Babushka Baba Yaga

Rating:
Summary: Who's afraid of the big bad babushka?
Review: Authors (especially authors of children's books) love reinterpreting old folk and fairy tales. From "The Stinky Cheese Man" to "East", children are constantly being exposed to a wide variety of new ways of reading and interpreting the tales they heard when younger. Patricia Polacco is to be commended for her particularly original reinterpretation. Some of you may be familiar with the classic Baba Yaga stories that came out of Russia. These stories centered on an evil old woman who lived in a house that stood on chicken legs. Usually portrayed as a wicked witch, Baba Yaga ate children and cavorted with the darkest of magics. In "Babushka Baba Yaga", Polacco reclaims a newly misunderstood icon.

Unlike the stories, the Baba Yaga in this tale is the last of her kind. Terribly lonely in her forest home, she spends the days enviously spying on the grandmothers (or "babushkas") of the nearby village. There is nothing Baba Yaga would like more than to care for a little young creature of her own. One day she has the idea of borrowing some babushka clothing and arriving in the village as an old woman. It isn't long before she meets Natasha and her little son Victor. Victor has no babushka of his own, and Baba Yaga offers to take care of the boy, cook, and clean in exhange for a bed and some food. Things go swimmingly for quite a while. Then, one day, Victor and his new babushka overhear a chilling Baba Yaga tale and the boy is greatly scared. Not wanting to cause any trouble, Baba Yaga leaves the happy home with great sorrow. It's only through a miraculous rescue and the villagers' acceptance that things are finally put to rights at the end.

The moral of the story is spoken by one of the village women at the book's finish. "Those who judge one another on what they hear or see, and not on what they know of them in their hearts, are fools indeed!" I especially ask that you consider the book's final picture. There, Baba Yaga hugs a happy Victor, his chubby hands clutching her and wiping his face. Polacco has always excelled at books that make adult readers cry. I have no doubts at all that this story falls squarely into that category. After all, this is a tale about gaining the love of little children, regardless of age or background. The text is especially clever and is well accompanied by Polacco's clever illustrations. If you're not partial to Polacco pictures then I'm certain you won't much care for this book. If, on the other hand, you are charmed by her sometimes slapdash sometimes intricately shaded pictures you'll be in seventh heaven. Faces are her forte, and in the book Baba Yaga is lined and creased, as are the faces of all the older women in the village. There is tenderness found in these people, and it comes as much from their actions as from their gently rounded cheeks.

"Babushka Baba Yaga" embraces the idea of the "true" Baba Yaga. When reading scary folktales, consider adding this book to your repertoire. It successfully combines the old and the young with the ancient and the post-modern. A delightful enjoyable story, easily read again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Who's afraid of the big bad babushka?
Review: Authors (especially authors of children's books) love reinterpreting old folk and fairy tales. From "The Stinky Cheese Man" to "East", children are constantly being exposed to a wide variety of new ways of reading and interpreting the tales they heard when younger. Patricia Polacco is to be commended for her particularly original reinterpretation. Some of you may be familiar with the classic Baba Yaga stories that came out of Russia. These stories centered on an evil old woman who lived in a house that stood on chicken legs. Usually portrayed as a wicked witch, Baba Yaga ate children and cavorted with the darkest of magics. In "Babushka Baba Yaga", Polacco reclaims a newly misunderstood icon.

Unlike the stories, the Baba Yaga in this tale is the last of her kind. Terribly lonely in her forest home, she spends the days enviously spying on the grandmothers (or "babushkas") of the nearby village. There is nothing Baba Yaga would like more than to care for a little young creature of her own. One day she has the idea of borrowing some babushka clothing and arriving in the village as an old woman. It isn't long before she meets Natasha and her little son Victor. Victor has no babushka of his own, and Baba Yaga offers to take care of the boy, cook, and clean in exhange for a bed and some food. Things go swimmingly for quite a while. Then, one day, Victor and his new babushka overhear a chilling Baba Yaga tale and the boy is greatly scared. Not wanting to cause any trouble, Baba Yaga leaves the happy home with great sorrow. It's only through a miraculous rescue and the villagers' acceptance that things are finally put to rights at the end.

The moral of the story is spoken by one of the village women at the book's finish. "Those who judge one another on what they hear or see, and not on what they know of them in their hearts, are fools indeed!" I especially ask that you consider the book's final picture. There, Baba Yaga hugs a happy Victor, his chubby hands clutching her and wiping his face. Polacco has always excelled at books that make adult readers cry. I have no doubts at all that this story falls squarely into that category. After all, this is a tale about gaining the love of little children, regardless of age or background. The text is especially clever and is well accompanied by Polacco's clever illustrations. If you're not partial to Polacco pictures then I'm certain you won't much care for this book. If, on the other hand, you are charmed by her sometimes slapdash sometimes intricately shaded pictures you'll be in seventh heaven. Faces are her forte, and in the book Baba Yaga is lined and creased, as are the faces of all the older women in the village. There is tenderness found in these people, and it comes as much from their actions as from their gently rounded cheeks.

"Babushka Baba Yaga" embraces the idea of the "true" Baba Yaga. When reading scary folktales, consider adding this book to your repertoire. It successfully combines the old and the young with the ancient and the post-modern. A delightful enjoyable story, easily read again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Let Baba Yaga be a Babuska, Please!
Review: Heart warming story about Baba Yaga as a Babushka. Hey only Patricia Polacco could do it right and she did! I think this is one of her best books!

Rating:
Summary: Let Baba Yaga be a Babuska, Please!
Review: I am seriously conflicted about this book. No doubt it is well written and excellently illustrated. My problem is with the basic story and the "revisionism" of Baba Yaga's place in the world which seems indicative of a general trend to root all evil out of children's literature. In my opinion evil and fear are important elements in fairy tales and they prepare children to deal with the real world. Classic (pre-Grimm) fairy tales were incredibly graphic and scary (see Marina Warner's "From the Beast to the Blonde"). Baba Yaga has a definite and clear place in Slavic fairy tales--she is the main "evildoer" who eats children, etc. Let her be that!

Rating:
Summary: Who should have to grow up???
Review: I have been reading these books by Patricia Polacco since I was in the second grade. I can't believe that I actually remembered the author. They are very vivide books. It has now been about ten years since I last saw one of these books and i still rememger what they are about.
One of my favorites is the one about the Rhubarb which made me want to try Rhubarb (Sorry if I didn't spell it right) anyways if you need something to read to your kids these have excellant drawings (I'm an artist just because of these books)
They are wonderful I would recomend these to everyone not just kids.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific, heart-warming book
Review: This is a superb book. I actually choked up when reading it to my daughter for the first time. It's a wonderful tale, but also contains a wonderful lesson, i.e., don't judge people by what they look like.