WOW. Phenomenal read. Where do I even begin? I am practically adult and when I think of the story of Cinderella I think of the Disney rendition that I own on DVD. This book tells the story of Cinderella while incorporating the cultures of Mexico, Iran, Ireland and Zimbabwe. Did you know that Cinderella exists in these cultures too? The different cultures are threaded so beautifully that you can barely tell where one culture ends and another begins. Cinderella goes to the ball on a coach but has to leave when the rooster (not the clock) strikes twelve. Instead of a glass slipper, her lover accidentally pulls off her golden shoe. In the following pages the golden shoe becomes a straw slipper. She is married and feasts on rice with almonds, beef stew, anise and cookies and custards. The last line is my absolute favorite: "the people today are still telling this story."