Text Samples

Below is an example of the kind of text found at each age level in The Children’s Classical Library. The final example includes notes and sample comprehension questions.

The examples show how the opening of Cinderella might be told at each level. The final version, for Reading Age 11+, is the original text by Andrew Lang.

Six years

Once there was a kind man. He had a wife and a daughter. His wife loved him very much, and so did his daughter. One day the man's wife died. He was very, very sad.

The man wanted a new wife. His next wife was not kind at all. She was very cruel. She had two ugly daughters who were also very mean.

Seven years

Once there was a kind man. He had a very loving wife. He had a young daughter who was also just like her mother. One day the man's wife died, and he was very sad.

The man wanted a new wife. He found one, but she was not kind at all. She was very cruel. She had two ugly daughters who were also very mean.

The wife did not like her new daughter, who was kind and pretty. So she made her work hard. The girl scrubbed dishes. She scrubbed floors. She cleaned the fireplaces. Her sisters made fun of her and called her 'ash girl', or Cinderella.

Cinderella's sisters had fine rooms with soft beds. But Cinderella had a cold room in the attic, and her bed was made of straw.

Eight years

Once there was a man who had a wife and daughter. He loved his wife and daughter dearly, for they were both kind and loving. Sadly, his wife died before she was thirty years old.

Soon the man decided to marry again. His new wife was not kind like the first, but proud and cruel. She also had two daughters, who were just like her.

She did not like her new daughter at all, who was much kinder and prettier than herself and her daughters. So the poor girl was given the dirtiest work in the house. She had to scrub dishes and floors. She was made to clean out the fireplaces. She was treated like a slave. Her sisters had fine rooms to sleep in, with lovely, soft beds. But she only had a small, cold room in the attic, and her bed was made of straw.

Nine years

Once there was a man who had a wife and a young daughter. He loved his wife and daughter dearly, for they were both kind and loving. Sadly, his wife died before she was thirty years old.

Soon the man decided to marry again. But his new wife was not kind like the first, but proud and quite cruel. She also had two daughters, who were just like her.

She did not like her new step-daughter at all, who was much kinder and prettier than herself and her daughters. So the poor girl was given the dirtiest work in the house. She had to scrub dishes and floors, clean out fireplaces—just like a servant might have done. Her sisters were given fine rooms to sleep in, while she was given only a small, cold room in the attic. Her bed was made of straw.

Ten years

Once there was a man who had a wife and a young daughter. He loved his wife and daughter dearly, for they were both kind and loving. Sadly, his wife died before she was thirty years old.

Finding that he could not look after his daughter by himself, the man soon found another wife. This woman, unlike his first wife, was proud and haughty, although the man did not know it at first. To make matters worse, she had two daughters of her own, both of whom were very much like her.

Soon after the wedding the new wife began to show everyone what she was really like. She had a nasty temper, and she did not like her new step-daughter at all, who was clearly much kinder and prettier than either herself or her daughters. Out of jealousy she made her step-daughter do all the dirtiest work in the house: scrubbing dishes, tables, her own bedroom and those of her daughters. The poor girl was also given not a fine bedroom to sleep in as her sisters got—with tiled floors, new beds and fine mirrors—but a small room in the cold attic, with only a pile of straw for a bed.

Eleven Years and above

Once there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty¹ woman that was ever seen. She had, by a former husband, two daughters of her own humor², who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things. He had likewise, by another wife, a young daughter, but of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world.

No sooner were the ceremonies of the wedding over but the step-mother began to show herself in her true colors. She could not bear the good qualities of this pretty girl, and the less because they made her own daughters appear the more odious³. She employed her in the meanest work of the house: she scoured the dishes, tables, etc., and scrubbed madam's chamber, and those of misses, her daughters; she lay up in a sorry garret⁴, upon a wretched straw bed, while her sisters lay in fine rooms, with floors all inlaid, upon beds of the very newest fashion, and where they had looking-glasses so large that they might see themselves at their full length from head to foot.

1. haughty—self-important or superior.
2. humor—character or nature.
3. odious—awful or disgusting.
4. garret—a small, cold room in the attic of the house.

Questions

1. True or False:
a. The step-mother has been married before.
b. The man's first wife was also cruel.
c. The pretty girl is mean to her sisters.
d. The step-mother showed how nasty she was even before the wedding.

(a. True, b. False, c. False, d. False.)

2. The new wife makes her step-daughter work hard, because—
a. she is cruel.
b. the girl is used to this sort of work.
c. she is jealous of the girl.

(Both a. and c. are acceptable answers.)

3. Topic for discussion

Why is it that people are not always treated equally?