The Rooster's Antlers: a Story of the Chinese Zodiac

The Rooster's Antler's: a Story of the Chinese Zodiac retold by Eric Kimmel, Illus. by YongSheng Xuan, 1999.

This story also occurs during the creation of the Chinese Zodiac, but it has a completely different plot than the tales of Cat and Rat (See: Why There is No Cat in the Chinese Zodiac ). Instead of having the creatures compete in a race, the Jade Emperor will choose the animals and their order for his own reasons. Rooster is sure that he will be chosen first, because of his beauty. He is colorful, feathery, and he has a fabulous pair of coral antlers. Dragon is also wonderful to see, but he doubts himself because he is bald headed. His conniving friend Centipede is sure that he can get Rooster's antlers for Dragon, but he has a price. Centipede is worm like and helpless and needs fierce jaws and many legs to run with. Rooster may be vain, but he is a generous creature. What will happen when he lends his crowning glories?

YongSheng Xuan has illustrated this tale of Dragon, Centipede and Rooster in vibrant colors against a sky blue background. The pleasing pictures look like (are?) bold but detailed papercuts.

Three Samurai Cats: a Story from Japan

Three Samurai Cats: a Story from Japan Retold by Eric Kimmel, Illus. by Mordicai Gerstein, 2003.

Okay, pulling no punches, I need to tell you that I love this story and its illustrations. It's unusual and it's funny. A daimyo (powerful lord) finds that he has an unwanted visitor who mocks him and does just as he pleases: an obnoxious giant rat. He seeks help from a shrine well known for its corps of samurai cats. He gets the best cat of the best. The cat samurai is very impressive, but he fails to remove the smug rat. Another even larger, well armored feline fighter appears. He leaves in disgrace. So, the daimyo requests one more warrior. This cat is old, broken down and dressed in rags. All he seems to do is eat, sleep and ignore the challenges of the feisty rat. Is it possible that he can succeed where the mightier samurai failed? How can he force the bratty rat to go?

In an author's note, Kimmel explains that this is an example of a story a Zen master might use "to surprise their disciples out of conventional patterns of thinking." The conquering cat is a roshi or Zen master, and he shows that he can beat the rat through stillness rather than violence. The story's original source is Kenji Sora's The Swordsman and the Cat.

Gernstein's humorous illustrations really shine here, because they are a perfect match to the story. They are full of amusing details. The rat bully arrives at the temple with his belongs tied up in a hobo scarf hanging from his tail. He later uses this as a bib as he consumes all the fine food in the place. The slash happy 2nd samurai cat shows off slicing up everything from a bucket to an apple to a butterfly, but he is so absorbed with his form that he just doesn't see that powerful kick coming from Mr. Rat.  The 3rd cat seems barely responsive  most of the time, but as soon as the rat is vulnerable, his yellow eyes are wide open and he is ready.The art was made with pen and ink with oil paint on vellum paper.

The Mightiest One

Both of today's stories are about the most powerful thing on earth. While we readers might assume it will be something huge and impressive, these tales show us otherwise. The seemingly humble can be mighty too.

 

 

The Stonecutter: a Japanese Folktale Adapted and Illus. by Gerald McDermott

 

McDermott's book, The Stonecutter, came out in 1975 and is still a classic, readily available in libraries. It is about Tasuku, a stonecutter, who chips stone blocks from the mountain for others to use in building palaces and temples. His honest work pleases the mountain spirit, who overhears Tasuku's wish to be a prince and grants it. From there the modest worker wants to be in more and more powerful positions, leading to a sobering outcome .

 

Full of strong graphic art,  The Stonecutter packs a bright visual punch. McDermott used hand colored paper to make the collages. They rely on bold shapes and overall impact rather than fussy details. His clean designs convey the drama of the story and impress his readers.

 

 

 

 

The Greatest of All: a Japanese Folktale retold by Eric A. Kimmel, Illus. by Giora Carmi

 

The Greatest of All teaches the same lesson as The Stonecutter, but is lighter in tone. Kimmel tells the reader that his source is a story called "The Wedding Mouse," and therefore Kimmel's version is about a pompous mouse searching for "the greatest of all" to be his daughter's husband. She is in love with a field mouse, but Father Mouse stomps off to betroth her to the human emperor. The mouse is surprised to hear the emperor admit that there is one that is greater than himself, but the social climbing mouse feels entitled to seek out that mightiest one. As he interviews each groom-elect, he is finally led to the perfect husband for his child, and the emperor even writes a haiku for the wedding!

