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Abadeha : the Philippine Cinderella / adapted by Myrna J. de la Paz ; illustrated by Youshang Tang.

by De La Paz, Myrna J.

Auburn, Calif. : Shen's Books, c2001.

1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 28 cm.

Ages 5-9. As de la Paz explains in an author's note, this story, a reconstruction of the Cinderella story from traditional Philippine folklore, has disappeared from mainstream folklore because of Spanish colonization and Americanization. In the tale, Abadeha's father is a fisherman, away much of the time, giving Stepmother and her daughters the opportunity to make the kind, hardworking Abadeha miserable. Abadeha has hard tasks to perform, such as weaving a tattered mat back together. Instead of a fairy godmother coming to the rescue, there are spirits who help her, and a ring she drops is found by the son of the island chieftain. The girl who can remove it from his finger, where it is stuck, will be his bride. This telling is long, but the details are evocative. The colored pencil art is pleasant but oddly generic. Although the characters are in traditional dress, there is no real feeling of time or place. Still, many libraries, especially those with a Filipino population, will want to have this on hand. - Ilene Cooper; 32p-

Gr 2-4-Abadeha prays to the Spirit of the Forest for guidance to endure the unkind stepmother who heaps piles of work on her. The Spirit gives the young woman an enchanted sarimanok that is summarily killed by the stepmother and roasted for dinner. Abadeha offers the bird's feet to the Spirit, and is told to bury them on her mother's grave. Later, she returns to find an enchanted tree laden with jewels. A respectful prince finds it and takes a ring from it; his finger begins to swell and he cannot remove the ring. Of course, Abadeha is the one who removes it, marries the prince, and lives happily ever after. The illustrations are slightly stiff; often characters' eyes seem to be dark sockets with a resulting look reminiscent of textbook art. The text and art together provide an adequate, if somewhat awkward portrayal of Cinderella. For more successfully executed versions, try Rebecca Hickox's The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story (Holiday, 1998); Ai-Ling Louie's Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China (Philomel, 1982); or Robert D. San Souci's Cendrillon (S & S, 1998), a Creole variant of the tale.-Susan M. Moore, Louisville Free Public Library, KY. Unpg.-

BL 07/00/2001 2013

SJ 12/00/2001 0120

In this version of Cinderella, set in the Philippines, Abadeha endures abuse by her stepmother before being helped by the Spirit of the Forest and becoming the bride of the island chieftan's son.

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