Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter

Title: “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughter”

Author: John Steptoe    

Genre: Picture Book                                     

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers         

Copyright Date:  1988

Pages in Book: 32 pages

Reading Level: K-3 grade

Summary: Mufaro is an African man that has two beautiful daughters. Nyasha is kind, caring, loving, and overall just an amazingly sweet girl, while her sister Manyara is a snotty, selfish, spoiled girl. They hear of a proclamation that the is going to marry the most beautiful daughter in all the land, and the girls convince their father to travel to the capital to see the king. On their way both daughters (each traveling on separate paths) encounter a snake, and old woman, and a poor little boy. Nyasha, being the kind daughter that she is, does everything that she can to help all of these creatures/humans.  On the other hand, Manyara see’s these people and is rude and cruel to them. She doesn’t help them at all, and walks away. Once they reach the city, the daughters walk up to the queen only to find out that the king is the snake/old woman/young boy that they saw on the way to the Capital. Manyara realizes how she treated the king and runs away, ashamed. Nyasha becomes the “soon to be queen” and her father couldn’t be prouder.

Reaction: I thought this book was very sweet, and reminded me a lot of the Cinderella story. I thought it was a cute way to twist things around, and had a different cultural aspect to it. The pictures were very well done and kept my attention the entire time.

Recommendation: I would recommend this story to anyone from any age on up. I think it has a good message and one that everyone would enjoy.

Potential Problems/Conflicts: I didn’t really see any problem with this book. I thought the illustration was great and the author did an amazing job.