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| Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters Written & Illustrated by John Steptoe ISBN# 0590420585 |
In the year 2010; 150 years after the abolishment of slavery; forty five years after the Civil Rights Movement; with a black President in office, how is it that young African American children still feel like they are on the outside looking in?? As a country, we have all the check marks; I listed them above. We look great on paper, don't we? But how do we, as white American citizens, treat our African American counterparts? Why do these children feel the way they do? No child, black or white, should have to feel like they cannot be who they are.
There is a video that has gone viral in the past few weeks. Sesame Street's head writer, Joey Mazzarino, wrote a song for his daughter. I am so incredibly proud to say that I have known Joey my whole life, as he grew up a few doors down from me. Joey and his amazing wife, actress/singer Kerri Butler, adopted a beautiful baby girl named Segi from Ethiopia a few years ago. It came to Joey's attention that Segi was feeling very down because she wanted to have long, straight, blond hair. Joey and Kerri thought that this was just because she was the only black member in their Italian family. Perhaps she feels this way from seeing the hair on her mother and cousins. After doing some research, Joey realized that his daughter was not the only girl who felt this way. Grown black women, who grew up in primarily black families even felt bad about the way their dark, curly hair looked. So, Joey put his talent to work and created "I Love My Hair." Not only did Segi love it, but women across the country are expressing their gratefulness that someone "finally gets it." Click here to read about Joey's story and see the video!
This story proves how important it is for people, black and white alike, to be able to connect with the characters they see and read about. The Coretta Scott King award expresses just this idea. Each year, it picks several books that meet this criteria. I was so pleased to find out while researching this week that one of my very favorite books, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe was a winner in 1988 for its illustrations. This book is about King Mufaro's two beautiful daughters. There is the sweet, kind Nysasha and the mean, bitter Manyara. When a neighboring king requests the meet the girls to choose a future queen, Manyara tries beat her sister to the village. Along the way she meets several people that she treats badly. When Nyasha makes the trip the next morning, she treats the same people with kindness and love. When the girls meet the king, he reveals that he disguised himself as the people along the road the night before. He chooses Nyasha to be his queen because of her good heart, while Manyara becomes their servant.
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters shows that not all princesses look like a Barbie doll. Young African American girls can relate to the beautiful princesses. They will realize that if these girls are beautiful, and I look like them, I am beautiful too. This is such an important lesson for girls to learn. We all feel ugly at some points, and I suppose that is somewhat normal since it happens to the best of us, but all girls need to know deep down that they are beautiful people. Seeing characters that look like you certainly helps. On another note, this story really has the most gorgeous, detailed illustrations. I can certainly see why it won the Coretta Scott King Award, as well as the Caldecott Honor. If you have had the privilege to read this book, I'm sure you know what I am talking about. If you haven't I strongly suggest adding it to your bookshelf!
Nicole, I want to start off by saying that I had also enjoyed reading MUFARO'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS by John Steptoe. I loved the lessons that it teaches our children and feel that it is definitely a book everyone needs to have in a classroom. It would be an ideal book when teaching children about self-esteem. Manyara's evil plot to gain the title of queen by arriving to the village before her sister all the while mistreating others along the way just proves that it is not who gets there first but,the one with a kindred spirit and warm heart that wins over all.
ReplyDeleteThis is what beauty is about. We need to teach our children and re-define the meaning of BEAUTY and what better way to begin with this wonderfully written story.
Thank you for that beautiful story about Segi. What an inspirational lesson she had received from her parents. Unfortunately, today media plays a major role in what we see and has an affect on how we see ourselves. Am I as beautiful as the models on TV? Do I have her figure? These are but only a few questions that many girls ask themselves on a daily basis.
John Steptoe's writing and illustrations are as beautiful as his and messages and lessons are. In fact, this story is so familiar because I had heard it from my mother as told by her own mother. These lessons were passed from mothers to daughters and not part pop culture. So my mother's important message to me, growing up, was that I need to see the beauty in all things around me which would help me find the beauty within myself.
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful book with us this week. I look forward to re- reading it with your inspirational story of Segi in mind.