Tag Beverley Naidoo

Cinderella of the Nile

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Cinderella of the Nile
Beverley Naidoo and Marjan Vafaeian
Tiny Owl

Cinderella is one of the most often told and recognised stories all around the world with its themes and motifs appearing in the folklore of many cultures.
Rhodopsis is an ancient Greek/Egyptian tale said to be the earliest Cinderella story.

Now, Carnegie award-winning author Beverley Naidoo retells this little known tale, the first in the publisher’s ‘One Story, Many Voices’ series. I was particularly excited to see this book having become interested in how stories cross cultures and wrote an assignment on this theme in relation to the Cinderella story while studying at London University’s Institute of Education many years ago.

In this version, unlike the Cinderella most young children are familiar with, a young Greek girl, Rhodopisis is captured by pirates and sold into slavery.
Her master has a special slave, the storyteller, Aesop who becomes friendly with the beautiful red-haired girl and the only one able to make her smile.

After a while her master, unhappy at her unwillingness to smile for him, sells her to a merchant travelling to the Egyptian port of Naukratis.

There she is bought by a Greek merchant who, having heard her story, treats her kindly, rather like a daughter, angering his Egyptian servants, in particular, three sisters who do unkind things to the girl behind their master’s back.
One day her master sees her dancing barefoot down by the river and so he gives her a pair of beautiful rose-red slippers.

Not long after, the Pharaoh sends out an invitation to his subjects asking them to a feast at his palace. Hearing that he was looking for a bride, the three sisters lie to their master and set off to attend.

The kind-hearted Rhodopsis is left to do all the chores and while she does so, Horus, the falcon-god seizes one of her slippers and flies off with it, dropping it into the hand of the Pharaoh Amasis.

Taking it as a sign from the god, the Pharaoh orders messengers to seek out the slipper’s owner: it is she who will become his Queen …

The ancient origins of the story is evident through Marjan Vafaeian’s use of the side on figurative imagery found in the Greek art of the period as well as in Ancient Egyptian wall paintings. Her stylised patterned landscapes in opulent shades of red, brown and green are stunning and a perfect complement to Beverley Naidoo’s fine telling.

A Day I Remember

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A Day I Remember
Prodeepta Das
Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Set in Odisha, (spelt Orissa when I visited the state) subtitled An Indian Wedding, this is a first person account of the special role played by young Swayam at his uncle’s wedding. Swayam is thrilled because he has been chosen to act as markundi, which means he wears special clothes and visits the bride’s home with the groom Natu Mamu (his uncle).
Before all that though, there are many preparations including washing the house,

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red dye is put on the womens’s feet, mehndi patterns are put on the hands of the girls (Swayam has some too) and holy Hindu designs are drawn in the courtyard of the house.
On the wedding day itself Swayam puts on his special new clothes making him look like a prince,

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then it’s off to Puri in the wedding car to a musical accompaniment. At the venue itself, there’s a welcome from the priest, a delicious dinner and then comes the joining of the bride and groom by the pundit after which the couple walk around the holy fire,

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then make their promises to one another.
The newly weds finally get back to the village when it’s almost daybreak. There’s a welcoming, the guests see the bride, give their presents and finally, there’s more feasting. What an exciting day for everyone especially the young narrator Swayam.
Most of what Swayam describes so clearly is typical of all Hindu weddings although of course, as with most celebrations, there are local variations.
With its wealth of colourful photographs, very readable text and aptly designed, bordered pages, this is a book that should be of interest to all. Definitely a worthwhile investment for any primary school library collection and I’d keep another as part of an RE topic box so it’s always there when needed.
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Prodeepta Das has also wielded his camera to great effect in this collaboration with Beverley Naidoo

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S is for South Africa
Frances Lincoln pbk
What better way to open this alphabetic celebration than the invitation of the children outside the Apartheid Museum “Let’s build a country for all of us to share.”
Food, sport, the seaside, gold, homes, jewellery, wildlife, languages, music and of course, Mandela are just some of the topics featured in this fascinating and uplifting book.
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