Sootface is an Ojibwa Cinderella Story. Sootface is youngest of three sisters; her older sisters were lazy and bad-tempered. The youngest was given most of the work and her sister would sometimes beat her and smear ashes on her face, that is how she got her name Sootface. One day the famous invisible warrior sent out a message that he was looking for a wife. Anyone that could see him and truthfully tell his sister what his bow and bowstring were made of he would marry. The two sisters did not see the invisible warrior, but Sootface dressed in her birch dress did.
“Oh what is his box made?” *the sister*
“A rainbow!” *Sootface*
“And how is it strung?”
“With white fire, like the Milky Way, the Path of Souls.”
I love this Ojibwa Cinderella Story. The illustrations are beautiful and I think the story is accurate to the cultural version of Cinderella. I would use this book to look deeper into the Ojibwa culture and use another version of Cinderella, from Asia or Mexico and have the students create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast differences in the cultural parts. I would emphasize the uniqueness of every culture and how a story like Cinderella can tell so much about the group. I hope to stress open-mindedness and acceptance of other cultures to my students.
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