky Fairy Godmother to guide Cinderella's pumpkin coach. What he observes is a night quite different from the typical telling of the story and an ending with a very modern twist. Caldecott award winning illustrator Paul Zelinksky captures the story in engaging illustrations with great action in some of the magical scenes. This is one more version of Cinderella to add to all the other traditional and fractured tellings of this story.

[Michael Guillot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't gonna read this cause it was longer, but seeing that this Cinderella marries a princess caught my eye - gay Cinderella! I must see for myself. The gay content happens in the last five pages. It's odd. I wouldn't celebrate this as some powerful LGBTQ+ work for kids to get a different perspective. It's like Cindy was made to be lez "just cause", and to me, that's silly. And boring. And doesn't really do anything cool or important. Ella and the prince don't hit it off because Ella likes to garden and the prince abhors dirt. Ok??? That's it? I liked the prince's little mustache. I liked Fred the Mouse. This isn't doing what it thinks it's doing, I don't think... oo, gay! Ok? And?

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This falls squarely in the realm of fractured fairy tales. Glass slippers are darned impractical, the mouse doesn't like being a horse, and since the prince and Cinderella radically disagree about gardening, why should Cinderella want to marry him? As an adult reader, I found this satisfying in addressing some of the flaws in the original. Despite the pretty pink cover, this radical version of Cinderella is less for preschool girls than 2nd or 3rd graders (even teens might find this entertaining). Plus, some parents will have conniptions over the fact that Cinderella marries a female farmer at the end.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and surprising fractured fairy tale that reimagines the Cinderella story by centering a mouse called Fred as the main character. In this story, Cinderella is put off by the prince and instead finds her own happily ever after as a pumpkin farmer with a fellow pumpkin farming lady. The story also serves as a back door introduction to different types of pumpkins, including the so-called Fairytale Pumpkin. There are some impressive illustrations in here, including a mouse-into-horse transition that would do Picasso proud.

[Cynthia Corral · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute behind the scenes retelling of Cinderella where "Ella" chooses her own happy ending with the help of her mouse friend Fred. Cute illustrations with lots of details to look at, and some information about pumpkins at the end that will have kids wanting to plant pumpkin seeds. It's also a quiet lesson that girls can choose their own happiness that doesn't depend on some "prince" choosing them. I would have loved to have this book when I was a kid.

[Gabrielle Stoller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Y'all I HATED this book. Because it was TOO LONG AND THE ILLUSTRATIONS WERE HORRENDOUS. In my opinion. Maybe it was because we were doing weird funky movement with the text lines and curving and swaying and UGH.

I do like spins on fairy tales. I also like hearing from another character's POV. So none of that is my problem. But this time, the story, the fracturing felt all over the place and I'm just not here for it.

[Scott Dotson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cinderella and a mouse called Fred is a girl powered story about the fairy tale of Cinderella. This is a retelling of the classic and makes a few changes. The contemporary version is told from one of the mice. Some of the pages have paragraphs of sentences and for this reason may need to be read by an adult or a stronger young reader. This version is fun, fresh, and modern while being inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community.

[delilah montemayor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this spin on the classic Cinderella. In this take Ella is a no nonsense farmer who wants to grow the largest pumpkin. She is turned into a princess by her fairy godmother but HATES it. She can't abide the shoes or the snobby prince. So when the prince comes to see who the glass slipper belongs to, Ella lets him go on his merry way and lives out the rest of her life on her terms.
Recommended for ages 5-9 by the SEPA School Library Book Reviewers.

[Kris Dersch · Rating 3 out of 5]

With this dynamic duo of picture book creators behind it, I had really high hopes for this one but it was a disappointment. Just felt all over the place and didn't seem to know what story it wanted to tell. The pumpkin angle is cute, but what story are we telling here? The mouse? The pumpkins? The lesbians? The prince being not all he's cracked up to be? This felt like a kitchen sink book where everything got thrown in and the mix didn't mix so well.

[Bethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fractured fairy tale with the main character more interested in gardening than the prince. Her prize winning pumpkin is the origin of the fairy tale pumpkin which is really a thing, and different from a Cinderella pumpkin. Fred the mouse is still hoping for a pumpkin named after him. Fabulous illustrations, the stepsisters and stepmother really look like clown caricatures. Fun ending. Like the way he drew and swirled the mouse to horse transition

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as an adult reader for the AR Diamond Book Award. The cover of the book will appeal to readers who enjoy fairies, princesses, etc. I do think that some young readers will pick up this book and not like it, because it feels very different from how the cover portrays it. The illustrations are all done in ink and then finished digitally with what looks like digital watercolor. LGBTQ+ Friendly

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retelling of the fairy-tale classic from a mouse's viewpoint, and what really happened. Fred the mouse who by the magic of Ella's godmother's magic became the horse that pulled the pumpkin, turned into a coach, and shares with the reader, the skinny on what actually occurred, before, during and happily ever-after.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining reimagined Cinderella told from a mouse's point of view with a grouchy fairy godmother and a Cinderella more interested in gardening than becoming a princess. The clever text and large expressive illustrations make this a fun book to read and share. Readers who enjoy fractured fairytales will want to read this one.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ella and her mouse friend Fred learn that there are many paths to happily-ever-after when attending a magical ball leads Ella to find success and love as a farmer. This picture book defies gender stereotypes while refreshing the classic fairytale of Cinderella. Instead of sticking to the storybook heroine script, Ella has a terrible time at the ball--eschewing her supposed niche as a meek princess. Instead Ella smashes her glass slipper herself and decides that she will choose her own destiny without help (or interference) from princes or fairy godmothers which leads Ella to find success as an independent entrepreneur (pumpkin farmer). Additionally, Ella finds love when she wins first place at a pumpkin growing contest when she marries the woman who came in second place highlighting that girls and women can thrive and be successful (and uplift and support eachother) without making themselves smaller to adhere to stereotypical ideas about humility--something that comes up too often in traditional fairytale texts.

[AnneLibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More than a fractured fairytale - was expecting a retelling from the perspective of one of the mice. Not so, this Cinderella is gay. This isn't developed throughout the story, but thrown in at the end.

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cute twist on Cinderella. Cinderella loves gardening, especially growing pumpkins. She also has a mouse friend she named Fred. Cinderella doesn't fall for the prince (because he doesn't like dirt) but instead with a female farmer. And they lived happily ever after!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had no idea there's a type of pumpkin called a fairytale pumpkin! This fractured fairy tale, told from the point of view of a mouse named Fred, explores how this variety came to be, complete with a garden-loving maid whose happy ending doesn't include the prince.

[Juniper Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE Cinderella stories!! So finding this book was really exciting for me. I loved Fred! His love for Cinderella was so pure and so sweet. And Cinderella being queer??? LOVE IT. Great plot twist. I think this is a duper cute tale