Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters-{Must Read Mentor Text}

I am FINALLY finding the time to link up with Collaboration Cuties for their Must Read Mentor Text linky.  I have to admit that I am a huge stalker of this linky.  I read the posts and file the names of all these fabulous books in my head but I have never linked up myself.  Since I am diving right into the curriculum on Tuesday though, I thought I'd share a text that is perfect for third grade ELA!

The text that I am going to share is Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe:

This wonderful African tale is about Mufaro's two beautiful daughters, Nyasha and Manyara.  Nyasha is the kind and considerate sister while in contrast Manyara is selfish and mean.  One day the king of the land decided that he needed a wife and Manyara set out early to ensure that she was the chosen one; however, in the end because of her good deeds, Nyasha is called "The Most Worth and Beautiful Daughter in the Land" and becomes the Queen.

This book is an excellent source to teach the characteristics of a folktale and for recounting folktales; and I will touch on those with my kiddos; however, we are going to use this book to really focus on Common Core Standards RL.3.3-Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events and RL 3.7-Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in the story.  The illustrations in this book are simply amazing!  And they can really help support the teaching of RL.3.7 and connect it to RL.3.3.  Just look at how the details in this illustration can help the students to understand how humble and mild Nyasha is and how angry and spoiled Manyara is.

And this illustration can further exemplify the gentle spirit of Nyasha:

I love this illustration too because it shows how proud Mufaro is of both of his daughters while further emphasizing the personality traits of both girls.

So if you haven't read this text before, you simply must!  

I hope that you all have a blessed night and enjoy your extra day off tomorrow! =O)