#932 of 1001 · February 18, 2023

Rise from the ashes with the final entry in Firebird Week Two: The Tzar’s Bird by Ann Tompert and Robert Rayevsky. Grand Prince Yaroslavl hosts a lavish party celebrating his coronation as a tzar. Suddenly, the mercurial witch Baba Yaga bursts into the room and takes him to task for not inviting her. She presents him with a gift of sorts—a firebird. If this animal ever grows unhappy or comes to harm, she tells him, he will go to the Outermost Edge of the World. At first, the monarch shows the Firebird the utmost care and kindness. After a while, however, he neglects the bird, and Baba Yaga swoops down and takes back her gift. Yaroslav chases the witch through a forest of vines, across a blistering desert, over snowcapped mountains, beyond a dismal swamp, all the way to the Outermost Edge of the World—which turns out to be a marvelous place, where the witch has lured him as a practical joke. The tzar returns home a new and wiser man. Tompert’s thought-provoking original tale and Rayevsky’s delightful mixed-media art go hand in hand. #prince #witch #bird #firebird #journey #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbook #beautifulbooks #beautifulbookcover #beautifulbookcovers #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks