is by far the strongest book in the Other Side of the Story series I have reviewed so far.Trisha Shaskan presents the story of Cinderella from the stepmother's perspective. It is one of the most convincing tales in the series and gives some insight as to what happened to Cinderella after her father married. If the stepmother was in fact this good at convincing outsiders that Cinderella was talking to animals and that she was doing her best to keep things stable with an absent father, it explains much about the lack of outside intervention in Cinderella's life prior to meeting the prince.
The stepmother clearly states she saw no alarming behavior prior to her marriage, but after the father abandons them to business shortly after the marriage, her eccentric behaviors emerge. The stepmother's tale becomes a bit confused trying to explain why the prince chooses Cinderella. However, considering the strong arguments up to that point I expected that her tale would have some holes eventually. The one real weakness was throwing in the comment that she and her daughters were the ones who lived happily ever after while the prince had to live with Cinderella. That spoiled what had been a good attempt at justifying her actions and actually creating some reasonable doubt.
I wish Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten!: The Story of Little Red Riding Hood as Told by the Wolf (The Other Side of the Story)
had the same strength in storytelling. Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks!: The Story of the Three Bears as Told by Baby Bear (The Other Side of the Story)
came closer, but still did not match the arguments the stepmother makes for her actions. I have Trust Me, Jack's Beanstalk Stinks!: The Story of Jack and the Beanstalk as Told by the Giant (The Other Side of the Story)
on reserve at the library so I'll be able to see where it falls on the spectrum of this series.
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