"Cinderelephant" by Emma Dodd (Templar Publishing)

On our recent trip to Mostly Books in Abingdon, we spotted Emma Dodd's Cinderelephant and with Charlotte's love of all things pink (and Cinderella-ish) we thought it would be a fantastic addition to our haul.

It's certainly a book that has been getting plenty of critical praise and rave reviews so we were looking forward to a novel twist on the 'Cinderella' story.

But (and it's a big but!) here's the thing. We see a lot of children's books where authors and illustrators put their own unique stamp on a well-worn story, and make it their own. In "Cinderelephant" it feels a little bit of a let down that the only real novelty here is that Cinderella is an Elephant, Prince Trunky is an elephant and the "Furry Godmouse" is a mouse (wait, don't elephants hate mice? Wouldn't Cinderelephant stomp her Fairy Godmother flat?)

Both The Strolling Mum and Me felt a bit deflated by Cinderelephant and wished we'd have given it closer scrutiny as it follows the original story so closely (and we have so many versions of Cinderella at home) that it doesn't really warrant another telling, even in grey wrinkly form.

However, Charlotte absolutely loved it, particularly the sparkly slippers Cinderelephant wears.

Perhaps we're being too harsh. We both commented that we were expecting some novel twist and it just wasn't there, the book was nicely presented but didn't really bring anything new to the table other than anthropomorphised animals replacing the human characters. When it boils down to it though, Charlotte's opinion is what this blog is about and she gave it a right royal thumbs up.

Charlotte's best bit: The Furry Godmouse

Daddy's favourite bit: People dancing round their handbags at the Royal Ball