You won’t want to miss the wildly imaginative Barbara Ensor at Brooklyn Reading Works’ Fiction x 3 (with Shelia Kohler and Martin Kleinman).

Ensor will read excerpts from her highly unusual takes on Cinderella, Thumbalina, and Little Red Riding Hood.

Fiction x 3 at The Old Stone House
Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope
Thursday April 10th at 8 p.m.

Here’s a bit about Ensor’s Cinderella book:

I know, I know. You’ve heard the story a million times before. Mean stepmother. Lots of sweeping. Fancy ball. You remember.

Or do you?

Did you remember that Cinderella was such a nice girl—so smart and funny? You probably would’ve liked her. Did you know that “Cinderella” was just a nickname? And that her handsome prince loved Jell-o and was a wonderful dancer?

Readers will delight in following Cinderella through all the usual happenings, presented in a most unusual way. And they’ll finally see what becomes of her after she marries the prince. So maybe you should hear the story one last time. Because it’s actually way different than you might have thought. . . .

Kids who have outgrown picture books and are ready for something longer—but still love illustrated texts—will gravitate toward this Cinderella. Black-and-white silhouettes of everything from the ugly stepsisters to Cinderella’s slipper (actual size) are intermingled with Cinderella’s letters to her recently deceased mother in this totally original package, written and illustrated by an exciting newcomer to children’s books.

Barbara Ensor has written for New York Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Family Life, The Village Voice, and numerous other publications and Web sites. Her illustrations have appeared in the New York Times, Harpers, Self, Child and elsewhere. This is her first children’s book. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.