Alternative Text Draft: A Cinderella Story

Once upon a time, there was an extraordinary girl.  She was kind and compassionate, but she did not believe it.  She lived her wicked step-mother and wicked step-sisters who told her that she could never be anything special. 

But she dreamed of another life.  Her fairy godmother would make her into the person she wanted to be and she could lead the life she always wanted in another place.  So she waited patiently and thought "My day will come eventually."

She heard about a huge party from her step-mother and step-sisters, but she was not invited.  Instead of waiting for her fairy godmother, she decided that would be the day she changes her life.  Slowly, she planned her escape.

After her family left for the party, she got ready to leave.  On her way to the party, she ran into an old blind woman who asked for her assistance.  "I live across town and I'm terribly lost," lamented the old blind woman.  "Please, miss, can you help me?"

The old blind woman lived in the opposite direction of the party.  The girl gave one glance in the direction of the party, but took pity on the old blind woman and began to lead to the old blind woman home.

Once there, she prepared a meal for the old blind woman and made sure that the old blind woman was settled before she left.  It was too late to go to the party, so she decided to go back home to her step-mother and step-sisters' house.

But the old blind woman was so touched by her kindness and compassion.  The old blind woman rewarded her by giving her magic. "Use it wisely" the old blind woman warned.

She was elated when she received the magic and immediately made a list of all the things she could do with it.  But when she arrived at her step-mother and step-sisters' house, she had another idea.

Instead, she decided not to use the magic to fulfill her dream.  "My life is what I make it," she thought.  So that very night, she packed the things she had and told her step-mother and step-sisters that she was leaving.  They just laughed and told her that she would never make it on her own.


But she gave them the magic and told them to be safe, doubtful that real magic even existed.  She knew however, that she was a kind and compassionate person.  An old blind woman saw her goodness and rewarded her with magic, but the real magic is the extraordinary things she is able to do.  So she went off into the night, a new world of possibilities and lived happily ever after.

Another Children's Book that Focuses on a Social Issue

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a children's book that almost everyone has read.  The main character, Harry Potter, is an 11-year-old orphan that lives with his careless aunt and uncle and their spoiled son.  Harry has always felt alone and out of place, except for the day he realized that he was a wizard.  Suddenly he is whisked away to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  This book appeals to both adults and children.  For children, it is relatable and fantastical.  For adults, it is just as fantasical, but with underlying complex ideas that go beyond good versus evil.  The book is a good opportunity to talk about various social issues, but I think one of the most compelling social issue and the way it is handled is bullying.
What I think is so interesting about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is how author J.K. Rowling handles the mundane.  It's easy for this to be overlooked in a fantasy novel.  In the novel, awkward student Neville Longbottom is constantly picked on by an arrogant student, Draco Malfoy.  Title character Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione encourage Neville to stand up for himself with Malfoy bullies him.  It's not until the very end that Neville stands up for himself, ironically, to his own friends for breaking the rules for something they believe in.  Later, when Gryffindor and Slytherin and tied for the house cup, it's Neville act of courage what gives Gryffindor the winning points when he stands up to his friends.
Bullying is a hot topic today as extreme cases are portrayed in the media, but it's a serious issue that is unprecedented by law.  There are rules in school, but sometimes they aren't taken seriously.  Sometimes students do not know what acts are considered bullying and sometimes they do not know what to do when they encounter a bullying situation.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a fun read, but the novel brings up serious social issues that can be explored.

A Children's Book that Focuses on a Social Issue

One of my favorite children's book is Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, which concerns environmental issues.  The Lorax is about the decline of an imaginary land home to the Lorax, the Once-ler, and beautiful Truffula Trees.  In a flashback, the Once-ler tells a traveling boy how this once beautiful land became desolate.  The Once-ler narrates that he was entranced by the colorful and wooly Truffula Trees.  One day, he chopped one day and a made a multipurpose garment, a Thneed.  Thneeds were in such high demand that the Once-ler had open more shops to accommodate the demand.  However much the Lorax protested, the Once-ler ignored him, spurred by greed and and success.  But the Lorax's warnings were true and eventually all of this land's natural inhabitants had to leave to find a new food source, clean water, and clean air.  The last Truffula Tree was chopped down for more Thneeds and the Once-ler loss his business.  Back in the book's real time, the Once-ler has lost his once beautiful home and gives the boy a Truffula Tree seed.  The Lorax has been criticized for being too gloomy unfair to certain industries.
It is clear that in The Lorax, Dr. Seuss is commenting on the greed of big businesses and its consumers.  On a smaller scale, The Lorax is about greed and instant gratification.  For both children and adults, The Lorax criticizes the extent to which we desire something and the consequences of getting it.  I think this is a good book of people of all ages.  It makes children and adults accountable for what they want.  In The Lorax, the consumers of Thneeds may or may not have known where their Thneeds came from or why they even wanted it.  The book is also very specific to environmental and consumer issues.  The Lorax claims that he "speaks for the trees, as the trees have no tongues."  The book obviously encourages more people to be environmentally friendly, which includes being a responsible consumer and knowing what corporations and their actions they and supporting as consumers.
I reread The Lorax in an biology class a few years ago.  As a child, I did not recognize the messages in the book, but The Lorax comments on our everyday actions as consumers and inhabitants of the earth.  I think it's a friendly book for children that can teach them to be more environmentally conscious, because their actions are going to have an increasing effect on big businesses and the environment.