Cinder Book Talk

Cinder
Marissa Meyer

Outline:

A rewritten tale of Cinderella, based in the future New Beijing, and the first of the series The Lunar Chronicles. The twist is that the new Cinderella is a cyborg, there’s space travel, and intergalactic war and treaty occurring all at one. Cinder is a cyborg mechanic who resides in the Eastern Commonwealth on Earth with her resentful stepmother and stepsisters. She also happens to be a long lost princess of the moon. Cinder starts to run for her life with some trusted friends and becomes the hero of her prince and herself.

After one of her sisters died from the incurable disease called “letumosis,” Cinder was volunteered by her stepmother, Adri, to become a medical subject for plague research. She is sent to the laboratory, where she meets Dr. Dmitri Erland, the lead doctor for plague research. This is where she finds out that she is a Lunar cyborg, and begins her new mission to find Princess Selene, the true ruler of Luna and not the current tyrant, the Lunar Queen. This book is full of love, friendship, and intergalactic adventure, with a classic good verses bad scenario.

Biography:

Marissa Meyer is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Heartless and The Lunar Chronicles. She lives in Tacoma, Washington, with her husband and twin daughters. She’s a fan of most things geeky (Sailor Moon, Firefly, any occasion that requires a costume), and has been in love with fairy tales since she was a child.

Rationale:

I love this series, I got through this book in two days, and it made me want to read more. It is written in third person omniscient, which is a good way to teach students how an author accomplished this. The series is categorized as Young Adult fantasy. The author took something old and turned it into something new, which can be a challenge. As the book and series continue, the imagery becomes more complex and detailed all at the same time. Teach difference between the way the story is told from other places/cultures, including the American version, see the difference in the book. How to imagine something new off of something old, like the Cinderella Story. Discuss Science Fiction and how research can play a factor into something like this.

Teaching ideas:

Third person omniscient writing and teaching the students point of view and how to execute the task.
Turning something old into something new and futuristic. Challenge the students to turn an older story into something new.
Cultural comparison to different tales (Grimm brothers, American version, Russian version etc.

Obstacles:

There is little violence, and it isn't vivid, but it could be an issue for a student. It might be hard for some of the students to get into reading this book. Some of the third person omnicscient writing could get confusing for some of the students.

References:

http://www.marissameyer.com/
https://www.enotes.com/topics/cinder



Lunar Chronicles Series: Cinder, Scarlet Cress, Fairest, and Winter