Picture Book Reflection 5

Steptol, J. Mufaro's beautiful daughters. An African tale. (1987). New York. Lee and Shepard Books.

Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale, is a story about a man's two daughters who are both beautiful and worthy enough to become queen of the city. The two daughters, Manyara and Nyasha, were two completely different people. Manyara was selfish and bad-tempered and Nyasha was kind and considerate. The two daughters were supposed to go to the city together and allow the King to choose his wife but Manyara had other ideas. As the two daughters make their separate trip to the city to see the King they, unknowingly, run into the same three people. The way they treat these three people will ultimately lead to one daughter being chosen as queen and the other being left as a servant.

John Steptol, both the author and illustrator, of this Caldecott Honor Book and winner of Coretta Scott King Award (among others), does a wonderful job of using the illustrations to help tie in to the text. When describing Manyara as being bad-tempered, he also shows Manyara with a scowl on her face and shows the shy, sweet Nyasha with her eyes closed and turning away from the screaming Manyara.Steptol also uses the pictures to act out the text. "Nyasha ran ahead and topped the rise before the others could catch up with her," and Steptol shows beautiful Nyasha overlooking the city.

The illustrations are done using drawings by Steptol. The contrasts of colors throughout the book seem to make the important images standout to the reader. When Manyara runs into the old lady on the stump in the woods during her midnight adventure, the entire page is filled with dark greens from the forest night except for the small opening where the old lady sits. This helps to draw the reader's eyes to the old lady. The book itself is a picture storybook.