Yolen crafts an original, updated tale from characters and elements found in traditional ones. A young girl falls out of her father’s turnip truck on the way to market, and it isn’t long before Baba Yaga sweeps down in a rickety flying mortar and pestle—“Whirrr. Whirr. Clunkety-clank”—to carry her off to the witch’s chicken-legged cottage. Before she can be plunked into the pot, however, the quick witted child suggests fattening her up with turnip soup—so off hies the witch to the market, where the child’s father quickly puts two and two together. Vagin ignores repeated references to a dark and tangled forest to create a tidy, well-lit woodland setting, but Baba Yaga, with her sharply hooked iron nose and long black fingernails, comes off as an entertaining blend of scary and comical. And in a concluding twist, the crone develops such a taste for turnip soup that she invites child and father to stay for dinner, then bids them farewell with a friendly wave. A good-humored remake, featuring a kinder, gentler witch than the general run of Baba Yaga tales. (Picture book/folktale. 7-9)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-06-028536-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2003
Miranda’s book counts the monsters gathering at a birthday party, while a simple rhyming text keeps the tally and surveys the action: “Seven starved monsters are licking the dishes./Eight blow out candles and make birthday wishes.” The counting proceeds to ten, then by tens to fifty, then gradually returns to one, which makes the monster’s mother, a purple pin-headed octopus, very happy. The book is surprisingly effective due to Powell’s artwork; the color has texture and density, as if it were poured onto the page, but the real attention-getter is the singularity of every monster attendee. They are highly individual and, therefore, eminently countable. As the numbers start crawling upward, it is both fun and a challenge to try to recognize monsters who have appeared in previous pages, or to attempt to stay focused when counting the swirling or bunched creatures. The story has glints of humor, and in combination with the illustrations is a grand addition to the counting shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201835-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
In a snowbound Swiss village, Matti figures it’s a good day to make a gingerbread man. He and his mother mix a batch of gingerbread and tuck it in the oven, but Matti is too impatient to wait ten minutes without peeking. When he opens the door, out pops a gingerbread baby, taunting the familiar refrain, “Catch me if you can.” The brash imp races all over the village, teasing animals and tweaking the noses of the citizenry, until there is a fair crowd on his heels intent on giving him a drubbing. Always he remains just out of reach as he races over the winterscape, beautifully rendered with elegant countryside and architectural details by Brett. All the while, Matti is busy back home, building a gingerbread house to entice the nervy cookie to safe harbor. It works, too, and Matti is able to spirit the gingerbread baby away from the mob. The mischief-maker may be a brat, but the gingerbread cookie is also the agent of good cheer, and Brett allows that spirit to run free on these pages. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-399-23444-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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