The Gospel Cinderella

The Gospel Cinderella
Written by: Joyce Carol Thomas
Pictures by: David Diaz
Joanna Cotler Books, 2004
37 pages
Traditional Literature

                There's a singing Cinderella? Without a glass slipper?  This story is about a mother named Queen Mother Rhythm.  Who has a baby daughter with a voice as flavorful as licorice.  But one day the Queen took her baby to the river in a basket and a horrible hurricane came by and swept the sweet baby girl away. Find out what happens to the baby by reading The Gospel Cinderella.

                David Diaz is an award winning illustrator he uses bold, stylized works that make you want to actually experience what's going on in the story.  Each page is full of vibrant colors.  The pictures take up all the space on the pages.  The text is equally distributed throughout the book on each page.

                For this book I would allow my students to guess and write down what they think the story is going to be about.  Then after reading the book I would have my students match up what they had gotten right.  Next I would have my students make up their own Cinderella story.  Each student would be allowed to write a short paragraph about what they would want their Cinderella story to be.