Whatever After 2 – If the Shoe Fits

If the Shoe Fits by Sarah Mlynowski is the second Whatever After book, a fairy tale comedy for 8 year olds that sends a girl to Cinderella's ball in her pyjamas.

What happens

Abby and her little brother Jonah have a magic mirror in their basement. It's pulled them into a fairy tale once already, and they made a right mess of Snow White's story while they were there.

Now it won't work. Three nights running they get dressed, creep down at midnight and knock three times. Nothing.

So on the fourth night Abby tries a trick. She pretends she isn't expecting anything and stays in her silliest pyjamas, pink with purple polka dots. (They're also the only clean ones, because her parents are too busy with their new law firm to do the washing.)

Guess which night the mirror opens?

They land in a cupboard full of coats. Outside there's music, a prince with a crowd of girls round him and a beautiful stranger stepping out of a gold coach. Abby is at a royal ball in her pyjamas.

This time she has a rule. They will NOT mess the story up. They'll find the mirror that takes them home and keep out of the way.

That lasts until just after midnight. They follow Cinderella home, Jonah tells her straight out who she's going to marry, and before the night's over a glass slipper has landed hard on her foot.

Those slippers were moulded to fit her exactly. A swollen foot is never going to squeeze into one.

Abby's bossiness is a big part of the fun. She's always right (she'll tell you so herself) and she thinks everyone should check with her before deciding anything. Then it's Abby hiding under a bed in polka dots, trying not to sneeze.

The best surprise is that people aren't quite who the story says they are. Abby writes one girl at the ball off as plain, then hears that same girl crying later and finds she's one of the stepsisters. Cinderella, meanwhile, can be a bit smug.

Does your reader like arguing about who's REALLY the baddie? There's plenty to go at here.

In the Grimm version the stepsisters cut bits off their feet to fit the shoe, which Jonah thinks is awesome. It gets a line or two early on and Abby rolls her eyes.

What to read next

If they haven't read the one before, Fairest of All is where the mirror first hisses. Abby has only just moved house, she's missing her old life, and Jonah wants an apple that a girl called Snow really shouldn't eat.