Angkat: The Cambodian Cinderella

In the first English language retelling of this ancient Cambodian tale, our heroine goes further, survives more, and has to conquer even her own mortality to regain her rightful place. Cambodia's Cinderella, Angkat--child of ashes--endures great wrongs as she seeks to rise above distresses caused by her own family.

"Angkat" appeared in an 18th century French essay which was found by Dr. Coburn deep in some dusty archives while researching Khmer culture and folklore. She was drawn to the story immediately, and the rest is now history.

Eddie Flotte, an internationally-known watercolorist, places the reader in the scene of the story. He broadens the storytelling by effectively employing expressions, gestures, lighting, and ambiance in each illustration.

Ten ethnic versions of Cinderella story from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Middle East are summarized and worked into lessons for the middle and upper grades. Each story is accompanied by a Booktalk for review, a Motifs & Ideas for discussion, a Connection to a subject area, and a Vocabulary for cloze exercise. Answer Keys, Group Activities, and Self Evaluation are also provided for maximum learning results. These ten Cinderella tales provide an assortment of stories from around the world that create natural bridges to other curricular areas. Teachers may use the lesson plans as a comprehensive language arts unit that can be integrated with other subject areas, or choose individual lessons with stand-alone worksheets that support and offer practice for concepts already introduced.