Using Fractured Fairy Tales: Princess Furball by Charlotte Huck

Princess Furball was the second Cinderella story that I read.

I was not really sure what to expect.  My anticipation grew, however, when I read the author's note in the very beginning that though a Cinderella story at the heart, she had rewritten the story to include other folk-tales.

As you can imagine by this and the actual title, this was not really a typical Cinderella story.

I wanted to mention from the very start that in my last post,  about another version of Cinderella, I ranted about the body shapes of the step-sisters in comparison with Cinderella.

In this story, I was pleasantly surprised that the princess was an average size (she looked bulkier than she actually was when wearing her fur coat) and even had big curly hair  (also a non-normality when depicting female protagonists, believe me curly/frizzy hair is not just for the conniving people of this world).

This version is also very different than the typical Cinderella story because there is no fairy godmother.

The girl (named Furball) learns that her father wants her to marry an ugly ogre because the father will get money.

When her plans to delay the marriage (getting dresses like the sun, the moon, and the stars and a fur coat made of thousands of furs) fail, she runs away and becomes a servant.  Then through her cooking skills, cunning, and beauty she wins the heart of the king and marries him.

She is able to attract the man by using her talents; she does not need the contrivance of magic (though she does store her dresses in walnut shells and quite honestly I am not sure how you would do that without magic or a super powerful vacuum).

As the story is refreshing, the pictures complement and add to the story.

Because the pictures are rather blocky and the colors are very rich, the story feels as the folk-tale that the story is trying to convey.

Often the colors are very natural which lead back to the title Princess Furball; she also hides under the fur coat during her servanthood.  Though the pictures are not nearly as detailed or elaborate as the other Cinderella story, the details that are included add to the story a certain personality of the characters and greatly enhance the overall story.

Because of the excellent combination of pictures and creative story line, I would highly recommend this for anyone who wants a spin to a classic fairy-tale.