Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by: John Steptoe (multicultural)

Once upon a time in a far away African village, lived a man named Mufaro who had two beautiful daughters, Manyara and Nyasha. Although the two daughters were both pretty, their personalities differed tremendously. Although she hid her bad temper from her father, Manyara was both selfish and cruel. On the other hand, her sister Nyasha was considerate and kind. One day, the family receives a letter from the king telling them that he is looking for a wife and asking for the sisters to appear before him. Without telling Mufaro or Nyasha, Manyara sneaks out of the village and sets out alone to see the king before her sister can. Along the way, Manyara continues to be self-centered as she ignores a hungry child’s request for food and the advice of an old woman. The next morning, as everyone is wondering where Manyara is, her sister Nyasha goes to see the king with the rest of the wedding party and runs into the same strange people, but instead she feeds the hungry child and gives the old woman sunflower seeds.  When Nyasha arrives to the king’s house, she sees her sister running out and crying about a monster in the room who said that he was very displeased with her. Being the courageous one, Nyasha goes into the chamber only to find the small snake that she met in her garden. To her surprise, he transforms into the king and tells her that he has seen her kindness through the people that she encountered in the forest, as well as the snake.  He tells her that she is the most worthy of being the queen and they get married. Ironically, Manyara becomes the servent of their household, while her sister Nyasha is the queen.

I would use this book in a unit on folktales and fairy tales. Before reading this story, I would read a Cinderella story to the class to get them to begin thinking about fairytales. After reading Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, I would have students discuss similarities and differences between the two stories. After talking about the specific details and differences, I would focus on the similar theme of the two stories. I will talk about how the theme “good always wins out over bad” is very common among folktales and fairytales. Then, I would students back to their seats to create their own Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the two stories.