Even though we are doing a unit on Africa for the sake of geography and social studies, I am going heavy on the writing with this unit, learning and/or refining (depending on the child) the writing process and different types of essays. Two picture books have been tools for writing comparison essays.
The Egyptian Cinderella is obvious: compare the traditional "Cinderella" with this African cultural version.
After reading Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, which some people call an African Cinderella tale, I felt there were more possibilities with this book. I left it wide open with no suggestions whatsoever. I told my kids to independently read the story and then think of some other story they knew that was similar and write a comparison essay on the two stories. I was pleased with how that assignment turned out. One compared it to "Cinderella," one to The King's Highway, and one to "The Princess and the Pea."
In my opinion, you're never too old for picture books. I love them! Also, I like introducing concepts with picture books, like comparison essays. Rather than beginning with two huge literary works that may be overwhelming, it's good to start building those writing muscles with something smaller where kids can be clear and successful before tackling something bigger.
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