Raising a young girl in today’s world (or any world) can be very difficult or interesting to say the least. With different influences coming from many directions, I knew that I wanted to raise a strong minded female who can achieve anything if she puts her mind to it. When researching certain books with strong female leads, my husband stumbled upon the book: “Interstellar Cinderella” by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Meg Hunt.

This book is a different take on the classic Cinderella story but it takes place in space. There is a prince, a stepmother and two step sisters. Cinderella is a strong character who loves fixing things and dreams of being an engineer. She is constantly fixing things around the house and is always studying to better her techniques.

One day, an announcement is made about the prince having a Royal Space Parade, inviting everyone in the Solar System to attend. Of course, the wicked stepmother informs Cinderella that she can attend if she fixes a broken ship. And of course, the stepmother tricks Cinderella by taking Cinderella’s tool box with her and her daughters while they attend the Royal Space Parade.

Indeed Cinderella’s fairy godrobot (not godmother this time) comes to Cinderella’s rescue and gives her a special space outfit along with her sonic socket wrench. However, she must get back to her home by midnight. Finally Cinderella gets to attend the Royal Space Parade. While she’s attending the Royal Space Parade, she notices one rocket ship starting to burn. She comes to the person’s rescue by fixing the ship with her socket wrench. The person is thankful for Cinderella’s help and they end up talking for hours about rocket ships, to the point that Cinderella loses track of time and must rush home. While she is rushing away she loses her socket wrench and the person finds it. The person, if you haven’t concluded, is the prince.

The prince is so enthralled with Cinderella and needs to find her. He sets out on a quest to find the fascinating young lady that he connected with by bringing along the socket wrench. Whoever can fix the broken rocket ship, is the one he is destined to be with. The story follows the same timeline as the Disney classic and he has the stepsisters try to fix the broken rocket ship and finds out that they are unable to fix it. Meanwhile, the stepmother has trapped Cinderella in the attic tied up but she is rescued by her robot mouse. Cinderella quickly fixes the rocket ship and the prince asks her to marry him. Now, this is the funny part, Cinderella claims she is too young for marriage but she’ll be gladly be his Chief Mechanic.

Now how great is that? Every dam Disney movie (okay not all, but most) has the prince and princess fall in love in like 5 minutes and it makes me cringe. So instead of Cinderella wanting to marry the prince, she understands that she just met this dude and she’ll rather do something that she loves – fixing rocket ships. She’s ambitious and thinks about her future (probably her retirement plan too, lol). She’s a go getter, analytical and confident in her abilities. I love this Cinderella because she’s the type of female who I would likely daughter to be. She’s the type of role model that doesn’t look for love, but loves herself and understands what she wants. She’s a go-getter and she has a bright future ahead of her. And maybe, just maybe she’ll end up marrying the prince but that’s not her objective at the moment, which is great.

I highly recommend this book because it has a strong female lead who understands her dreams and aspirations. She doesn’t need anyone to define her and she knows what she wants out of her life. She is a role model for any young lady in this day and age and who doesn’t want a strong role model? – Peace and Love