Abstract
When Cinderella’s embroidered scarf is ripped at a horse race, she is heartbroken and desperate to find it. Fortunately, the Prince finds the missing piece of her scarf, and in a beautiful union, they make vows to one another to continue keeping their cultural heritage alive.
Author’s Note:
About the Story
I am an Arab-American educator, and an advocate for diversity. I strongly believe that in order for minority students to academically succeed, it is vital they feel included and represented within their learning environment. Integrating multicultural literature in the classroom can help reach this goal.
My passion for multicultural children’s literature has motivated me to write this first children’s book: “The Arabian Cinderella and the Secret of the Woven Threads.” The plot of the story, settings, characters, and sequence of events have grown with me throughout the years, while researching and teaching various topics in bilingual and multicultural education. The message and moral of the story promote the importance of cultural heritage and how to keep it alive. The story offers a meaningful example of cultural preservation through the art of cross-stitching embroidery and the transmission of cultural traditions, beliefs, and values. This can effectively build an understanding and respect for other minority groups and cultures. Reading between the lines of this book, there are words conveying key concepts about diversity and the importance of preserving cultural heritage as an anchor to shape children’s identities.
Almost every culture has their own version of Cinderella’s story, which has been written and adapted in many ways and taken on different names. In my book, I have kept the name of the main character Cinderella as is, but made compelling changes in the plot of the story. Retelling this story from a different perspective is one of the main strengths of this book. The classic fairytale, in many of its original forms, introduces Cinderella as a beautiful young girl who is helpless until a magical intervention where a Prince suddenly appears to change her life. Cinderella in my book is the magic itself; she is the one who initiates the change. She is strong and beloved by her family, including her stepmother and stepsister, who unlike in the classical tale, are not evil. This shift in the characters’ profiles addresses the concept of “stereotyping,” which negatively affects many caring stepmothers who are genuinely devoting their lives for their stepchildren. Instead of losing her glass slipper/ shoe at her first meeting with the Prince, in my book, the main character Cinderella loses a piece of her embroidered scarf, which symbolically represents her cultural heritage. Just like in the classic fairytale, at the end of the story, Cinderella and her Prince get married, as they both vow to keep their heritage alive.