G2 Review: Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story

BIBLIOGRAPHY
San Souci, Robert D. 1997. SOOTFACE: AN OJIBWA CINNDERELLA STORY. Ill by Daniel San Souci. New York: Dragonfly Books. ISBN: 044041363-X

This Native American version of Cinderella features neither an evil godmother nor a glass slipper left behind by a mysterious girl at a ball and found by a kind prince who vows to find and marry its rightful owner. Here, the father is an Ojibwa hunter who seems to spend a lot of time away from home, and the evil is embodied in the form of two “bad-tempered and lazy” older sisters who force their younger sister, Sootface, to do all of the work. While she dreams of a better life, the text introduces a mysterious, powerful but invisible warrior who lives with his sister in another part of the forest. One day, he announces to his sister that he will marry the one woman who can see him. The sisters, dishonest to the last, try their luck but fail to answer the question about the materials that make up his hunting bow. Sootface vows to try, but her sisters and neighbors deride her honest efforts to look beautiful. Determined, she eventually finds the warrior, sees the materials, and wins a husband. Sootface also gets a good scrubbing, a new wardrobe, and a new nickname: Dawn Light. Her sisters end up looking as forlorn and overworked as Sootface did in the beginning of the story.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This “Cinderella” is a clearly written and well-researched story whose illustrations could provide its audience with a rich cultural background on the Ojibwa. Independent younger readers (ages 7-10?) able to guess words from context or follow complex sentence structures would have little problem comprehending the text, especially if they had prior knowledge of the Cinderella story. Readers with developing skills requiring someone to read the story to them would have little problem understanding the action due to its richly realistic watercolor paintings that effectively capture Ojibwa life in the forest.

Where in “standard” versions of Cinderella (or those with which I am familiar) the mystery involves the prince wondering about the girl who left behind the slipper, in this version the prince has transformed into a warrior seen only by his sister. That he was a great hunter embellishes the cultural aspect of the story, since in the illustrations of the forest and how the Ojibwa survive in it, it is apparent that hunting is critical to their daily lives. His mystery is only deepened by two recurring narrative techniques: his white moccasins and the fact that his sister “speaks” for him each time someone from the village tries to win his hand in marriage. Until he appears to Sootface, readers see his white moccasins hanging outside his wigwam on the ground beneath his body painted in shadow. The cover also foreshadows his mystery and relationship to forest, depicting his head and upper body superimposed and colored the same as the leafy trees.

Thematically, Sootface embodies the notion of the rewards of honesty and decency. She does not complain about how her sisters treat her or react to her neighbors’ insults and laughter; she merely dreams of a better life and, when presented with the chance, goes out and finds it. To her sisters and others, she is the “ugly duckling,” but they are seeing her only on the surface. She is able to see things others cannot, another mysterious event in the story and one that could support the idea of natural mystery as an important cultural value. Sootface “sees” the hunter who is part of the forest and becomes worthy, as opposed to the others who see only their own vanity. Since the Ojibwa depend on the forest for their survival, they would value those who approach it in the right way, as Sootface does.

Other noteworthy aspects in the text are the use of “threes” and the magic contained in the answer to the marriage question. Sootface is one of three sisters. Three pages in the beginning show her horrible life, and three pages describe her resolve to find the hunter. She is also the third person to attempt to answer the marriage question, at least the third one discussed in the text. (Of course, as our course text suggests, it could be argued that the use of “four” is more Native American. She is the fourth person to attempt to answer the riddle if the other neighboring women are counted, and four pages are devoted to her transformation at the end.) It is also fitting and magical to the natural background of the story that the hunter’s bow ends up being made of a rainbow and strung “with white fire, like the Milky Way.” Each of these natural phenomena would presumably be part of the Ojibwa experience.

Even if the story is an excellent cultural version of Cinderella, it is the illustrations that carry the beauty this book. Detailed, realistic and “extensively researched” according to the authors, they provide a wealth of anthropological information about a far removed time. Painstakingly rendered, they show all facets of Ojibwa life. Early in the text, we see how they built their villages, and then, on most of the pages, the paintings show how they cook, travel, hunt, and use the resources offered by the forest for their daily lives. Their realism is such that readers could wonder if the paintings were copied from photographs. Without the illustrations, the story could stand as yet another Cinderella. With them, it becomes a cultural study.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
--The retelling is lively, flows well, and brings out the harshness of the heroine's situation, and yet it is not without humorous touches. The full-page watercolors dramatically convey the natural woodland setting, the jeers of Sootface's sisters and fellow villagers, and the serenity and kindness of the warrior and his sister. (SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, November 1994)
--The San Souci version reads aloud well, and the watercolor artwork illustrates the story with quiet grace…a satisfying picture book for reading aloud or alone, and a good choice for classes studying Native Americans or comparative folklore… (BOOKLIST, October 1994)

CONNECTIONS
--As the BOOKLIST review noted, the pictures alone in this book would be an excellent, realistic introduction to the daily life of the Ojibwa.
--A noted elsewhere, an interesting classroom connection would be to compare this version of the Cinderella with others from other cultures. A quick search on Amazon.com showed Egyptian, Chinese, Persian, Jewish, Korean, Alaskan, Irish, Caribbean, and Smoky Mountain versions. (This is probably a smattering of possible versions.)