Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters

Title: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, An African Tale
Author & Illustrator : Steptoe, John
Publisher: Scholastic Inc., 1987
Genre: Picture Book, Traditional Literature, Cinderella Tale
Age Range: 2-3rd grade
Awards: Caldecott Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Award, ALA Notable Book

Summary: This is the African Cinderella tale. In an African village far away from the city, Mufaro lived with his two beautiful daughters Manyara and Nyasha. He thought both of them were equally beautiful. Manyara did not like to work and had a bad temper. She talked down to Nyasha a lot. She told Nyasha that she would be a queen one day and have to wait on her. One day, her father announced that the King wanted a wife. Mufaro told his daughters that all three of them would head out in the morning. Manyara insisted that Nyasha stay to take care of him, but the father said the king must choose who is the most beautiful. Manyara left without her father and sister for the city. On the way, she met a hungry boy, an old woman, laughing trees, and a man with his head tucked under his arm. Manyara ignored everything the woman told her. The next morning, Nyasha and her father headed out. The whole way Nyasha was worried about her sister. Nyasha gave food to the hungry boy and sunflower seeds to the woman. When they got to the city, Manyara ran out from the city gates crying to Nyasha to not go in. The king was a five headed snake! Nyasha took all of her courage into the great room and saw her friend, Nyoka, the small green snake. The snake grew into the great king. He asked Nyasha if she would be his wife because she was put through many tests and passed and was beautiful and worthy. Nyasha agreed and Manyara became her servant in the household.

Response: I liked this version better than Baba Yaga. I think one reason I liked this so much is because it was so simple to understand and it had a great lesson in the end. This lesson was more explicit to me than Baba Yaga. This story reminded me a lot of "The Talking Eggs." I like how Manyara and Nyasha were both tested. This is a predictable pattern and makes the reader want to guess what tests they will have to pass. I think this is a great story that relates to African Culture because of the snake, the bridal party, and the King choosing a wife. All of it seems very culturally based. I also enjoyed the author's note at the beginning. It gave me some great insight as to where Steptoe was coming from.

Teaching Ideas: This is a good book to use when teaching Cinderella. It would also be good to teach the idea of charity and giving back. Nyasha was very selfless and this would be a great book to illustrate that. I think this is a book that primary teachers should think about using in their classroom. The plot is simple enough that students could act it out. Wouldn't it be cool to see Nyoka in action?!

-jeana