cover image The Cinderella Show

The Cinderella Show

Janet Ahlberg. Viking Children's Books, $4.95 (36pp) ISBN 978-0-670-81037-6

The Town End Primary School presents a play based on Cinderella, and readers are invited to watch the action onstage, backstage and in the audience. From the multiracial cast of kids who perform, to the ongoing comments of the watchful parents, this is quite a good first look at how plays happen, without ever losing track of the Cinderella storyline. While performers are onstage, some children are slipping into costume; others are quietly pushing scenery and props into place. The funniest scenes in this hand-sized book are of the stepsisters bossing poor Cindy around, and the entire comic strip-like production, in black-and-white miniature drawings, is as informative as it is fun. Ages 4-8. (March)