Yeh-Shen A Cindrella Story from China

Here is this week's multicultural book for my grad class...

Yeh-Shen A Cinderella Story from China retold by Ai-Ling Louie is of course a Cinderella story…A long time ago, a beautiful girl named Yeh-Shen was being raised by her stepmother. Her stepmother and step sister were unkind to Yeh-Shen and made her do all the housework. She didn’t have any friends except for a fish she had taken as a pet and would give her anything she wanted. When her stepmother kills and eats the fish, Yeh-Shen thinks she will never have a friend again. But the spirit of the fish lives on through its bones to help Yeh-Shen. When the Spring Festival comes and her stepmother won’t allow her to attend, Yeh-Shen turns to the bones of her fish and finds herself in a beautiful gown and glass slippers. Will Yeh-Shen find her love at the festival?

Reading Level: DRA Level 38
                   Guided Reading P

Teachers: here are some resources for you...

Web Resources:

• Cartoon Version: Check out the cartoon version of Yeh-Shen at this link. It could be argued that there is some evidence of stereotyping, so view before showing your class and decide what your opinion is (and what the opinion of your parents may be) This could also be used as a conversation starter asking if there is evidence of stereotypes and/or comparing and contrasting to the book.
• Cinderella Stories: This link provides a list of a bunch of Cinderella stories as well as information about each story.
• Worksheets: Find worksheets on vocab, comprehension and more to go along with a reading of Yeh-Shen.
• History: I found some interesting information about the history of this story as well as a link to a neat video showing cave dwellings like Yeh-Shen lives in in the story.

Vocabulary: stepmother, undaunted,  finery, fond, marveled, banquet, ivory, glimpse

Activities:
Before Reading:

• Discuss: What is a fairy tale? How do we know a story is a fairy tale? What fairy tales have we read before?
• Teach Fairy Tale Elements, check out my post about fairy tales here.

During Reading:

• While reading, ask students to consider how this story makes them think of other Cinderella stories they have heard.
• Ask students to use think marks (sticky notes) while you read to keep track of their thoughts, connections, questions, etc. Get the think mark bookmarks I give my students to help them remember what to put on their stickies here.

After Reading:

• Read another Cinderella story (or if you already have...) and compare/contrast Yeh-Shen and the other version of Cinderella.
• Use a comparison matrix or simple chart as can be seen on my fairy tales post to identify which fairy tale traits are and are not in Yeh-Shen.