Here are 100 books that Cinderella fans have personally recommended if you like
Cinderella.
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As a writer, wife, and mom, I love reading novels and memoirs about women who are navigating parenting, relationships, and careers simultaneously. My favorites are those that make me laugh out loud while presenting a relatable picture of all this juggling act entails. Smart and witty heroines who approach life with a can-do spirit and the ability to laugh at themselves as the world tosses one curveball after another their way capture my heart every time.
It’s hard to match Nora Ephron’s wit and wisdom. In this novel, which mirrors events from the novelist and screenwriter’s real life, cookbook writer Rachel Samstat learns that her husband is cheating on her while she’s pregnant. Even as her life is falling apart, Rachel maintains her sense of humor while dropping the “everything is perfect” routine and speaking her mind.
In this tale of love and loss, Ephron serves up hilarious and heartbreaking moments in equal portions alongside mouthwatering recipes.
If I had to do it over again, I would have made a different kind of pie. The pie I threw at Mark made a terrific mess, but a blueberry pie would have been even better, since it would have permanently ruined his new blazer, the one he bought with Thelma ... I picked up the pie, thanked God for linoleum floor, and threw it' Rachel Samstat is smart, successful, married to a high-flying Washington journalist... and devastated. She has discovered that her husband is having an affair with Thelma Rice, 'a fairly tall person with a neck as long…
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
"My friends are my estate." This quote from Emily Dickinson (which I like so much, I’ve put in my novel!) gives a proper dignity to the concept of friendship. Friends can be overlooked in fiction, often just there to show that the main character isn’t a complete loner. Friendships are portrayed as less interesting and important than romances. Yet in real life, romantic relationships come and go, whilst friends are there for you, no matter what. Or at least, the best ones are. I’m a passionate believer in stories which reflect the importance, and complexity, of what, for many of us, are our longest-lasting relationships.
Sparky, fast-talking and addictive, I adored this book when it came out in the early 1990s. I enjoyed the subsequent film, too.
But you don’t hear much about it any more, though I think it’s probably still a relevant portrait of Black women’s lives in America. It’s about four friends, women in their thirties, each chapter told from the viewpoint of one of the friends.
The voice is so fresh and in-your-face, so funny and engaging. I love how teasing and chiding of each other they are when they’re together, but also so supportive and loving. Below the lighter-than-air surface of their conversations, the reader comes to realise what they mean to each other.
The story of four vibrant black women in their thirties. They draw on each other for support as they struggle with careers, divorce, motherhood and their relationships with men.
I’m drawn to stories about human nature and the many lifestyles people choose to live. My mother often tells me I’m like my great aunt Freda, who has a love for beautiful and fantastic things. Freda was famous in my mind, and I believe I was further drawn to reading about fame because I wanted to know what that world looked like. Is too much money stressful? Are social events unwanted obligations? Are famous marriages bound to fail? This list is a glimpse into the lifestyles of the rich and famous and both the curses and blessings of their daily lives.
This is a story that many of us have experienced. The reality of it pulled me in. When I was in middle school, a boy I had “dated” made copies of a very personal letter I had written him. He and his buddy then handed the letter out to everyone. Classmates mockingly read the letter out loud to me. How mortifying. I feel you, Cannie Shapiro.
I also love this story because Cannie hits it off with a starlet who turns into a close friend. Who doesn’t want a famous bff? As Cannie pushed to find her way through the heartache and betrayal, I felt for her and wanted her to heal so she could find love and happiness again.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner brings to life an irresistibly funny and relatable heroine in the novel The Boston Globe called “funny, fanciful, extremely poignant, and rich with insight.”
For twenty-eight years, things have been tripping along nicely for Cannie Shapiro. Sure, her mother has come charging out of the closet, and her father has long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her friends, her rat terrier, Nifkin, and her job as pop culture reporter for The Philadelphia Examiner. She’s even made a tenuous peace with her plus-size body.
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
My parents split up when I was six. I escaped from my sadness by reading stories about love and relationships and exploring how others went about the business of living and coping. I married young for security and to have a big family of my own. I succeeded. I have four amazing kids, but after years of wedded chaos, I too was divorced. As a single mom, I set out in search of my own identity and went back to novels to help me find myself. Though I’ve since been fortunate to find my happily ever after, I still enjoy characters that feel like friends who offer warmth, hope, and comfort.
