Anthony Manna

I really liked this folktale. It was a Greek folktale so I had never heard the story before. The plot was that a Greek girl made a man, Mr. Semolina-Semolinus, out of almonds, sugar, and semolina. A queen from a far away land heard about how nice looking and nice he was, and decided to steal him from her. She travelled to the ends of the world for him, and she finally succeeded in rescuing him at the end of the book. They lived happily ever after at the end. I really thought this was an original story, a lot of our fairytales in America consist of women finding their princes, not making their own because they didn't like any.… (more)

This book is a version of Cinderella set in Greece. Cinderella visits her mother's grave and prays for her help. Cinderella meets the Prince after going to a church service, and after three attempts at stopping Cinderella, the Prince was finally able to find her and give Cinderella her shoe that she left after it became stuck in honey and wax. The two lived happily ever after, like in the original Cinderella. This book would be a great comparison lesson for young readers who are most likely more familiar with the original Cinderella. The teacher could read the original book and then read the Greece version in order for the students to compare the two books to one another. The students will then be able to see the differences between the two cultures.… (more)

This book was absolutely wonderful! Cinderella has always been one of my favorite fairy tales growing up and when I found this book, I was full of excitement. The style of this book is wonderful, in the sense that it kept with the oral traditions of the original Cinderella story. The style also catered to time period and setting that the book took place. The illustrations were well done, as it was easily understood that the story was about Cinderella, while also showing settings in Greece. For example, the orphan threw gold coins and the villagers scattered to grab them.… (more)