 

Each panel of Giora Carmi's art is contained by a speckled terracotta border, adding visual unity through the book.  His illustration of the absurdly grand Father Mouse reminds me of Yul Brynner in The King and I, with the addition of an armload of cheese. The personified sun, cloud, wind and wall are appealing, especially at the wedding at the wedding, where the wind blows flowers into the path of the merry couple, and the cloud cries tears of joy.

 

 

 

 

Tales of Anansi the Spider: Picture Books

 Anansi and the Magic Stick by Eric A. Kimmel. Illus. by Janet Stevens, 2001.


All of the animals have fine gardens, but Anansi’s yard is a wreck. He is just too lazy to pretty it up. Fortunately for him, he discovers Hyena’s magic stick, which will do anything you request, if you remember the magic words. All goes well, until Anansi asks the stick to water his vegetable seeds…then falls asleep. Kimmel has loosely based this story on the Liberian tale The Magic Hoe.

 Anansi and the Talking Melon retold by Eric A. Kimmel. Illus. by Janet Stevens, 1994.

Anansi the Spider can’t resist Elephant’s melon patch. But, having eaten his fill of the biggest, ripest melon, he finds that he’s too fat to get out of the rind again. When Elephant returns, Anansi has to use his wits quickly. What if the melon should speak to Elephant? And what if the resulting fuss went all the way to the king?

Anansi’s Party Time by Eric A. Kimmel. Illus. by Janet Stevens, 2008.

Anansi invites Turtle to a party! But, he won’t let Turtle in until he follows all of Anansi’s rules. Turtle has to keep going home for more things to bring. When he realizes that he has been tricked, he invites the naughty spider to a party at his underwater home. Everyone has a swell time, but by the end of the soiree, Anansi is almost over the moon!


Stevens’ art for the Anansi series is bright, cheerful and lots of fun. Anansi is a chubby black spider with black beady eyes, but even so is very expressive. Whether he is lying on his back stuffed full of melon, carrying off his stolen stick or wearing his kitty party costume, Anansi will make readers laugh. The other animals are wonderful, from an incensed gorilla king to a zebra accidentally painted bright pink to Turtle in his bubblegum colored bunny suit. The author and illustrator themselves have a cameo in Anansi and the Magic Stick as they are swept away by the flood, Kimmel in a polka dotted animal inner tube.

Anansi Finds a Fool by Verna Aardema. Illustrated by Bryna Waldman, 1992.


This is an Ashanti tale, retold from a story by Robert S. Rattray in Akan-Ashanti Folktales, 1930. Anansi decides to go into the fishing business, and find someone to trick into doing all the work so that he, Anansi can get all the fish. He is surprised when his clever friend Bonsu, seemingly unaware of Anansi’s plan, offers to help him. But Anansi should beware, because Bonsu knows just how to manipulate Anansi, and soon the tables are turned.

Watercolor art. In this story, Anansi, his wife Aso and their friends remain in their human forms.


 Royal Drum: An Ashanti Tale retold by Mary Dixon Lake. Illus. by Carol O’Malia, 1996.


According to an introductory note, this Anansi story is from the Ashanti Tribe of Ghana. The spider is also called Kwaku Anansi, Nansii or Father Spider. In this tale, Anansi is a helper rather than a trickster.

The animals wish to come together more often, but how can they send an immediate message? Anansi comes up with the idea of a royal drum. All the animals love the idea and everyone works hard to make it so. Everyone, that is, except for Monkey. Can Anansi make sure that lazy Monkey gets his comeuppance?

This tale is told in rebus done on scratchboard. O’Malia’s oil paintings pack every inch of the pages with color. Anansi is a bright jewel of a spider in pink, purple and turquoise. This jungle is populated with a king lion, a hippo, an antelope, a jackal and more, who aren’t afraid to come together for a meeting. They are realistically drawn creatures, shown working and celebrating from daylight till starlight.

 Ananse's Feast: An Ashanti Tale retold by Tololwa M. Mollel, Illus. by Andrew Glass, 1997.


During a barren time when others are without food, Ananse the Spider has cleverly stored away supplies from his farm. He is just about to feast when his friend Akye the Turtle appears at his door. Ananse is willing to share with his pal, if Akye will wash his hands. This kind invitation doesn’t work out as well as Akye hopes, but a few days later he has a chance to repay Ananse by inviting him for a meal at his home under the river. Tricksters will be tricked!

