Genre 2: Folktales - SOOTFACE: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story
Posted by Tamra S , Sunday, June 20, 2010 11:53 AM
Bibliographic Data
San Souci, Robert D. 1994. Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
Plot Summary
In this Ojibwa variant of the Cinderella story, the main character is an Ojibwa girl with two mean sisters. The father goes away hunting, and the two older sisters treat the youngest one maliciously, by making her do all the work, beating her, and smearing her face with ashes, which gets her the name Sootface. Rather than a prince throwing a ball, there is a handsome, young warrior that travels invisibly. He tells his sister to announce to the village that he will marry the girl who is able to see him and describe what his bow and bowstring are made of. This announcement entices Sootface’s sisters to attempt the challenge. They fail, and upon returning to the village, treat Sootface horribly. Sootface decides to attempt seeing the hunter as well, and because she has a “kind and honest heart,” Sootface is able to see the hunter and describe his bowstring and bow. This enables her to marry the hunter, and leave her two sisters to do all the cooking and cleaning themselves.
Critical Analysis
The cover illustration depicts the forest setting, with the young warrior camouflaged in the trees and Sootface on a hill. The history of this tale is noted in the beginning of the book. It is attributed to the Ojibwa and Algonquin tribal groups of the Northeast and Great Lakes. It is also mentioned that much research was done for the illustrations in order to accurately depict the setting and clothing of mid-18th-century Ojibwa people.
Robert San Souci’s text blends dialogue and narration to move the plot forward. The setting is described in the first paragraph of text. His descriptions of the clothing worn by the women, the way of life, and housing are reflective of the culture and time. The theme of ‘beauty is only skin deep’, or ‘inner beauty can make someone beautiful inside and out,’ are evident by the fact that, though the sisters are beautiful, they lack inner beauty qualities. Sootface, on the other hand, while not seemingly beautiful on the outside, possesses an inner beauty, that when discovered, makes her beautiful in appearance.
Daniel San Souci, as the illustrator, uses vibrant watercolor illustrations to depict the setting of the Ojibwa village and the surrounding forest. He provides detail in the characters’ facial expressions to reflect the meanness of Sootface’s sisters and the rest of the village as they torment Sootface. The last page depicts the beauty and radiance of Sootface and the hunter contrasted with the dirtiness of her sisters, which is symbolic of each character’s true, inner nature.
Awards and Reviews
*School Library Journal: The retelling is lively, flows well, and brings out the harshness of the heroine's situation, and yet it is not without humorous touches. Altogether a refreshing and rewarding "Cinderella'' variant.
*Children’s Literature: One of the strongest retelling voices in America, Robert San Souci recounts Sootface: An Objibwa Cinderella Story.
(Reviews from: SOOTFACE: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story. Robert San Souci website. http://www.rsansouci.com/pages/books/sootface.htm)
Connections
*Research the Ojibwa and Algonquin tribes. Compare research findings to the depiction of the tribe in the text.
*Read other Cinderella variants of this story or with Native American roots, such as The Hidden One by Aaron Shepard, Indian Cinderella in Best-Loved Folktales of the World edited by Joanna Cole, or The Rough-Face Girl by Rafe Martin. Compare/contrast the different versions of the same origin, or the differences in the story elements based on origin.
*Students perform a Reader’s Theatre of the story.
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