The Orphan: A Cinderella Story from Greece (review)

"A child becomes an orphan when she loses her mother," goes the Greek saying, and that's precisely what happens to the unnamed heroine in this Greek version of the Cinderella tale. The tale has the familiar elements of stepmother and stepsisters and a handsome prince, but it's Mother Nature who confers the fancy outfits and it's a church service at which the orphan sports them and wins the heart of the prince. When she returns to the church the next week, the wily prince spreads honey and wax on the church's threshold and traps the fleeing orphan's shoe, resulting in the classic fit-the-slipper-to-the-maiden drama. The piquant differences from the Perrault and Grimm Cinderella versions (the orphan also distracts the villagers with gold coins while she escapes and rides a white horse created from a cloud) and the friendly, conversational voice will seem fresh and engaging to young audiences who have been over-saturated with Disney-fied tales. Potter's signature folk artish watercolor illustrations are a perfect fit for the folkloric Greek setting and characters, and her black-haired heroine is an appropriately Mediterranean version. Potter is particularly effective at evoking emotion with her images: the spread depicting the orphan receiving her gifts simply radiates joy. This would be a useful for a lesson in comparative literature, as a readaloud, and for storytellers looking for new versions of old tales. It's unfortunate that there's no note, so it's not clear whether this is a traditional Greek version or an original tale that happens to be set in Greece.