In an Author’s Note following the story, Mollel tells that Ananse has his own body of traditional tales. In Ghana, they are called Anansesem or “Spider Stories.”

The Ananse of Glass’ art is a brown and purple fat bodied spider with an anthropomorphized face, a long nose and short spiky hair on his head. Patient turtle wears a red cap. Both creatures have comical moments, such as when Ananse puts on his ceremonial robe and dives headfirst into the river or when turtle holds up his still-dirty hands for his friend’s inspection.

Much more to come!

My Russia project continues: Easter Picture Books

The Birds’ Gift: a Ukrainian Easter Story. Retold by Eric Kimmel. Illus. by Katya Krenina, 1999.

Katrusya and her grandfather are enjoying a walk in the new winter snow, when they spot a golden bird buried and half-frozen beneath a tree. They decide to take it home and save as many more birds as possible, enlisting help from their family, the local priest, and finally the entire village. The birds live in the eaves of the houses and church, and near winter’s end, they indicate that they need to be free. Katrusya misses them, but a special surprise awaits her on Easter when the birds return. The story has a spiritual message to trust in God to take care of every creature and to believe in miracles. After the tale, Kimmel has an Author’s Note explaining about Pysanky, the art of decorating eggs.

Krenina’s heartwarming art is filled with little birds snuggled into Katrusya’s shawl and mittens, flying in a beam of light inside the church and perching in trees and on rooftops after their return. Other outstanding pictures are of the Easter celebration, with the family in their colorful Ukrainian costume, and the young daughters wearing crowns of flowers with streaming ribbons. A two page spread shows the beautifully decorated eggs with their fine and complicated designs. Katrusya’s own egg is very special, with little golden birds against a sky blue background.

Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco, 1988.

In this story, another kind person is rewarded with beautiful eggs and a special surprise. Babushka, who paints elaborately patterned eggs for the Moskva (Moscow) Easter Festival, also feeds the local caribou in winter. One day, when caring for the animals, she sees a goose shot down by a hunter, and takes her home to tend, naming her Rechenka. As Rechenka recovers, she begins to explore the house and accidentally breaks the painted eggs that Babushka has prepared. However, every morning after until the festival, Rechenka lays a gorgeous and miraculous egg for Babushka, who is able to go to the festival after all. When she returns, there is one more lovely treat awaiting her.

Polacco’s charming art partners wonderfully with this sweet story. I especially like the scenes where Babushka is with her animals, feeding the caribou in the snow or sharing her tea with her little goose. The pictures are full of color and details that remind us that the story is set in Eastern Europe. Babushka’s patterned dresses and scarves stand out against the mostly white backgrounds. Her eggs are complex and serious, with black ink to contrast with the colors. Rechenka’s eggs are much brighter, with heavy use of pink, red, orange and blue. Polacco includes Russian religious icons In Babushka’s home and at the festival. She shows us the fantastic onion domes of the city. This all adds up to a book that has been rightfully popular with readers since the 1980s.

Take a look at her blog at: Patricia Polacco.

I Know-Not-What, I-Know-Not-Where: a Russian Tale

I-Know-Not-What, I-Know-Not-Where: A Russian Tale adapted by Eric Kimmel, Illus. by Robert Sauber, 1994.


Kimmel retells this story from Russian Tales and Legends by Charles Downing (1957) in a beautifully illustrated, sixty three page chapter book. Many familiar motifs appear, such as a flying ship, a golden egg, and a giant’s treasure, as well as our favorite fearsome witch, Baba Yaga, who in this story  is a loving grandmother. The tale begins when Frol decides to serve the czar’s army to save his married older and sickly younger brothers the burden. Out in the world, he befriends a magical storytelling dove, Frolya, who concocts a plan for him to catch the czar’s eye. Unfortunately, the ruler desires the lovely bird himself, and his unscrupulous minister Bakbul Bakbulich and his wife keep coming up with plots to be rid of Frol. Accordingly, a wondrous tale unfolds from imps tormenting the spirit of the czar’s father to Kot Buyan, an enormous, unfriendly talking cat to an invisible servant named Nobody, who helps Frol triumph and save his beloved Frolya.

