 | |
| Author | Kalynn Bayron |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Manzi Jackson |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Young adult fiction |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury YA |
Publication date | July 7, 2020 |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | 978-1-547-60387-9 |
Cinderella is Dead is a 2020 young adult book by Kalynn Bayron. The novel is focused on Sophia Grimmins, a queer teenager living in the same world as Cinderella, 200 years after her death. Young women that are coming of age are forced to attend balls to be chosen as wives of men they've never met.
The plot holds parallels to the original story of Cinderella. The King of Mersailles holds an annual ball that young women are required to attend. At the ball, men choose the young woman that they want as their bride. A woman has three years to be chosen as a bride. If not, she forfeits her right to get married and loses her connections to her community. Even if they do get married, some end up in bad marriages and some would rather not get married at all.
The main character, Sophia, wants to live with and marry her childhood best friend, Erin. For Sophia and Erin to live like this, they will need to escape Mersailles. Sophia is sure that this is what she wants, but Erin is not sure she wants to escape. Instead, Sophia is befriended by Constance (a descendant of the stepsisters in the original story). Constance recounts the history of Cinderella from her perspective—one that is very different from how the fairy tale is usually told. Sophia and Constance join forces to visit the fairy godmother and to confront the King Manford, hoping to change these patriarchal laws for good.
Sophia Grimmins: Sophia is the sixteen-year-old protagonist of the novel. She's a queer person of color who wants to live with Erin, a girl she wishes to marry. She is brave, smart, sassy, and strong. Sophia fights for what she wants, even when it means standing up against years of tradition.
Constance: Constance is a descendant of one of the original stepsisters. She is determined and strong-willed, and she tells a different story to Cinderella than the one that everyone else has heard.
Erin: Childhood best friend of Sophia, and the girl that Sophia wishes to marry, even if that means fleeing from Mersailles; however, Erin is not so sure she is willing to give up the life that she has.
Amina: the Fairy Godmother of the original story. She is portrayed as more of a witch, having a variety of powers including potion making and divination. Sophia and Constance go to her for help. She has either had people come to her for help or to accuse her of evil throughout the years. She uses potions to remain looking young, though she does age.
Luke Langley: Luke is a side character who is gay, and has a past relationship with a boy named Louis. When he was found out, his sister was the only reason that he didn't get imprisoned, as she convinced people that Luke was only going through a phase. He wants to marry Sophia as a way to hide both of their sexualities.
Liv Preston: Liv is a seventeen-year-old friend of Sophia's who goes to the ball a second time.
King Manford: King of Marsailles. Cunning and cruel. Upholds the laws that Sophia and Constance are fighting against.
Cinderella: The original girl that the story has been told about. She has been dead for two centuries when this book takes place.
Melanie Kirkwood, for The Booklist , calls the novel a "fast-paced read" and says that Bayron's take on the Cinderella tale "will forever change how readers perceive fairy tales." Kirkwood also commented on the main character construed by the author, saying her courage and skill "alongside her stereotype-shattering Black girl beauty will have readers rooting for her." [1] Kirkus Reviews called it a "promising debut" and praised the setting chosen by the author, also saying that "the twists and turns will keep readers in suspense." [2]
In a review for The National of Scotland, McLaughlin called the book "the perfect mix" of a dystopian world and a new take on a classic fairy tale. [3] Writing for The School Librarian , Sammie Boon criticizes the presence of some plot holes in the story, as well as the "ending which felt a bit too neat". Both Boon and McLaughlin called attention to the importance of the subjects tackled by Bayron. [4] [3]
As recently as 2022, Cinderella is Dead has been involved in a number of censorship challenges in schools throughout the United States, including but not limited to Granbury, Texas, and San Antonio, Texas. [5] In Granbury, the title was included on a list of 134 books that have been challenged by the independent school district and consequently removed by the committee. [5] In San Antonio, the title was removed alongside a list of over 400 books after Rep. Matt Krause published a list of books that he deemed would cause students "discomfort" for addressing sexuality and race. [6] In response to the book's negative reception, Bayron commented, "My biggest fear is that these young readers are going to be denied access to stories about people who look like them, who love like them. They're who I write for. That's my job. That's who I create these stories for, and knowing that they're being kept from them is very disheartening." [7]
"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world. The protagonist is a young girl living in forsaken circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune, with her ascension to the throne via marriage. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between 7 BC and 23 AD, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered to be the earliest known variant of the Cinderella story.
In fairy tales, a fairy godmother is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies. In Perrault's Cinderella, he concludes the tale with the moral that no personal advantages will suffice without proper connections.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is a musical written for television, but later played on stage, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based upon the fairy tale Cinderella, particularly the French version Cendrillon, ou la petite pantoufle de verre, by Charles Perrault. The story concerns a young woman forced into a life of servitude by her cruel stepmother and self-centered stepsisters, who dreams of a better life. With the help of her fairy godmother, Cinderella is transformed into a princess and finds her prince.
