But when I was at university, I was fortunate to have my colonial ways of seeing challenged. I began the life-long process of questioning 'truths', whether presented by governments, political parties or individuals. I began to understand how our perceptions, feelings and indeed fears are shaped. Removing blinkers and widening vision is an ongoing journey for me and one in which literature has played an important role. Beverly Naidoo does an outstanding retelling of this version of Cinderella, which is based on the writings of the Greek historian Strabo and Herodotus. In it, she is a red-headed Greek girl who is taken to Egypt as a slave. Majan Vafaeian's illustrations are exotic and colorful. Simply beautiful!

For starters, King Farouk was looking for a purely Egyptian bride, who had no Turkish or Syrian ancestors. Apart from that, his new wife also had to be Muslim, a virgin, and, in an effort to curry favor with his people, she should not belong to the aristocracy. Well, 16-year-old Narriman certainly fit the bill. And for bonus points, she was also beautiful, polite, and charming. It seemed like a perfect match. Emphasis on "seemed." It isn’t common knowledge, but it is possible that Narriman had feelings for someone else. She may have had a crush on one of her classmates named Salah Shaarawi. Instead of a short doctor, he was a good-looking officer—equal in rank to a captain—when he asked Narriman’s uncle to test the waters with her parents and see if they'd let him marry their daughter. I found myself staring at whitewashed bookshelves': Ruby Lovell on the importance of diverse readingWe have all read the story of Cinderella, and the story continues to be adapted in many different ways, however, how many of us have looked at the different Cinderellas that come from all over the world. In this story, Beverley Naidoo looks to Egypt. In this story, Beverley Naidoo adapts a story told 2,000 years ago and brings in the distinct features of the traditional Cinderella story. As part of the "One Story, Many Voices" series, this version of the Cinderella story is based on an Egyptian tale, sympathetically illustrated by Marjan Vafaeian.

Books and stories are wonderful ways of ‘mind travel’. My Blue Fairy Book didn’t say where Cinderella lived but the illustrations suggested somewhere in Europe long ago. I was a child living 6000 miles away but I could still imagine being her. That’s why stories are powerful. They take us into other people’s lives. This three-week Writing Root begins with the discovery of a bottle that contains a map and a message. After interrogating the scenario presented and writing a short news report using the present perfect tense, the children then share the first part of Cinderella of the Nile. They develop skills of inference before exploring the author’s use of literary language and the effect that this has on the reader. Suffix fixers are used to investigate abstract nouns which are then used to create an emotions graph before being woven in to a diary entry in role that also draws upon literary language from a previous session. Once the story has been read, the children sort statements about traditional Cinderella tales and statements about this version onto a Venn diagram and then go on to devise their own version of a Cinderella story complete with fable! Synopsis of Text Cinderella of the Nile' by Beverley Naidoo, illustrated by Marjan Vafaeian is based on one of the earliest-known recorded versions of the famous Cinderella tale. Elements of this ‘Egyptian Cinderella’ legend were first written down more than 2000 years ago by the Greek historian Strabo and, before him, Herodotus. Many children will be familiar with Walt Disney’s animated film Cinderella, or even the popular version from Grimm’s Fairy Tales, but have they heard of the tale from Egypt?The story is beautifully written and illustrated – share favourite lines and favourite illustrations and talk about them.

It may have broken her heart, but Narriman stayed firm in her decision. Perhaps she hoped Farouk would relent, or the law would help her see the child regularly. Unfortunately, she couldn't have been more wrong. I love the discussion the books opens up about the universality of some stories and how they originate in different places and shift as cultures blend. But the story here is a bit long and very depressing, with quirky illustrations. But all they helped him get was a safe exit so that his son wouldn’t grow up with too-terrible memories.Spelling Seeds have been designed to complement Writing Roots by providing weekly, contextualised sequences of sessions for the teaching of spelling that include open-ended investigations and opportunities to practise and apply within meaningful and purposeful contexts, linked (where relevant) to other areas of the curriculum and a suggestion of how to extend the investigation into home learning. Rhodopis' journey takes her from Greece to Egypt, where similarities with our more modern versions of Cinderella begin to please the reader; jealousy and goodness, slippers and invitations and a happy ending.