Suzy Senior’s Santarella (9781664300323, $18.99) features an engaging twist on two classic themes: Cinderella and Santa Claus. Lucy Semple’s colorful and detailed, playful drawings enliven the spin on a Cinderella experience which takes place at Christmas and involves not a fairy godmothers, but Santa’s intervention in her life. Christmas is more about jobs and gift-giving, however, as Cinderella lends a hand and discovers unexpected results from her efforts. –Midwest Book Review–Children’s Bookwatch
Santarella by author/storyteller Suzy Senior and artist/illustrator Lucy Semple is a laugh-out-loud take on the traditional fairy tale of Cinderella. Original, memorable, humorous, and fun, “Santerella with its deftly blending of a rhyming text and with energetic illustrations is unreservedly recommended as a prized pick for family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library picture book collections for children ages 3-7. –Midwest Book Review–Children’s Bookwatch
“Cinderella” gets a Christmas-y remix in Senior’s modern rhyming rendition with a feminist twist. Classic meets contemporary in opening scenes of pale-skinned Cinderella grappling with the mess left by her “grumpy, bossy sisters” before they departed for a palace ball: “But back to Cinderella,/ in the kitchen, on her own,/ about to watch a boring/ Christmas movie on her phone.” A jingle and bump announce the arrival of someone down the chimney, and though Cindy’s hope for a fairy godmother is dashed by the arrival of Santa Claus, the can-do protagonist readily agrees to help white-presenting St. Nick deliver presents, instead. The globe-trotting that follows proves sufficiently revelatory to empower the heroine, who departs from fairy tale norms even as the story embraces folktale characters. Semple’s soft-edged renderings mingle magic and modernity throughout this appealing twice-told tale. Characters are shown with various skin tones. Ages 3–7. [em](Sept.) –Publishers Weekly
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