TWU LS 5603 - Traditional Lit Reviews-BABA YAGA: A RUSSIAN FOLKTALE

BIBLIOGRAPHY #1

Kimmel, Eric A., and Megan Lloyd. 1991. BABA YAGA: A RUSSIAN FOLKTALE. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 082340854X

PLOT SUMMARY
This story is a retelling of the Russian folktale of a witch who lives in the forest and has iron teeth. A girl leaves her stepmother and stepsister, ventures to the witch’s hut to ask that a horn be removed from her head, and almost becomes dinner for the witch. With the help of a frog, the girl performs good deeds for the witch’s animals and is rewarded with help to escape her doom. The father returns, only to see the mistreatment that the girl endured and casts the stepmother and stepsister into the streets.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This folktale has fairy tale elements of father abandonment, the evil stepmother and stepsister, the magical talking frog who shares the secret for eventual victory over the wicked witch in the forest, and the reunion with the lost father. The theme is a good versus evil story where the good wins in the end. The conflict is between the main character, Marina, and her stepmother and stepsister with the establishment of the situation from the story’s beginning and details of the mistreatment following the expanding storyline.  The reader wants Marina to flee the situation and find a way to have the horn removed from her head.

The setting is given in the opening lines of the story with the explanation of Marina’s house being set on the “edge of a deep, dark forest.”  This is a classic fairy tale setting whereby the reader assumes that the character will eventually go into the forest to find something dark and deviant. The frog plays the role of the traditional fairy godmother found in other folktales.  He gives Marina information that she will need to get away from the witch, Baba Yaga. As a Russian tale, the full color, vibrant, illustrations are important in educating the readers about the types of clothes, housing, and food that are traditional in Russian culture. The illustrations are positioned on each page to consume a majority of the page with the text interspersed and relate the main plot of the story without the need for text.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Publishers Weekly - “Lloyd's ( How We Learned the Earth Is Round ) burnished, somewhat cartoony illustrations of the rural scene--with such enticing details as a witch's cabin resting on chicken feet--are just right.”

CONNECTIONS

Listen to the Music of Russian composer, Modest Mussorgsky from Pictures at an Exhibition, Movement #9 The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yagá) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictures_at_an_Exhibition

Helmer, Marilyn, and Noushin Pajouhesh. 2002. THREE TALES OF TRICKERY. Toronto: Kids Can Press. ISBN 1550749374

·         Partner this book in discussing other tales of trickery where good deeds win in the end.

Greene, Ellin, and Kimberly Bulcken Root. 1994. BILLY BEG AND HIS BULL: AN IRISH TALE. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 0823411001

·         Partner this book in discussing other evil stepmother characterizations and a male main character with other elements that boys would enjoy, like dragons and giants.

Yolen, Jane, and Vladimir Vasilʹevich Vagin. 2002. THE FIREBIRD. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers.  ISBN 0060285389

·         Partner this book in discussing other Russian folktales