Little Gold Star retold by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Sergio Martinez- Multicultural and International Literature

"Little Gold Star" was a Spanish American Cinderella tale. It is an example of multicultural or international literature, as well as folk or traditional literature. It had some similarities to the traditional Disney Cinderella story, as well as some major differences. There was a sheepherder named Tomas whose wife died, and he married a mean widow who had two daughters. Tomas stayed away from the house as much as possible, and the widow and her daughters, Inez and Isabel, treated his daughter, Teresa, terribly. One day, Tomas brought everyone gifts, including a lamb for Teresa. The mean stepmother killed the lamb and made Teresa wash the fleece in the river so that she could make a pillow for the stepmother. At the river, a fish stole the fleece and Teresa was sad. Suddenly, a woman in blue came and asked Teresa to tend to a man and baby and to clean, and in return, she would bring back the fleece. Teresa did this and sure enough, she got her fleece back, along with a gold star on her forehead. The fleece became dirty when the widow touched it, so each of the stepsisters took it to the river. They disobeyed the woman in blue and ended up growing horns and donkey ears. Soon after this, a rich man named Don Miguel had everyone in the town over for dinner and dancing, and Don Miguel found Teresa beautiful despite her shabby clothes. He really loved her gold star and kindness. The evil stepmother made Teresa leave, and Don Miguel set out to find her. He eventually found her and they fell in love and got married after Teresa was forced to perform three seemingly impossible tasks for her stepmother. The woman in blue helped Teresa to get these tasks done. It turns out that the woman in blue was the Blessed Mary, and the man and baby were Joseph and baby Jesus.
This book would be great to use in a study of different versions of Cinderella. Students can see that there are many different versions of the story in addition to the Disney version. The students can compare the similarities and differences in the different versions. By using Cinderella stories from different cultures, students can see what things are important to various cultures. This version had lots of religious ties in it, so students can see that religion is important to the Spanish culture. Students can also research to find out which cultural representations in the different versions are accurate, made up, or perhaps even offensive. I know a teacher at Fuller Elementary School that teaches an elective called “Cinderella Around the World” for second and third grade students. The students love reading and comparing the different versions! Since most children have heard of Cinderella, Cinderella stories are an excellent choice to use to develop comparison skills.