Annie, Brenda, and Elise have been wronged. Not only have their husbands taken them for granted, but they have gone so far as to deceive, betray, and hurt them. Now these friends, sisters in humiliation, want justice.
I understand. I felt similarly when I was soldiering through my divorce. What reasonable thing could I do to get back at him without hurting anyone else, especially my kids. I never found a specific answer, but therapy and this book helped.
I enjoyed the way the girls were there for one another and wished I had friends in my boat who would get me like that and support me like that. Betrayal is rough, especially when you’ve given love with your whole heart. This book is a cathartic ride through the weeds.
Before Sex and the City...before The Starter Wife...there was The First Wives Club The sharp-witted and sexy New York Times bestseller!
Elise, Brenda, and Annie have one thing in common: they were all first wives. Make that two things in common -- they were the secret to success for each of their spouses, faithfully supporting them as they rose to the top. Okay, three things: they were each abandoned for younger, blonder, sleeker women, "trophy wives" for their exes to sport about town.
It may not be on the menu at New York's finer restaurants, but revenge is a dish…
I’ve been fascinated by the park for years, ever since I started visiting it daily to do shinrin-yoku, or Japanese “forest-bathing,” there. I wanted to learn everything about it through first-hand experiences, through guides on its flora and fauna, and through historical sources. The park is the heart of Manhattan, and I wanted to learn what makes it beat. After living, breathing, and studying the park for a good long while, the diary I had started taking on my experiences there eventually grew into a book-length poem about it. That book would never have happened without inspiration from and the information in the books on this list.
I was lucky to receive this book as a gift from a friend. Still, gorgeous as the photographs in it are, it is more than a coffee-table book.
I had known Sara Cedar Miller’s photography beforehand, but in this book, she distinguishes herself as a historian as well. I could only admire the depth of her knowledge about the original plan for the park and how deftly she fits the Victorian-era elements into it.
But the park I love is a living and ever-evolving museum of architecture and botany, and Miller is up as well on more recently added environments such as the Hallett Nature Sanctuary and Rhododendron Mile.
An authoritative visual survey of New York City's Central Park, with new photography and updated text
For more than 160 years, Central Park has been the centerpiece of New York City, with more than 42 million visits each year. In Seeing Central Park, Sara Cedar Miller takes readers through America's most popular and celebrated park, where natural and manmade features are interwoven into a spectacular work of art. Combining superb research and writing with breathtaking photographs, Seeing Central Park is not only a guide through every significant design feature but also a gorgeous gift book.
My name is Lynn Brunelle, and for as long as I can remember, I have been at least two things—a bookhound and an outdoorsy girl. Ever since I was little, I have explored trees, insects, tadpoles, snowflakes, tidepools—whatever I discovered in my home in the woods by the beach. I had so many questions, which led to books. So it seems only natural that I LOVE books—lots of different genres of books, but mostly books for kids and mostly books that make me wonder about science and nature. Bringing this curiosity to others and making the amazing things in nature accessible to kids is what I do.
This deliciously visual book is like a journal. I wish I had spent more time drawing in and collecting morsels of natural facts! I devour things like the whys and hows of different types of rocks, weather patterns, and volcanoes, among other wonders.
The pages are loaded with lovely and informative illustrations, and I want to carry them with me everywhere in case I ever wonder why, how, or what.
See the world in a whole new way! Acclaimed illustrator Julia Rothman combines art and science in this exciting and educational guide to the structure, function, and personality of the natural world.
Explore the anatomy of a jellyfish, the inside of a volcano, monarch butterfly migration, how sunsets work, and much more. Rothman's whimsical illustrations are paired with interactive activities that encourage curiosity and inspire you to look more closely at the world all around you.
Nature Anatomy is the second book in Rothman's Anatomy series - you'll love Nature Anatomy Notebook, Ocean Anatomy, Food Anatomy, and Farm Anatomy, too!
Growing up, my family was a meat and potatoes family. The food was good but it was never really about the food. It was about eating together. When I got older, I ventured beyond the world of meat and potatoes, made more friends to eat with, and learned more and more to enjoy the little things in life. My two books are about food but also not really. They're community books. Family books. Adventure books. Same thing with the 5 books on my list. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
This is a powerful and beautiful book that captures the strength and culture of the Palestinian people. Some books feel like they must exist, and this is one of them.
I feel like food is such a great theme because you can really tackle heavy or tough subjects with it. This book does a good job of not sugarcoating that heaviness but being real about it and presenting it by using a focus of the olive trees and what that means to Palestinians. It takes skill to do that.
