Title: "Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave"
Author: Marianna Mayer
Illustrator: K.Y. Craft
Publisher: Morrow Junior Books, 1994
Genre: Fairy Tales, Multicultural
Grade: 2-3
Deep in the forest lived Baba Yaga, an ancient, terrible woman who ate humans. At the edge of this forest lived Vasilisa, her stepmother, and her two stepsisters. Vasilisa had to do all the chores around the house. The stepmother wanted Vasilisa out of the house so badly that she decided to cast a spell that there could not be any light at their house. To get light Vasilisa had to go to Baba Yaga's house and ask for some light. When she asked Baba Yaga for light, she told her she would help her but first Vasilisa had to help Baba Yaga around the house. If Vasilisa didn't complete these tasks then she would be eaten. The doll helped Vasilisa do all the tasks. Finally, Baba Yaga gave Vasilisa a lighted skull to take back to her stepmother and stepsisters. When Vasilisa got the skull home, it came to life and cast out flames that engulfed the two stepsisters and her stepmother. Vasilisa left the house and found an old woman who had no children to live with. She spun some fabric for the woman to show a token of her gratitude. The woman took the fabric to the Tzar and introduced Vasilisa to him. The Tzar and Vasilisa fell in love and got married.
I had never heard this Russian version of Cinderella. I really enjoyed it. I liked how it was not the traditional version where she lost her slipper, but instead this time she gives a piece of fabric away and that's how the tzar falls in love with her. The font in this book really gave me the eerie feeling that something bad was going to happen during the story. The illistrations were very life like, especailly the illistrations of the three different horses. Craft used watercolors, gouache, and oil for these full-color illustrations. The illistrations of Baba Yaga were very revealing that she was an old, creepy looking lady.
I would use this book in my classroom to compare it to other versions of Cinderella. I would have my students read the different versions of Cinderella and then have them to compare each of them to another. My students could do a venn-diagram if they wanted, or for older kids they could do an "I Poem For Two Voices" like I did. I could also use this book to talk about the Russian culture so the students could have some background for this version of the fairy tale.
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6 comments:
Yes! Vasilisa is much different from our "traditional" Cinderella. We know her for attributes beyond her physical beauty; we recognize that she has additional merit: she is a talented seamstress!
I, too, LOVE these illustrations! I also think this would be a wonderful version to share with older students. Glad you enjoyed it!
When i first read the tale i thought it was going to be about a Japanese fish. The picture of the big colorful fish on the cover.
What were your first thoughts about the text? What in the text caused those thoughts?
Ithought that it would be about a big fish in a zoo or some thing. THe pictures and the first few words of the text. =]
Before I read this story i thought tdiffrent things.I thought this book was going to be about a big tall japaness fish.I thought of that because, when I first looked it had a tall giant tall fish.
After I read the story I thought something diffrent.
before i read the story i thought it was about a chinese fish.the cause of those thoughts was that there was a fish and chinses words or letters under the fish.
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