SuitabookCinderella's stepsister and the big bad wolf
Lorraine Carey
- Reading
- Read it alongside a familiar Cinderella version, pausing to compare each character’s reputation with their behaviour. Afterward, revisit the final lesson and ask what the reversals change.
- Themes
- Kindness and belonging: Gertie is described as exceptionally kind, while her family wants her to learn meanness before the ball. The book leaves its stance open to more than one reading.
- Reputation versus behaviour: Cinderella is recast as not very nice, Gertie as the kindest sister, and the Wolf becomes Gertie’s teammate. The book presents competing or mixed signals about this.
- Worth knowing
- Some children may want to discuss the family’s pressure to act mean, the presence of threatening fairy-tale figures, and the Wolf’s eventual outcome. The ending includes several reversals that may invite discussion of how the characters’ relationships change.