La Lechera/The Milkmaid Book

Cinder Edna I'm afraid I didn't love this. If it had just been a variation of the Cinderella story with "Cinder Edna" being her plucky, intelligent, outgoing self and the Prince being a bit more quirky and dynamic than fairytale princes are traditionally allowed to be, I probably would have enjoyed it. (Though I'm not a big fan of this style of illustration.) But the foil with the traditional Cinderella and Prince really didn't sit well with me. I didn't like how cynical the "Cinder Edna" retelling was. just really didn't like that the book seemed to thumb its nose at Cinderella and the crown prince's duties as a royal and that Edna and her prince weren't even that nice to them.
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I'm all for modern retellings of fairytales with "girl power" but I don't really enjoy mocking traditional fairy tales. After all, they are tales from the past and, once upon a time, girls didn't have any power, and most girls were not educated, could not hold property, etc. -- the best they could do was marry well. And being in power over ones own behavior, being kind, being generous, even with those who are "less than" you (animals, for example) was, in most circumstances, the most one could do toward controlling her happiness. Cinderella was kind and patient in difficult circumstances--and she was rewarded by marrying as well as any woman could hope to do (marriage usually being the only opportunity for a woman to change her circumstances) and she was granted a "happy ever after." I'm very glad that we have so many modern tales full of strong females who use their brains and hearts to the full extent and embrace their liberty with gusto. I'm very glad we have true stories about women who made history by breaking boundaries. I'm very glad I'm a woman of the 21st century. But I hope that I will not look down my nose on my sisters of long ago who could not do much beyond their sphere of domesticity--carrying ones burdens with a happy, kind heart is enough to make one a heroine in my book. I know this got a bit beyond a review of the book (and I know it is supposed to be a more modern version of the story--so if Edna can take a bus and get paid for working odd jobs then Cinderella had other avenues for self-improvement, too) I guess it just touched a nerve ;-)