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Baba Yaga: A Russian Folktale
When a terrible witch vows to eat her for supper, a little girl escapes with the help of a towel and comb given to her by the witch's cat.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1991
89 people want to read
About the author
Eric A. Kimmel
160 books111 followersEric A. Kimmel is an American author of more than 150 children's books. His works include Caldecott Honor Book Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman), Sydney Taylor Book Award winners The Chanukkah Guest and Gershon's Monster, and Simon and the Bear: A Hanukkah Tale.
Kimmel was born in Brooklyn, New York and earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from Lafayette College in 1967, a master's degree from New York University, and a PhD in Education from the University of Illinois in 1973. He taught at Indiana University at South Bend, and at Portland State University, where he is Professor Emeritus of Education.
Kimmel lives with his wife, Doris, in Portland, Oregon.
Kimmel was born in Brooklyn, New York and earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from Lafayette College in 1967, a master's degree from New York University, and a PhD in Education from the University of Illinois in 1973. He taught at Indiana University at South Bend, and at Portland State University, where he is Professor Emeritus of Education.
Kimmel lives with his wife, Doris, in Portland, Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 16, 2020
Picture-book author Eric A. Kimmel teams up with illustrator Megan Lloyd in this retelling of the traditional Russian tale of Baba Yaga and the Little Girl. The daughter of a widowed merchant, Marina was kindhearted and beautiful, save for the horn growing on her forehead. When her stepmother, taking advantage of the merchant's absence, sent her to the witch Baba Yaga for a needle and some thread, Marina was saved by her own kindness, managing to have her horn removed and to escape the witch's soup pot. Her stepsister Marusia was not so kind, and far less fortunate...
Baba Yaga: A Russian Folktale is the thirty-fourth picture-book that I have read from the prolific Kimmel, and I found the narrative itself quite engaging. This is the same story, in slightly different form, as that told in Joanna Cole and Dirk Zimmer's Bony-Legs . Unfortunately, although I did appreciate the story, and found the accompanying illustrations from Megan Lloyd appealing enough, in their own right, I thought that text and image were significantly mismatched, and it detracted from my enjoyment. I have encountered Lloyd's work elsewhere - in Linda Williams' The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything and Too Many Pumpkins , and in Kimmel's The Gingerbread Man - and have always found it pleasant, in a cute, cartoon-like way. But her style simply isn't suitable for a story about that fearsome witch, Baba Yaga. The threatening tone and creepy atmosphere of the story don't match at all with the cute, but fairly bland artwork, nor is there any sense, visually speaking, that this is a Russian story. The scene in which Baba Yaga pursues Marina shows the witch flying on a broomstick, holding a small pestle, when traditionally she rides in a massive mortar, steered by a similarly massive pestle.
Although I am always happy to read different retellings of traditional tales, in the end this one wasn't a success. I'd recommend that readers looking for Baba Yaga stories try something like Marianna Mayer and Kinuko Craft's Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave , or any folktale illustrated by the marvelous Ivan Bilibin.
Baba Yaga: A Russian Folktale is the thirty-fourth picture-book that I have read from the prolific Kimmel, and I found the narrative itself quite engaging. This is the same story, in slightly different form, as that told in Joanna Cole and Dirk Zimmer's Bony-Legs . Unfortunately, although I did appreciate the story, and found the accompanying illustrations from Megan Lloyd appealing enough, in their own right, I thought that text and image were significantly mismatched, and it detracted from my enjoyment. I have encountered Lloyd's work elsewhere - in Linda Williams' The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything and Too Many Pumpkins , and in Kimmel's The Gingerbread Man - and have always found it pleasant, in a cute, cartoon-like way. But her style simply isn't suitable for a story about that fearsome witch, Baba Yaga. The threatening tone and creepy atmosphere of the story don't match at all with the cute, but fairly bland artwork, nor is there any sense, visually speaking, that this is a Russian story. The scene in which Baba Yaga pursues Marina shows the witch flying on a broomstick, holding a small pestle, when traditionally she rides in a massive mortar, steered by a similarly massive pestle.
Although I am always happy to read different retellings of traditional tales, in the end this one wasn't a success. I'd recommend that readers looking for Baba Yaga stories try something like Marianna Mayer and Kinuko Craft's Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave , or any folktale illustrated by the marvelous Ivan Bilibin.
