#384 of 1001 · August 19, 2021

Continuing into a new phase of Firebird Week, let us examine The Firebird by Robert D. San Souci and @kriswaldherr. After climbing into a mysterious garden, Prince Ivan is whisked into an epic conflict involving the wizard Kastchei, the captive Princess Elena, and the wondrous Firebird. San Souci crafts a strong and vibrant retelling, full of compelling action and powerful imagery. Waldherr illustrates the narrative with a series of oil paintings executed over golden acrylic underpaintings on stretched, gessoed, and sanded paper. In her interpretation of San Souci’s text (“Sometimes it seemed a bird, sometimes a woman”), she depicts the Firebird alternately as a bird and as a winged human woman with orange dress, skin, hair, and feathers. A note for folklore enthusiasts: this book retells the plot of the 1910 Russian ballet The Firebird, for which choreographer Mikhail Fokin and artist Alexandre Benois combined elements of several traditional tales to form a story honoring the breadth of Russian folk culture. Fokin and Benois may have taken their inspiration from “A Child’s Verse”, an 1844 poem by Yakov Polonsky containing references to both the Firebird and Koshchei. #firebird #prince #princess #wizard #russia #russian #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks