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John Steptoe (1950–1989)

Author of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale

14+ Works 5,820 Members 285 Reviews

About the Author

John Steptoe was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 14, 1950. He attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan. He was an author and illustrator of children's books. His first book, Stevie, was published in 1969. During his lifetime, he illustrated 15 more books, 9 of which he also show more wrote. The Story of Jumping Mouse and Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters were named Caldecott honor books. Mother Crocodile and Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters received the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration. He died of AIDS on August 28, 1989 at the age of 38. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: johnsteptoe.com

Works by John Steptoe

The Story of Jumping Mouse (1984) 1,144 copies
Stevie (1969) 371 copies
Baby Says (1779) 116 copies
Creativity (1742) 83 copies
Birthday (1858) 26 copies
Train Ride (1971) 19 copies
Marcia (1976) 15 copies
Uptown (1970) 9 copies
My Special Best Words (1974) 5 copies

Associated Works

All the Colors of the Race (1982) — Illustrator — 120 copies
Outside Inside Poems (1600) — Illustrator — 20 copies

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Reviews

Alternate title: Morality for Beautiful Girls (which I think is a actually a McCall-Smith title)
 
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LibrarianDest | 206 other reviews | Jan 3, 2024 |
Independent Reading Level: Grade 5
Honors/Awards: Caldecott Honor Book
 
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mkoch22103 | 206 other reviews | Nov 23, 2023 |
I really enjoyed this story. Folktales help us to see the good and evil in the world, and in this story among others, how kindness wins. This book would be a wonderful addition to any fairy tale/folktale unit in a classroom and children of all ages would enjoy reading it. I had seen the cover of this book on shelves before, but hadn't picked it up to read until recently. I was missing out and I very much enjoyed reading it with my children, and will read it with my students as well. This could be a great mentor text for writing fairy tales/folktales as well. The illustrations are beautiful and it would be a great book to compare to other versions of a Cinderella type tale from around the world.… (more)
 
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KellyReads5 | 206 other reviews | Jul 9, 2023 |
 
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PBEBOOKS | 206 other reviews | Feb 10, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
14
Also by
3
Members
5,820
Popularity
#4,230
Rating
4.2
Reviews
285
ISBNs
101
Languages
3

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