The Rough-Face Girl

The Rough-Face Girl

Title: The Rough-Face Girl

Genre: Multicultural

Author: Rafe Martin

Illustrator: David Shannon

Awards: Young Readers Choice Award

Age group: 6-11 year olds

This book is a Native American twist on a classic story, I quite enjoyed it and its beautiful illustrations.

Summary:

In the village of Lake Ontario, there lived an invisible being. Many women wished to marry him but only his sister could see him, and she said only the one who can see him can marry him. Then there lived a poor man and his three daughters, 2 of them were mean and made their youngest sister tend to the fire and this made her get burned and scarred so they called her “ rough faced girl” and made her life miserable. One day the two older sisters told their dad to give them the best necklaces, dresses and shoes, they said they were going to marry the invisible being and so he did and they went to the wigwam. They were met with his sister who, after they said they had come to marry the invisible being, asked if they had seen him. They said yes but then she asked what his bow was made of, so they lied and at once she knew they were lying. She asked another question which they also got wrong and so she said you have not seen my brother go home so they went home ashamed. The next day the rough face girl ask her father for the same thing that her sisters asked for, because she said she saw his face everywhere, but her father said that he had only broken shells and worn out moccasins and so she took those things. She then went with faith through the village to the invisible being even with the villagers mocking her. The sister of the invisible being was waiting and could see through the rough face girl appearance and tell she had a kind heart, and asked why see came and she said to marry the invisible being. So she asked the same questions as she had asked her sisters, at first she said have you seen my brother and she said yes. Then she asked what his bow was made of and she said the curve of the rainbow, and what is his sled made of and she said the stars. Both of these were right so she took her into the wigwam and the invisible being appeared and said at last we have been found out, and the sister said yes. Then she bathed in the lake and all her scars were healed and her hair was beautiful again and they gave her the best robes and shells and she was beautiful, like they had seen from the beginning. In the end, the invisible being and rough-face girl were married and lived together and never parted.

I believe I could use this book in my classroom because it can really open students up to knowing about different cultures and their ways of life.

I believe the appropriate grade level for this book would be 1st-5th grade. In this book it uses many different cultural vocabulary words, such as wigwam, moccasins (which might harder to understand for younger grades) but is good for exposing students to different cultures. The illustrations also help with the understanding of the story.

I believe I could use this book on a unit about Indians or twists on classic fairy tales. An activity that could also go with this book is the students design their own wigwam inspired by the ones in the book and explain what their wigwam illustrations means.

HAVE FUN READING!💙-Lacy