Redeemed Reader Review https://redeemedreader.com/2014/03/ukraine-lessons-in-liberty-and-compassion-pt-...

Bleh. I just can't get behind Patricia Polacco. Only reason this gets 2 stars is the attempt to show a different side of Baba Yaga...even if it is to try and fit her in with traditional gender roles. Leave it to Polacco to take all the fun out of Baba Yaga. ( )

This book told the story of a baba yaga who decided she wanted to be a babushka instead of a witch. She decides to stay with a family that does not have a babushka. When the villagers find out she is actually she a witch she is sent away until a boy is trapped by wolves at which time the baba yaga saves the boy. The village people then accept the baba yaga and she moves back in with the family. I thought this book did a great job of showing that sometimes people aren't always what they seem. In the book, the villagers were afraid of the babuska baba yaga, but she ended up saving Victor and only wanted to love him. Sometimes in life, people that we think are scary actually turn out to be good. ( )

This is a very sweet story of an outcast who wants to find love and acceptance. Baba Yaga lives a solitary life in the forest but she longs for a family and the joy of being someone's Babushka (grandma). She decides to disguise herself as a village Babushka and ends up living with a single mother who has no one to care for her child. All goes well until the village Babushkas start telling horrible stories about Baba Yaga, not realizing she is among them, and frightens the children. With all of Patricia Polacco's stories, this one has a happy ending and a moral to be found. ( )

This story is a fantasy book because it s based on the folktale of Baba Yaga who is a mystical creature. It is believable because she comes to be a part of a very regular world. I like this story because of the warm message it has and because of the light blend between reality and fiction.