A book about ‘Cinderfella’ shows us how books for girls fall short.

How fairy tales inspired a new book series.

You’re probably pretty familiar with the story of Cinderella, her fairy godmother, her evil stepmother, and the handsome prince.

It’s a classic story about dreaming big, with the message that you, too, can escape tough circumstances with a little bit of magic (and a bit of conventional beauty). Overall, it’s a pretty standard fairy tale in which the best thing a woman can hope for is to be hand-picked by a man for a life of “happily ever after.”

As a story, it’s fine, but it’s not exactly inspirational.


To get a better idea of what I’m talking about, let’s imagine that the roles were reversed — the story of Cinderfella.

That’s what Rebel Girls did in a 2017 video where they ask, “What if Cinderella were a guy?”

What follows is a humorous story about a boy named Cinderfella, his evil stepfather and ugly stepbrothers, a fairy godfather, a glass loafer, and a noble princess to pluck our dear protagonist out of obscurity and into wedded bliss.

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