The Chinese Cinderella, by Tuan Ch'Eng-Shih, is the earliest version found, dates back to 850-860AD. There is even an African version of the tale recorded in the Hausa language and translated into English in 1965. Among other cultural versions are: the Native American version "Oochigeaskw - "The Rough-Faced Girl"; and the most familiar to today's readers is Charles Perrault's version.

In these variations of the "Cinderella" story, many commonalities exist -- Likewise many other ghastly details differentiate them. I choose to expose my 4-year

-old daughter to Perrault Cinderella version.

As a parent it is my responsibility to train, educate and instill moral sense into my child that will allow her to grow into a contributing-God fairing citizen. Accomplishing this will require many tools and real life examples. In addition to been a role model, reading is another way to accomplish this.

I know some may think that I am raising "naive" child, and that I am "sheltering" her. I take my role as a parent seriously. Just as I scan and review movies, I do books. The big difference between the two mediums -- at this age, I have the flexibility to identify those scenes that I find to be age inappropriate and not illustrate them as part of the story - this flexibility does not exit while watching a movie. However, in both situations, I encourage parents to talk about what they just read or saw and take the opportunity to compare and contrast, to sift through the good the bad and the ugly and focus on those topics you find are life

Some common words found in the essay are:
Perrault Cinderella, Brothers Grimm, Disney's Cinderella, Tuan Ch'Eng-Shih, Charles Perrault's, , Rough-Faced Girl, Native American, fairy tales, fairy tale, grew listening,
Approximate Word count = 673
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)