Author: John Steptoe
Using Literature
to
Teach Folktales
John Steptoe is an award winning author and illustrator
for children’s books dealing with aspects of the African
American experience. He is best known for Mufaro’s
Beautiful Daughters, which was acknowledged by literary
critics as a breakthrough in African history and culture.
• Caldecott Honor Book
• Reading Rainbow Book
• ALA Notable Children’s Book
• Coretta Scott King Award (Illustrator)
• Boston Globe–Horn Book Award
• Horn Book Fanfare
Caldecott Honor Book Seal
Born on 14 September 1950 and raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section
of Brooklyn, New York, John Lewis Steptoe attended the New York School of
Design and an afternoon art program sponsored by the Harlem Youth
Opportunity Act from 1964 to 1967. In 1968, Steptoe was recruited as a
senior in high school by John Torres to attend an eight-week summer
program for minority artists at Vermont Academy. There Steptoe met Philip
Dubois, who provided him with a place to work at the end of the summer
session. While he was a student at Vermont Academy, Steptoe wrote and
illustrated his first novel, Stevie. Published by Harper in 1969 and reprinted
in Life, Stevie vaulted the nineteen-year-old Steptoe into the limelight.
Written by an inner-city African American teenager
and directed at inner-city African American youth,
Stevie was lauded by the critics for its appeal to white
as well as black audiences. Steptoe's use of inner-city
dialect and his depiction of an urban setting targeted
an audience previously ignored by children's book
publishers: urban African American youth. What made
Stevie so popular, however, was Steptoe's choice of
subject matter. His tale of jealousy and reconciliation
addressed a universal theme to which readers of all
colors could relate.
Critique of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters
John Steptoe is best known for Mufaro’s Beautiful
Daughters, which was acknowledged by literary critics
as a breakthrough in African history and culture. Based
on an African tale from the 19th century, it required
Steptoe to research his heritage giving him the chance
to awaken his pride in his African ancestry.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Most people who see the book have an immediate
response: they both ooh and ahh. The illustrations
are simply stunning. After that come expressions of
astonishment: the listener or reader did not know that
a range of Cinderella variants exists. Then people
marvel at the nontraditional portrayal of an African
country.
(From“The Hunt for Multiethnic Literature” by Violet Harris,
published in Publishing Research Quarterly)
Other books by John Steptoe
Genre: Folktale
Introduce Folktales:
Folktales began as oral stories that were told to help
people explain the world around them. Some are
fantastic with ogres and sprites, while others are
more realistic. Folktales are found in just about all
cultures. Long ago before books were available,
people told stories as a way of preserving them.
Today, many folktales have been retold and
attractively illustrated as children's books. Mufaro's
Beautiful Daughters was inspired by an African
folktale.
Building Background Knowledge
•The illustrations in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters were inspired by the
remains and the flowers of an ancient city in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is in
South Africa.
•Show the students where Zimbabwe is on a map of Africa.
•The names of the characters in this folktale are from the Shona
language and mean the following: Mufaro (moo-FAR-on) means "happy
man" Nyasha (ne-AH-sha) means "mercy," Manyara (mahn-YAR-ah)
means "ashamed," and Myoka (nee-YO-kah) means "snake".
Activity/Reading Focus
•On the chalkboard create a chart such as the one shown here.
•Explain that the chart shows some of the main characteristics of a
folktale.
•Ask students to look for these as we read Mufaro's Beautiful
Daughters.
•Use their responses to complete the chart.
Folktale Characteristics
Good verses Evil
There are magic or make-believe parts
There is a lesson or moral
The story takes place in a long-ago setting
Good Verses Evil Character Analysis
As a class, do character analysis of Manyara and Nyasha by making
“character wheels.”
•On the board or on a large piece of chart paper, write Manyara’s name
in the center of a circle.
•On spokes radiating from this circle ,write words that describe her.
•At the end of each spoke, draw another circle.
•In that circle, write an event from the story that provides evidence of
the descriptive word written on its spoke.
•Make the same kind of wheel for Nyasha.
•Compare and contrast the descriptive words for both characters.
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters is a “Cinderella” story.
There are hundreds of versions of Cinderella from different cultures.
Obtain several Cinderella stories and read them to the students.
Examples: The Persian Cinderella by Shirley Climo; The RoughFace Girl by Rafe Martin.
•Brainstorm a comparison chart with the students.
•List the different versions of Cinderella down the left side of the
chart.
•Across the top, list items of comparison, such as the story setting,
what the Cinderella character is called, who or what the “fairy
godmother” is, under what circumstance Cinderella meets the prince,
the magical elements in the story, the outcome,etc.
•Discuss the similarities and differences of the versions after the
chart is completed.
Comparing Two Cinderella Stories
Venn Diagram Notes
Name________________________________ Date___________________
In Mufaro's Beautiful Daughter:
Sister__________________________________________________________________
Friends or person who helps _______________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Magic Person ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
How the king/prince finds out who Cinderella is _______________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
In the Cinderella Story:
Sisters_________________________________________________________
Friends or person who helps _______________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Magic Person _________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
How the king/prince finds out who Cinderella is ________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Extension on Folk Tales
•Set up a classroom display "Our Favorite Folk Tales" and encourage
students to bring in folk tale books from home to share.
•Put up a world map and label the countries where folk tales you
have read originated.
•Every time you read a folk tale, have a group of students work on
making a colorful banner of a character from the story. Write the
character's name on the banner, draw a picture, and write descriptive
words on sentence strips to be glued onto the banner. Example:
Goldilocks (hungry, curious, tired, rude, blond hair)
•Make folk tale kits. Gather items that relate to stories and place
them in bags. After reading a story, use a kit to motivate students
to talk about the tale. Let a student choose something from the
bag. Then have the student explain how the item relates to the
story.
Extension on Folk Tales Continued
•Rewrite a folk tale into a class big book.
•It would be great if your school could get a storyteller to come
in, or invite guest readers in to read folk tales to the students.
(principal, librarian, parents, other teachers, other school staff)
•Have a folk tale feast. Three Bears Pudding (instead of porridge),
Castle Cupcakes, Red Riding Hood's Basket of Sandwiches.
•At the end, make a graph of which folk tale was the favorite
among the students.