Daly, N. (2006). Pretty Salma. New York, NY: Clarion Books.
Brief Annotation: Salma is a young African girl who lives with her Grandparents. Her Grandma asks her to go to the market to get some groceries, and tells Salma to not speak to anyone on the way. Salma purchases all of her items but on her way home she is stopped by a dog. He is very tricky and manages to take all of Salma’s things. He wears her scarf and sandals and carries her whole basket of groceries. When Salma asks for her things back he threatens to bite her and she runs away. The dog goes to the Grandparents house and the Grandma is also tricked by him, washing his ears giving her kisses, but then she realizes that the dog is not her pretty Salma, so he throws her in a pot and is going to boil her, but Salma and her Grandfather come in as the boogeyman and scare him off! It’s a happy ending where Salma learns to do as she is told and never talk to strangers.
Genre: Folktale
Grade Level: K-3
Readers who will like this: Young readers who are interested in another version of the Little Red Riding Hood story, as well as people who enjoy African culture. Teachers who want to teach about cultural differences could also incorporate the language and ways of how the story changes from one variation to the other.
Response/Rating (1-4): 4, I thought this was a great book! The story is unique and creative and the illustrations are very colorful and fun. It’s interesting and different enough from the original story where you wonder how it may go, but still follows the theme of the tale.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: “Do you think a dog could be a stranger?” or “Would anyone like to go to Africa some day?”
Reading strategies connection: Ten Important Words (Yopp & Yopp, 2010, pg. 90-94). Each student is given the story and asked to pick out what they think are the most ten important words. Then they gather together and build a bar graph of the words and see what patterns are there. They then learn what the vocabulary means, and especially with this book it would be a great cultural tool as well to introduce the different language words.
I can see why you would like this book--it's about a place you love AND it's an interesting variation of the Red Riding Hood story. It's not too early to start thinking about how this story is the same as and different from the original Red Riding Hood tale. On what dimensions do you think you'd make your comparisons?
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