Rae asked Shonna Slayton:

Did you have to do a lot of research for Cinderella's Dress? Did you actually watch "shop around the corner?"

Shonna Slayton Hi, Rae! I was swimming in research for Cinderella's Dress. (One of my favorite things about writing historicals!) In fact, after I got my book deal I bought a cake for my local librarians to celebrate and thank them for pulling all those books for me.

As for movies, I watched several 1940s flicks. I can't remember if I specifically watched Shop Around the Corner for this book or not. I've seen it, but that may have been much earlier as a comparison to You've Got Mail. I own several 1930s diaries (1940s diaries are expensive to buy because of the WWII content, but you can read some online) and it struck me how many movies these teens would watch...seems like if a movie was in town they went (remember, no TVs yet).

I took the A to Z challenge last year and wrote about the 1940s if you'd like to learn more: http://shonnaslayton.com/1940s-z/

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