Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave

Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
Mayer, Marianna
Craft, K.Y.
William Morrow and Company, NY, NY (1994)
k-3
Fairy Tale, Traditional Literature, Multicultural

Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave is about a girl named Vasilisa. She was orphaned after the death of her father and was left in the care of her step mother. Vasilisa's step mother was an evil witch who treated Vasilisa horribly and forced her to cater to her and her two daughters every need. Vasilisa's stepsisters were equally repulsive and cared nothing about Vasilisa. Her only friend was a magic doll that her deceased mother had made her shortly before she had died. The doll could talk and move like a person and gave Vasilisa hope and encouragement. As her and her stepsisters grew older, Vasilisa's stepmother became worried that because of Vailisa's great kindness and beauty, her unattractive daughters would not beable to fid husbands. For this reason she decided to get rid of Vasilisa. She sent her into the forest to borrow a light from the evil cannibal Baba Yaga. Everone was afraid of Baba Yaga and Vasilisa feared theat she would never return but she did as she was told and went into the forest. Vasilisa saw a magical pale horseman at dawn and a red horseman at sun rise. Vasilis finaly arived at her horrid destination. Baba Yagas house was surrounded by skulls and Baba Yaga herself was quite terrifying. Baba Yaga gave Vasilisa near impossible cooking and cleaning tasks to complete the next day before she returned home. The magic doll helped Baba Yaga complete the tasks on time. The next day baba Yaga gave her even more tasks and Vasilisa and the doll managed to finish them all. After completing her tasks Vasilisa was allowed to return home with a skull lantern. When Vasilisa reterned home the lantern incinerated the evil stepmother and step sisters. Vasilisa then went to live with a kind old woman. She was very happy there and began to wave beautiful cloth. The Tzar saw her beautiful fabric and married her for her inner and outer beauty. Vasilisa lived a happy life from then on.

This book is a version of a Cinderella story that is set in Russia. Previous to reading this book I had never heard of the Russian Cinderella but after a little research I found other versions of this tale which differ a bit. I found this version of Cinderella fairly similar to Perrault's version of Cinderella that was adapted by Walt Disney which is most common in our country. In this story Vasilisa has an evil stepmother and two evil step sisters as did Cinderella. Yet, Vasilisa the Brave is a much darker story. The character of Baba Yaga is quite terrifying and the step mother and step sisters die a gruesome death. This story almost seems fit for Halloween! I like that this book has a darker side because I think boys would get more interested in this version that that of the Disney version. Most fairy tails are more geared to girls which leaves boy out in the cold to get bored and restless. I think this book would be welcomed by boys because of the skulls and bones and all of the other features that boys think are the coolest thing in the world. I f I were doing a unit on Cinderella story's, I would want to defiantly incorporate this book for the guys in the class and also because it is a great way to start a discussion on the Russian culture.

The illustrations in this book were rendered in oil, gouache, and watercolor. The left side of the page has a mini scene that features the first letter of the first word of the page. Below the text is boarder like scene. The right page has a boarder that surrounds an illustration that depicts the text on the opposite page. Craft's illustrations are quite detailed. The illustrations of Baba Yaga are so scary and eerie that I almost cringe when I see he horridness. For the most part I think that the story can stand on its own without the illustrations, But you have to see Baba Yaga to believe how terrifying she must have been.