The tale is illustrated with eight color plates by Robert Sauber. He easily covers the range between frightening: Frol’s confrontation with Kot Buyan, a gigantic, fierce looking black cat with wicked claws, and tender: Frol with his new czarina, dressed in splendid costume and looking at each other lovingly. Another fine illustration shows Frol’s thoughts of war, with him holding a sword and a club in his hands. The club seems to billow into black smoke on a battlefield while Frolya, dressed in white, covers her ears against the vision. Sauber makes details pop, such as the purple feather in Bakbulich’s hat against an orange sky, a sparkle of enchanted light around the little white dove and a huge and menacing black spider in the gable of Baba Yaga’s house.

Tales of Baba Yaga



By Kinuko Y. Craft, from Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave

What have we heard about the Russian hag witch Baba Yaga? Here is what I know:

• She lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs
• She has iron teeth
• She flies on a mortar & pestle
• She likes to set special tasks for visitors

Doubtless, I have lots to learn. So, beginning with picture books, here's what I will be exploring:

 Bony-legs (Hello Reader Series) by Joanna Cole, Illus. by Dirk Zimmer, 1983.

It states on the copyright page that this version is based on the tale "Baba Yaga" in Russian Fairy Tales by Aleksandr Afanasev. The child Sasha sets out to borrow a needle and thread for her aunt, but chooses the wrong house to visit. Wicked Baba Yaga plans to eat Sasha, but the girl is aided in her escape by the witch's cat, dog and gate, because she showed them kindness upon her arrival at the hut that stands on chicken feet.

My library's copy of this book is Early Reader rather than Picture Book size which means small but lively illustrations. The Baba Yaga looks like an beak nosed, ugly human woman with scary pointed teeth and nails. This suits this menacing but also comical version of Baba Yaga who intentionally pinches her own nose when she flies into a rage. Pictures are colored primarily pink, orange and yellow over black and white. At the witches house, Zimmer uses patterns of eyes, mushrooms and skulls, as well as the more typical flowers for her wallpaper, tiles and curtains. I love her tub, with beast feet and fish with and without flesh marching around the rim for decoration.

 Baba Yaga: A Russian Folktale retold by Eric. A. Kimmel, Megan Lloyd, Illus., 1991.

Kimmel's version of the story is based on an oral tale from the Carpathian mountains that his grandmother told when he was little. It follows the formula of the bad stepmother with an obnoxious daughter sending our heroine, her stepdaughter (here, Marina) to Baba Yaga (here, Auntie-in-the-Forest) to get a needle and thread. The giver of wise advice is a little green frog that Marina meets on the way. A surprising difference is that Marina has a horn growing out of the middle of her forehead. Although her father loves her as she is, Marina asks Baba Yaga to remove the horn. This the witch does, in exchange for the girl boiling some water inside the unusual hut. That begins the familiar cycle of Marina showing kindness to Baba Yaga's neglected household creatures, who aid in her escape. When Marina returns home and tells her father what has occurred, he throws the evil wife and her daughter out of the house. When this girl meets up with the frog, she is rude to it, ends up at the witch's home, and can you guess what happens to Marina's old horn?

The illustrations in this book are more amusing than frightening, maybe because Marina's horn and some of the witch's activities could really come off grotesque if not handled lightly.Aside from her pointy teeth, the Baba Yaga looks like a regular woman, if a hairy legged and unpleasant faced one. The title page shows her filing her teeth, surrounded by her bone fence. When she rides her mortar and pestle, they are small, perched on a broomstick.


Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave by Marianna Mayer, 1994.


Grandma Chickenlegs (Picture Books) by Geraldine McCaughrean

In this version, our child heroine is Tatia, who loses her mother and gains a stepmother who is, you guessed it, wicked. Tatia is made to do all the housework, is fed very little and is sent to "Grandma Chickenlegs" to borrow a needle. Luckily, she has a special doll, Drooga, given to her by her dying mother. At the witch's home, she is required to weave all night, but Grandma certainly intends to eat her up. As in other tellings, she escapes with the aid of Drooga and some magical objects given to her by the hag's cat and dog in repayment for the kindness that she has shown them on her visit. She runs into her father on the road, and her stepmother and stepsisters get their comeuppence. A final happy detail is that the dog and cat come to live with Tatia, her father and Drooga.

Artist Moira Kemp uses lighthearted details that provide comic relief from the tale's darker aspects. Her Grandma Chickenlegs is a matronly figured old gal who dresses in sewing aprons by day and pink bathdrobes, curlers and dotted bloomers by night, but also happens to have green skin, a disturbingly pointed nose and chin, and wears bat wing glasses and spider earrings. An amusing picture on the title page gives us a tufted ear squirrel gazing in surprise at Grandma's iron toothed dentures biting a fallen tree branch.



