Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters An African Tale by John Steptoe

I have heard about this book in several other classes in the past for being a great example of excellent multicultural reading. I was immediately drawn to the book by the rich illustrations. This is not a quickly sketched book by any means. The artist worked hard to create a beautiful rendering for each scene in the story. I think kids would love reading and pouring over the beautifully crafted illustrations.

The illustrations are actually based on the typical landscape of Zimbabwe. This story obviously takes place in Africa (as mentioned in the title) and involves Mufaro and his two beloved daughters. Nyasha is a very caring girl who loves the land and grows a beautiful garden. She lovingly tends to the garden each day and sings with joy. On the opposite end of the spectrum, her sister Manyara is much more demanding of her surroundings. She is insistant on becoming Queen someday and is very spiteful to Nyasha when their father is not around. Manyara is also intent on having Nyasha as her servant once she is Queen (how nice of her to include her sister in her life...). These characters clearly helped lead the way to many Cinderella-ish situations.

Nyasha ignores her sister's tirades and treats her with love and respect. She spends most of her time in her garden and befriends a snake who she names Nyoka. Nyoka enjoys her singing and continues to come to the garden. The main action happens in this story when the King announces that he wants a wife and that all families are to send their best daughters to him. Great preparations are made for both daughters to go, but Manyara is determined to be there first. She goes ahead, but doesn't heed the advice of those she meets along the way. Once she is admitted to see the King, she runs out shreeking that he is a monster. Nyasha runs in to her sister, comforts her, and continues on to meet this monster. She is pleasantly surprised when the monster turn out to be her snake friend Nyoka! The King had transformed himself into a snake to see how he would be treated and was pleased to reveal himself to Nyasha. They fall in love and are married.

In a nice turn of events, Manyara is made Nyasha's servant. Readers of this book will notice how kindness is rewarded, even if not immediately. We sometimes think that it is ok to do whatever it will take to accomplish our goals, but if our goals are not honorable, is this still ok? This book obviously teaches a lesson about this to the reader in a meaningful way. Keeping a sense of oneself even under duress shows a true sense of character that sometimes is not shown in media that our students are regularly exposed to.