I really appreciate this book and it should be in every home.
The story of a Palestinian family’s ties to the land, and how one young girl finds a way to care for her home, even as she says goodbye.
It’s 1967 in Nablus, Palestine.
Oraib loves the olive trees that grow outside the refugee camp where she lives. Each harvest, she and her mama pick the small fruits and she eagerly stomp stomp stomps on them to release their golden oil. Olives have always tied her family to the land, as Oraib learns from the stories Mama tells of a home before war.
I’ve loved children’s books for as long as I can remember. When I became a Kindergarten teacher, I often used children’s books to springboard lessons and activities with my class. Years later, when I became a mom, I wanted children’s books to be a special part of my children’s lives as well. Reading to my kids before bed became a nighttime ritual we all enjoyed. Another activity we regularly enjoyed was baking. As such, children’s books that have food at the forefront were a natural bridge to kitchen adventures with my children. Here are a few of our favorite books to help spark cooking and baking fun with your kids!
I love how many connections there are to the kitchen and literacy in this sweet story.
I read this book to my kids and then had fun planning (by writing and drawing just like Max) our own special cake to bake! Perhaps try your hands at baking an angel food cake with raspberry fluff icing just like Ruby’s, or maybe try Max’s “dirt” cake made of chocolate cake and gummy worms!
When my kids were younger, I always kept a little notepad in their play kitchen where they could play “restaurant" and take my order or make grocery lists. Before they could actually write, they would draw pictures to represent words, just like Max does in Bunny Cakes.
This book also includes: kitchen tool/appliance identification; reviewing basic cake baking ingredients; and pre-writing stage of drawing pictures to represent words.
It's Grandma's birthday, and Max wants to make her an icky, worm-infested cake. But Ruby says, "No, Max. We are going to make Grandma an angel surprise cake, with raspberry-fluff icing." Will Max let his bossy older sister keep him out of the kitchen? Or will they both become bunnies who bake?
I am a picture book author/illustrator who writes humorous stories. One of my favorite techniques for instilling humor in my writing is for the illustrations to show the reader more than the characters’ know. It’s so much fun for kids to realize and be in on the joke before the characters in the book. I love a storytime where the kids get engaged and start pointing out what’s really happening and start talking to the characters to try to change their actions. I also love a good twist ending that makes the reader say, “How did I not see that coming?!” and these are the perfect kind of books for it.
The premise of this book is just hilarious. On their first day of school, a class thinks their teacher is a sandwich sitting on the desk at the front of the class. What?! Hilarious!
Because we see the scene through the classroom window, the reader knows that the teacher’s car was smashed by a fallen tree, and he’s stuck in the parking lot dealing with it. But the twist at the end has the reader questioning how much they actually knew all along!
2
authors picked
Mr. S
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
4,
5,
6, and
7.
What is this book about?
Prepare for plenty of giggles as a kindergarten class arrives for their first day of school, but can't find their teacher-only a delicious-looking sandwich and the words "Mr. S" scribbled on the chalkboard. Chaos ensues as the kids argue whether or not the sandwich must be their teacher. A comical, first day of school book of mayhem and chaos by Monica Arnaldo, perfect fans of Miss Nelson Is Missing.
"This might be the funniest first-day-of-school book I've ever read." -Adam Rex, New York Times bestselling author of School's First Day of School
I’m C.M. Harris, a passionate children’s author who believes in the transformative power of kindness and friendship. My bestselling book What If We Were All The Same! has been recognized for teaching children about acceptance and inclusion. For over 15 years, I’ve worked with children and families to foster positive values, and my writing reflects my dedication to creating stories that inspire. I curated this list because I’ve seen how books can shape young minds, and I’m excited to share these meaningful stories that celebrate friendship and kindness.
This book is such a clever and fun way to show kids how to turn someone from an enemy into a friend.
The story left me smiling and reminded me of how understanding and spending time with others can change our perceptions. It’s a classic with a powerful message.
It was the perfect summer. That is, until Jeremy Ross moved into the house down the street and became neighborhood enemy number one. Luckily Dad had a surefire way to get rid of enemies: Enemy Pie. But part of the secret recipe is spending an entire day playing with the enemy!
In this funny yet endearing story, one little boy learns an effective recipes for turning your best enemy into your best friend. Accompanied by charming illustrations, Enemy Pie serves up a sweet lesson in the difficulties and ultimate rewards of making new friends.