 Baba Yaga and the Wise Doll by Hiawyn Oram, Illus. by Ruth Brown, 1997.

Too Nice Child is pushed out of the house by Horrid Child and very Horrid Child and sent to get a gift from Baba Yaga. She is afraid to go into the forest, but is guided by a doll that her late mother had given her. The witch knows that she is coming and sets her seemingly impossible tasks that she completes with the aid of her doll. She wins the hag's admiration, the gift and gets rid of the nasty children who cast her out and stops being Too Nice and becomes Just About Right.

I love Ruth Brown's illustrations and find her art in Toad (Picture Books), A Dark, Dark Tale (Picture Puffins) and Copycat similarly satisfying. This is a tall, imposing Baba Yaga, with glowing eyes, talon nails and a malleable face. I love her warty, bejeweled  toad henchmen, and the double spread picture where they all trot toward Too Nice in the chicken footed hut is priceless. Against the scenes of darkness, we have the child in her simple dress and her reassuringly round-faced, babushka wearing doll. Brown uses a contrast between shadow and golden light, but interestingly, sometimes the shadows are thrown large on the wall by the dolly as she works to help her little friend. I also find it notable that Too Nice, Horrid and Very Horrid appear to be triplets.
I would like to own this one.


Anna and the Seven Swans by Maida Silverman, Illus. by David Small, 1984.

Based on a Baba Yaga tale retold from Russian by Natasha Frumin.

In this tale, Anna is left in charge of her little brother Ivan, but unfortunately, he is carried away by Baba Yaga’s swans. In her search for him, Anna helps an oven, an apple tree and a river of milk with plum jelly banks. When Anna finds her brother at the witch’s house, it soon becomes clear that Baba Yaga has mealtime designs on the children. With the aid of a hungry mouse and the beings that Anna helped on her journey, the siblings safely escape the witch and her familiars.

Caldecott winner David Small lends charming illustrations to the project. Led astray, toddler Ivan spots and follows a large toad that is unnoticed by the other family members. Small draws him as a brave baby, who never seems particularly disturbed by his adventures, as evidenced by his calm wave to his sister as he rides away on a giant swan. Anna is a tenacious little worker, whether carefully using her oven mitt to fetch cherry dumplings from the oven, removing overflowing milk in patterned pitchers or climbing the gnarled chicken leg of Baba Yaga’s cottage. The witch is scrawny under a baggy dress, hook nosed and ill colored. Other fine details are the blowing pastel cottage flowers, the grateful tree’s face and the dear little whiskery mouse.

Baba Yaga by Ernest Small & Blair Lent, 1966.

This version combines Baba Yaga lore from Russian Wonder Tales by Post Wheeler, 1912, Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome, 1916, The Russian Grandmother's Wonder Tales by Mrs. Louise (Seymour), 1906 and Siberian and Other Folktales by Charles Fillingham Coxwell, 1925.

Marusia loses the money her mother has given her to buy turnips, and has ventured into Baba Yaga's woods to hunt for wild roots. Baba Yaga is on the hunt for bad Russian children to cook in a stew. Captured and put into a pan with potatoes and onions, Marusia is able to put off being eaten by proclaiming her goodness. She is able to watch the ways of the witch for a night and a day, before Baba Yaga discovers that Marusia has lost her family’s money and then back in the pan the girl goes. While waiting, she hears the story of a hedgehog, actually an enchanted Tsarevich, who has been added to the dinner as a last minute treat. The creature/prince knows the location of something that the witch wants, enabling the children to disenchant him and escape the witch’s cooking pan.


It is notable that in this version the children don’t need to be kind or helpful to others to gain their freedom, and in fact, they annoy the witch into sending them home. Instead, many details of supernatural wonder stand out, from the arrival of morning and evening as mysterious horseman, to the magic wishing flower that brings about the birth of the hedgehog/human baby.

Lent’s art appears to be done in a wood block print style. Color is used sparingly, simply in shades from bronze to gold and red to pink. The title page is a lovely balance of Baba Yaga flying in her mortar with her little black cat, stirring the air on either side of her vessel with a broom and a pestle. Underneath and forming a matching semi circle around the title are large, showy flowers.

For online info on this or any fairy or folktale, I refer you to the fabulous SurLaLune website, in this case the Annotated Baba Yaga Page .