#840 of 1001 · November 18, 2022

We must now flee the darkness and the terror, tossing enchanted obstacles over our shoulders as we hear the grind of mortar and pestle close behind. Today brings another entry in Baba Yaga Week. Hiawyn Oram and Ruth Brown create a bold retelling with Baba Yaga and the Wise Doll. Unusually, the story opens from the witch’s perspective. A young girl named Too Nice is exiled by her sisters, Horrid and Very Horrid, who drive her into the forest to retrieve one of Baba Yaga’s toads. Too Nice leaves, with only her beloved doll for company. After she is taken in as the witch’s servant, the doll completes a series of difficult tasks for her—cleaning a mountain of dishes, sorting a pile of dirt and poppyseeds, and answering a challenging riddle. In the end, one of the old hag’s toads devours the two wicked sisters, leaving Too Nice to thrive on her own. Oram’s entertaining narrative meshes well with Brown’s dramatic and eerily glamorous depiction of Baba Yaga. A note for folklore enthusiasts: This story is an adaptation of “Vasilisa the Beautiful”, a tale collected by by Aleksandr Nikolaevich Afanas’ev in Narodnye Russki Skazki, published between 1855 and 1863. #witch #forest #woods #hut #doll #magic #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks