The Rough-Face Girl is a beautiful Cinderella story with an Algonquin Indian girl as the heroine. Rough-Face Girl, belittled by her two older sisters, is scarred on her face and hands from the fire they force her to tend. All of the women in the village want to marry the mysterious and great Invisible Being.

The two older sisters dress themselves up beautifully, but they cannot see him, and only the one who sees the Invisible Being can marry him. Rough -Face Girl has no beautiful clothing or beads, but she makes do with what she has and goes off to marry the Invisible Being. As she walks, she endures the jeers of the villagers but continues to have faith in herself. She sees the beauty of the nature around her and is able to see the Invisible Being in that beauty. The Invisible Being sees past her clothing and scars to the beauty within. Rough-Face Girl bathes in a magical lake and her true radiance emerges for all to see. Rough-Face Girl and the Invisible Being marry and , "They lived together in great gladness and were never parted."

The story unfolds beautifully as the reader is transported into a new world. The soft, misty illustrations compliment the story with amazing use of shadow. Nature shines through, even when it appears in the background. Readers empathize with Rough-Face Girl from the beginning. A refreshing break from the mood of the Western European Cinderella story, this book is magical in its own unique way.