The Salmon Princess: An Alaska Cinderella Story [Paperback]

Now here's a Cinderella for modern times! Hardworking, independent, full of initiative! Her father, mother, and she live at the edge of a rain forest in Alaska, where they catch, clean, and smoke salmon for their livelihood. It's a bloody job, but someone has to do it.

One day the mother dies, the father is sad. Life goes on. He re-marries. The woman has two grown sons who help catch more salmon, leaving the cleaning job to Cinder, a beautiful red-haired lass with smoky eyes (thus Cinder). She is drowning in salmon!

One day the Silver Salmon Festival is announced. Everyone is going except Cinder, who must clean salmon. She finishes early, the eagle makes her a dress out of salmon skins which magically becomes sublime in appearance, and tells her to be home by dawn. She is practical, takes smoked salmon to sell for raffle tickets, with her eyes on the prize of silver bars.

She dances the night away with a young man, who turns out to be the son of the owner of the salmon canning factory, or "the Salmon Prince," as she calls him. As she leaves, her foot gets caught in a salmon net and she must leave her shoe--only it is the wading boot so common in Alaska!

Prince Salmon finds her. They marry. She becomes the Salmon Princess of the book's title. They move to the interior of Alaska and buy a farm to raise great big cabbages, both happy to escape the smell of salmon!

The story is a new twist on the old, a fun Cinderella story, but still based on hard work and mistreatment. This Cinderella, however, makes her own way. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous--vivid, vibrant, intense, much like the landscape of Alaska. Even Cinder is intense with that wild red hair.

This is a wonderful addition to a child's or school library for the entertainment of the new story and information about one of our states.

This is a very effective adaptation of the European Cinderella story, with none of the blood and strong connections with the real life of European-Americans in Alaska. The eagle spirit makes a fine substitute for a fairy godmother, and the stepmother and brothers are less cruel than in the original. However, I would have liked it better if there had been some acknowledgement of Alaska Natives' lives and culture.

My 6 year old loved this book. It's a charming update on Cinderella, with a spunky heroine that can help herself and really beautiful pictures. A great for any kid in the Northwest who is around salmon alot.