Happily N'Ever After is a 2006 animated fantasy adventure comedy film directed by Paul J. Bolger, produced by John H. Williams, and written by Rob Moreland. It is inspired by fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen and loosely based on the 1999 animated German television series Simsala Grimm. The title is the opposite of a stock phrase, happily ever after; the name is contracted with an apostrophe between the N and the E. The film stars the voices of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Andy Dick, Wallace Shawn, Patrick Warburton, George Carlin, and Sigourney Weaver. This film was one of Carlin's final works before he died.
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a 1999 fantasy novel by American writer Gregory Maguire, retelling the tale of Cinderella through the eyes of one of her "ugly stepsisters." In 2002, the book was adapted into a TV movie of the same name directed by Gavin Millar.
"Ye Xian" is a Chinese fairy tale that is similar to the European Cinderella story, the Malay-Indonesian Bawang Putih Bawang Merah tale, the Vietnamese Tấm Cám story, and stories from other ethnic groups including the Tibetans and the Zhuang. It is one of the oldest known variants of Cinderella, first published in the Tang dynasty compilation Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang written around 850 by Duan Chengshi. Chinese compilations attest several versions from oral sources.
Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper is a book adapted and illustrated by Marcia Brown. Released by Charles Scribner's Sons, the book is a retelling of the story of Cinderella as written by Charles Perrault, and was the recipient of the Caldecott Medal for illustration in 1955. The book takes place in France, in a palace similar to other Cinderella stories.
Beauty and Pock Face is a Chinese fairy tale collected by Wolfram Eberhard in Chinese Fairy Tales and Folk Tales.
Cinderella is an Italian-Japanese 1996 anime television series based on the fairytale of the same name by Charles Perrault and The Brothers Grimm. It was produced by Tatsunoko Productions and Mondo TV. The series originally aired from April 4 to October 3, 1996, comprising 26 episodes.
Hey, Cinderella! is a 1969 television special adaptation of the fairy tale Cinderella, produced by Muppets, Inc. in the United States and Robert Lawrence Productions in Canada, and featuring The Muppets created by Jim Henson, who also directed the special. It was written by Jon Stone and Tom Whedon, and scored by the music composer of Sesame Street, Joe Raposo. It featured Kermit in his first appearance as a frog, as well as Goshposh and Rufus and Splurge.
Cinderella is a 1914 silent film starring Mary Pickford, directed by James Kirkwood Sr., produced by Daniel Frohman, and released by Famous Players Film Company. The film is based upon the fairy tale Cinderella. The film was released on Blu-ray & DVD as a bonus feature from the DVD of Through the Back Door (1921). It was previously released on DVD by Alpha Video.
Cinderella is a 1977 American erotic musical comedy film directed by Michael Pataki and starring Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith, Brett Smiley, and Sy Richardson.
Ash is a young adult fantasy children's novel by Malinda Lo first published in 2009. It is a reworking of the Cinderella fairy tale that reimagines the title character, Ash, as a lesbian teenager. The novel centers around the familiar story of Cinderella, her father recently remarried, and lamenting the misery of her new life with stepsisters and a stepmother. The twist arrives when Ash falls in love with the King's respected huntress Kaisa, after she has made a commitment to dark fairy prince Sidhean.
Cinderella's Stepsister is a 2010 South Korean television series starring Moon Geun-young, Chun Jung-myung, Seo Woo, and Ok Taec-yeon. Applying a modern twist to the classic fairy tale, the story follows the contentious relationship between two stepsisters as their lives and loves intertwine. Written by Kim Gyu-wan, and directed by Kim Young-jo and Kim Won-seok, it aired on KBS2 from March 31 to June 3, 2010 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.
Cinder is the 2012 debut young adult science fiction novel of American author Marissa Meyer, published by Macmillan Publishers through their subsidiary Feiwel & Friends. It is the first book in The Lunar Chronicles and is followed by Scarlet. The story is loosely based on the classic fairytale Cinderella. Cinder was selected as one of IndieBound's Kids' Next List for winter 2012.
The Land of Stories is a series of children's fiction, adventure and fantasy books written by American author, actor and singer Chris Colfer. The first book, The Wishing Spell, was released on July 17, 2012. The sixth book was published in July 2017. Colfer revealed plans for a prequel series in 2016, and has since published three books in this prequel series beginning with A Tale of Magic... in 2019.
Cinderella is a Disney franchise that commenced in 1950 with the theatrical release of the 1950 film Cinderella. The series' protagonist is Cinderella, who was based on the character of the same name from the Cinderella fairy tale.
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Revolting Rhymes is a 2016 British computer-animated fantasy comedy drama television film written for the screen and directed by Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer, based on the 1982 book of the same name written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake.
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