Overview and Outcomes:

This is a 10-session Literary Leaf for Cinderella: An Art Deco Fairy Tale by Lynn Roberts-Maloney and David Roberts which covers all aspects of the Key Stage 1 content domains.  Children will begin by considering a range of versions of this classic fairy tale and identifying the similarities and differences between them.  Armed with a solid understanding of the story, they will move on to making predictions for this version, as well as drawing inferences about the characters and summarising sections of the story. The series of lessons finishes by exploring the themes covered and children will be encouraged to identify evidence to support and justify their opinions.  There will also be opportunities to explore the meanings of new vocabulary in context.

Synopsis of Text:

This is a gloriously retold familiar tale by sibling-duo David Roberts and Lynn Roberts-Maloney. When comparing this version of Cinderella to more traditional tellings of the story, it is in the styling of the illustrations that we notice the main differences. This means that changes to other versions are subtle and therefore the children will be able to hold the story in their heads fairly easily. The vocabulary used is perfect for developing children’s awareness of vocabulary within context and there are also ideal opportunities to work on the skills of inference. Opportunities to develop greater depth skills have also been planned for and the book works well for this because it can be linked with other versions of Cinderella and other reimagined tales (including those of David Roberts and Lynn Roberts-Maloney). There are also perfect links to the Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt if using the illustrated version by Tony DiTerlizzi, as this is also Art Deco in style.

Links to Curriculum areas, other Literary Leaves and Planning Sequences:

Jim and the Beanstalk by Raymond Briggs (Y2 planning sequence in the Literary Curriculum) would be an ideal text to teach this alongside.

Fairy Tales, good, bad, fairy godmother, stepmother, ugly sisters