Cinderella

Disney doesn’t have the monopoly on this story! Though, the Disney cartoon is amoung my most favorite of cartoons growing up, I’ve been excited by the other multi-ethnic versions that are available for me to share with my daughter!

Africa – Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, by John Steptoe

India – The Enchanted Anklet, by Lila Mehta

Native America – The Rough-Faced Girl, Rafe Martin

Mexico – Domitila: A Cinderella Tale from the Mexican Tradition, by Jewel R Coburn

Funny w/ a twist – Cinder Edna , by Ellen Jackson

And this is just a few of the available Cinderella stories out there! There are MANY more versions of this story, from many other lands – Korea, Egypt, Carribean, Europe, Philippines and even the Appalachian Mountains! There are versions with a male in the “Cinderella” part, versions with cowboys and the Jewish stories. A quick check on Amazon will find every version available.

And now, what to do with all of these stories?

Mapping: A great activity for your child(ren) is to look and chart all the stories you’ve read with their locations on a map. You can use a giant map and make small copies of the book covers to mark it’s location in the world. You could also create a booklet with copies of the book covers on one page with a map of the country of where the story is based.

Within any given country, there is plenty to learn about. The geography of the country, the culture of the people (either currently or around the time that the story is based).

Here is a site that provides worksheet and puzzle type activities to go with the “Cinderella” stories from around the world! Cinderella Around the World