Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

"This is one of my favorite stories. I used to read it every year, as part of a unit on Cinderella stories. It is based on an African folktale. John Steptoe is a very gifted artist, he illustrates the African village so evocatively. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters gives another perspective on beauty, outer beauty and inner beauty. In this particular Cinderella story the Prince chooses one of Mufaro’s daughters not only because of her physical beauty but because he’s seen how kind and giving she is to others. So there’s a focus on the inner beauty as well. And I just love this story because it’s a great folktale. Absolutely. I think we should be careful to teach kids not only about the pain and suffering of Black people, which there has been a lot of. Kids should also be exposed to the positive side of African ancestry. Familiarity with the great kingdoms that existed, and the great technology developed and the great science that was done in African civilizations helps people recognize the great talents in this race of people that goes back millennia."

"This book is also about resilience and kindness. It really is a kind of African Cinderella with John Steptoe’s illustrations adding classical beauty to a tale that must have survived many centuries through oral storytelling The comparisons with Cinderella include a magical element to the story, but particularly, the relationship of the two sisters. There is a very mean sister, who is always jealous and bad tempered, and there’s Nyasha, who’s generous and kind spirited. Her kindness, extends to animals which, again, is an interesting element, isn’t it? Because I think of Perrault’s Cinderella , and the little animals who befriend her. “Kindness isn’t always rewarded in life, but isn’t it nice when it is in a good story?” Both sisters must go on a journey and they are faced with challenges. The sister that makes the right decisions, although she doesn’t know it at the time, is the sister who will become queen. The key is that no matter what hardships befall Nyasha (the Cinderella character) she remains generous and kind – it is in her nature. Some people just seem to have those qualities. They acknowledge inhumanity but they have that ability to maintain their own humanity. In fairy tales these qualities are very important. Kindness isn’t always rewarded in life, but isn’t it nice when it is in a good story? Absolutely, and I think that must be part of why these tales have endured so long. Even the rather gory versions like Grimms’ Tales, you know, with the cutting off of toes and all that , even in these, the common element is the fact that the good people are kind and have a moral centre to them. I also find it interesting that these stories, and stories like them, have been alive in other cultures for centuries and that we’ve been largely blinkered to them until recently. Now, thank goodness, some of them are coming through in children’s books like these."