January 2, 2025
A good magical fairy tale. Watched a reading of this book on Youtube.
September 15, 2019
I care for the old style illustrations of this book and I love the Russian tale of the Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Beautiful.
October 23, 2012
We've recently discovered the various Baba Yaga stories available from our local library system and we've read several so far, including Baba Yaga: A Russian Folktale, Babushka Baba Yaga, Baba Yaga and the Wise Doll, Marushka's Egg, and Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave.
This is an interesting tale that shows a young girl surviving Baba Yaga's impossible challenges with the help of a cat, dog, gate and tree. By showing some kindness, she is helped to evade the evil witch.
We read a similar version of the story, Bony-legs by Joanna Cole and they were both entertaining and fun to read aloud. We enjoyed reading this story together and will look for more of these entertaining Russian tales at our local library.
This is an interesting tale that shows a young girl surviving Baba Yaga's impossible challenges with the help of a cat, dog, gate and tree. By showing some kindness, she is helped to evade the evil witch.
We read a similar version of the story, Bony-legs by Joanna Cole and they were both entertaining and fun to read aloud. We enjoyed reading this story together and will look for more of these entertaining Russian tales at our local library.
January 26, 2019
Not Kimmel's best. A perfectly ok telling of the traditional story, with the selfish stepmother and lazy stepsister and the good daughter... but nothing special. Cartoony art fits this adaptation fine. The hut with the chicken legs isn't interesting enough, though.
February 28, 2018
A Russian folktale about Baby Yaga and her strange hut with chicken feet.
April 28, 2018
I liked how this version ties in other fairy tale tropes.
January 11, 2019
an entirely average retelling of a story that deserves better.
October 31, 2020
I love Baba Yaga stories, and this is a fun one.
August 31, 2021
A very interesting and unusual variation on the Baba Yaga legend. I generally love Kimmel’s folktale adaptations, although the illustrations in this book are uninspired.
December 17, 2023
Marina is sent by her wicked stepmother to the house of Baba Yaga. She manages to escape by being kind to animals. Wordy. All the female characters look the same.
June 7, 2013
Readable (especially read-aloudable) re-telling of a Baba Yaga tale, with shades of Cinderella. The moral of the story - which is the moral of most folktales - is be kind to others, particularly strangers, because you never know when that kindness is going to come back to help you (or an ill word is going to come back to haunt you). My only complaint with the story is that I always imagined Baba Yaga to be far more cunning and frightening; perhaps this version has a sanitized version of Baba Yaga suitable for kiddos.
March 13, 2015
Weak, particularly in the illustrations which are cartoonish and give nothing of the true flavor of this tale. This book makes Baba Yaga look like Amelia Bedelia. And for heaven's sake, surely Baba Yaga does not ride on a mortar and pestle of the kind that are used to grind spices on the countertop! Hers is the huge tall kind for husking grain - see Ivan Bilibin's illustration from 1902 in Russian Fairy Tales. Skip this one and find other versions.
June 11, 2014
I was a bit disappointed with this book. I read it aloud to my kids, and they loved it...especially the pictures.
I read it again for myself, and was disappointed. Baba Yaga of Russian folktales is the Wicked Witch of the West, rolled in with the Evil Stepmother, and the Big Bad Wolf. In this telling, old Baba Yaga is just a vague, slightly weird old woman, with iron teeth. Lacks any of the really broody, sinister feeling that makes folktales so much fun.
I read it again for myself, and was disappointed. Baba Yaga of Russian folktales is the Wicked Witch of the West, rolled in with the Evil Stepmother, and the Big Bad Wolf. In this telling, old Baba Yaga is just a vague, slightly weird old woman, with iron teeth. Lacks any of the really broody, sinister feeling that makes folktales so much fun.
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August 1, 2012This is not the edition I read. I got the Baba Yaga Tales from an old magazine called Children's Digest. I can't speak to the quality of this edition, but if it has pictures of Baba Yaga's house turning on its chicken legs, and of Baba Yaga flying through the air in her mortar and pestle, it can't really fail, can it? And if it doesn't, it will disappoint.
July 16, 2012
When a terrible witch vows to eat her for supper, a little girl escapes with the help of a towel and comb given to her by the witch's cat. This is a great traditional folk story about how children's can outwit evil.
March 6, 2019
it is weird but its an interesting book
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews