CINDERELLA'S DRESS
by Shonna Slayton
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Date: June 3rd 2014
Pages: 340
ISBN: 1622663403
CHECK OUT MY REVIEW OF CINDERELLA'S DRESSES HERE
Being seventeen during World War II is tough. Finding out you’re the next keeper of the real Cinderella’s dress is even tougher.Kate simply wants to create window displays at the department store where she's working, trying to help out with the war effort. But when long-lost relatives from Poland arrive with a steamer trunk they claim holds the Cinderella’s dress, life gets complicated.Now, with a father missing in action, her new sweetheart shipped off to boot camp, and her great aunt losing her wits, Kate has to unravel the mystery before it’s too late.After all, the descendants of the wicked stepsisters will stop at nothing to get what they think they deserve.
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Interview with Shonna Slayton
Author of Cinderella's Dress
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What made you want to write this story?
What inspired you?
There were two story sparks for Cinderella’s Dress. One was for the
dress; the other was for the 1940’s time period.
Browsing through
the pictures books with my (then) young daughter, I saw a book by the same
name, Cinderella’s Dress, and was drawn in by the cover illustration by Jane
Dyer. It’s a drawing of a girl in a ball gown sliding down a banister. I
immediately had the idea that Cinderella kept her dress and passed it down as a
family heirloom. (The picture book is actually about the animals making the
dress.)
The 1940s setting
came from this quote from Service and Style by Jan Whitaker:
“Until the personnel shortage of World War II, department
store window display staff were all male.”
This quote caught my eye because when
I was in high school I worked in a sportswear store and had the opportunity to
create a few window displays. It was so much fun, so why were women kept from
doing this until the WWII era? *more fun research* It turns out there were
several reasons, and I wanted to explore this time in history.
Mix those two ideas together in my
brain, and out pops a YA novel, Cinderella’s
Dress.
What was your favourite fairy tale growing up?
Confession time. I never read a lot of
fairy tales when I was younger. I was a big mystery girl (Nancy Drew, and
others.) I rediscovered fairy tales as an adult through the writings of Gail
Carson Levine. I picked up a copy of one of her Princess Tales titles, and when I got to her retelling of the
Princess and the Pea, I was hooked.
I think the most iconic part of
Cinderella is the glass slipper, so why did you choose to focus on her dresses?
I’ve always wondered why the glass
slippers didn’t disappear. I guess it bothered me that all the other magical
items went *poof*, but not the slippers. What
selective magic is this? And if the slippers could endure, why not the
dress?
Who was your favorite character to
write and why?
Aunt Elsie was pretty demanding. She
was originally going to be part of the Prologue, and then pass away during the
trip to America, leaving poor Uncle Adalbert with the responsibility of
explaining everything to my main character, Kate. As it turns out, Elsie was
very much alive when I went to write the scene where Kate meets her uncle. I
couldn’t believe it when I saw her standing in the hallway! So I rolled with it
and wrote her in. She is dear to me, now. (I posted that original Prologue to a
secret place on my website. Newsletter subscribers are given the password.
Tempted?? You can subscribe here: http://shonnaslayton.com)
How much research went into this book?
Too much! LOL. It is so easy to get pulled into
historical rabbit trails. The hardest part was reading all these tragic and
heroic tales of WWII, and finding a balance of writing a more light-hearted
American home-front story. But if you are reading along and wonder: Is this
true? Or Is this a real thing? It probably is (outside of the obvious
fairy-tale bits.) I keep several boards on Pinterest (Pinterest.com/shonnaslayton/) to help me keep my research
straight. 1940s Homefront, 1940s New York, Poland, and of course, a Cinderella
board.
If you could pick anyone, whom would you cast in a
movie adaptation of Cinderella’s Dress?
I would like a cast of amazing unknowns! We debuts
need to stick together.
I adored the strong family aspect of
this book. Was that always your intention when writing this story?
Actually, when I first started writing,
the story was going to parallel the traditional Cinderella tale a lot
more—complete with evil stepmother and nasty stepsisters for Kate. But I had
just finished a fairy-tale binge read and wanted to do something different. So as
I was writing, I completely changed course. The more I wrote, the more the
story became its own entity.
What’s the most challenging part of
the writing process for you?
The first draft. Ugh. I’m so happy
once that is over. It hurts my brain.
Why did you choose to write for YA?
I started out writing for YA (magazine
articles) and then when I became a mom, my reading level went down to picture
books, then chapter books. When my kids became more independent, I had time to
write again, and started writing middle grade because I was surrounded by it.
But then, when the Cinderella’s Dress
idea hit, I was finding it difficult to keep it at the middle grade level. The
content and voice kept creeping up into YA. So, I guess I’m back where I
started.
Lastly, what are you working on at the moment?
The sequel! (Likely titled
Cinderella’s Shoes, out Fall 2015.) I did leave some threads hanging in case I
would get a chance to write the rest of the story. This novel will have the
characters going to post WWII Europe. In my mind, the two books are all part of
one big thought. I’m excited to show my readers the full idea and I hope they
think it’s as cool as I do!
About Shonna
Shonna Slayton finds inspiration in reading vintage diaries written by teens, who despite using different slang, sound a lot like teenagers today. While writing Cinderella’s Dress she reflected on her days as a high-school senior in British Columbia when she convinced her supervisors at a sportswear store to let her design a few windows—it was glorious fun while it lasted. When not writing, Shonna enjoys amaretto lattes and spending time with her husband and children in Arizona. You can visit her website at shonnaslayton.com
Thanks for the fun Q&A Mily!
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