Summary
This fairytale, which is a twist on Cinderella, is about two sisters Manyara and Nyasha. Nyasha is humble and kind to all around her, while Manyara is mean and more self centered. They two sisters are competing to marry the king. Through the journey they are faced with different challenges, and each handles them in their own way, but only one leads to happiness with the king.

Review
This story is a beautiful tale and has wonderful illustrations. It demonstrates the importance of kindness to others around you. Through the girls' reactions to the same situations it shows how you approach a situation makes a difference.

This would be a great book to study when looking at different cultures. This book, written around African culture, would be a great discussion on symbolism, character traits, as well as comparing and contrasting texts across cultures. ( )

Alternate title: Morality for Beautiful Girls (which I think is a actually a McCall-Smith title) ( )

Independent Reading Level: Grade 5
Honors/Awards: Caldecott Honor Book

I really enjoyed this story. Folktales help us to see the good and evil in the world, and in this story among others, how kindness wins. This book would be a wonderful addition to any fairy tale/folktale unit in a classroom and children of all ages would enjoy reading it. I had seen the cover of this book on shelves before, but hadn't picked it up to read until recently. I was missing out and I very much enjoyed reading it with my children, and will read it with my students as well. This could be a great mentor text for writing fairy tales/folktales as well. The illustrations are beautiful and it would be a great book to compare to other versions of a Cinderella type tale from around the world. ( )

16 copies