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The Flying Witch
Whirr. Whirr.
Clunkety-clank
Here comes Baba Yaga!
Flying her mortar and pestle, the witch with the long iron nose scours the countryside for plump young children to eat. But will she be a match for the fiesty little girl she hopes to throw into her soup? New York Times best-selling author Jane Yolen has created a clever, original story based on hundreds of traditional Russian folktales about the famed scary old witch. Vladimir Vagin's remarkably detailed borders and intricate scenes will give readers chills and laughs as they read this witty tale.
Clunkety-clank
Here comes Baba Yaga!
Flying her mortar and pestle, the witch with the long iron nose scours the countryside for plump young children to eat. But will she be a match for the fiesty little girl she hopes to throw into her soup? New York Times best-selling author Jane Yolen has created a clever, original story based on hundreds of traditional Russian folktales about the famed scary old witch. Vladimir Vagin's remarkably detailed borders and intricate scenes will give readers chills and laughs as they read this witty tale.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2000
About the author
Jane Yolen
987 books3,249 followersJane Yolen is a novelist, poet, fantasist, journalist, songwriter, storyteller, folklorist, and children’s book author who has written more than three hundred books. Her accolades include the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Award, three Mythopoeic Awards, the Kerlan Award, two Christopher Awards, and six honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Born and raised in New York City, the mother of three and the grandmother of six, Yolen lives in Massachusetts and St. Andrews, Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 10, 2019
Okay, but too tame to be true to the spirit of the mythical character.
November 10, 2021
Exceptionally Popular Picture Book Author Jane Yolen gives us her spin on the traditional figure of Russian Folklore, Baba Yaga.
Baba Yaga is a bizarre, child-hungry witch who lives in a chicken-legged house and rides around in a mortar and steers with a pestle.
A turnip farmer's daughter ends up in her clutches, but her quick-thinking may save her skin.
An admirable point to make about this story is that Baba Yaga, despite her tastes (pun intended), is more of a humorous or mischievous character than she is "evil". Secondly, I love that the Illustrations which are vibrant, realistic and culturally representative of a bygone time by Russian Illustrator and Children's Book Writer, Vladimir Vagin, captures the fairytale element perfectly and gives it an OwnVoices sense of honoring Russia's own witch.
Baba Yaga is a bizarre, child-hungry witch who lives in a chicken-legged house and rides around in a mortar and steers with a pestle.
A turnip farmer's daughter ends up in her clutches, but her quick-thinking may save her skin.
An admirable point to make about this story is that Baba Yaga, despite her tastes (pun intended), is more of a humorous or mischievous character than she is "evil". Secondly, I love that the Illustrations which are vibrant, realistic and culturally representative of a bygone time by Russian Illustrator and Children's Book Writer, Vladimir Vagin, captures the fairytale element perfectly and gives it an OwnVoices sense of honoring Russia's own witch.
October 22, 2018
A fun rendering of the Baba Yaga tradition. Plus, I'm a sucker for a good story where a strong female protagonist saves herself!
February 22, 2019
I liked the illustrations, they are very creepy. The story is about a little girl that get's abducted by Baba Yaga and decides to tricks the witch to go to market and lead her father to her chicken leg hut. The ending is totally lame and spoiler alert- the child-eating witch gets a HEA, get out of here.
November 19, 2017
Jane Yolen's own version of the Russian folktale, set in more modern times because the father drives a pickup truck.
January 16, 2011
MISS!!! In case anyone 'missed' (hehe) that allow me to shout it again: MISS!!!
My God, this is terrible. What toddler knows the definition of 'morar' and 'pestle'? My five year old daughter happens to be beyond her age group in just about every subject and in vocab she's hurtling through it faster than anything I've ever seen. She used words you just do not expect to hear from a five year old. And yet.
Julia and I are both fans of fairly tales and folk tales. But this missed the mark by about a thousand feet. Vladimir Vagin's illustrations are by far the best part of the book and we're not talking anything outstanding there either.
Yuck. Just yuck. No more picking up Yolen books by title or cover. From now on I'll be glancing through each to make sure it's worth the time. I know she's been hit or miss for some time now but it seems to me she's missing more than hitting.
We read Baby Bear's Big Dreams and Baby Bear's Books along with this garbage and in my opinion Yolen needs to stay with what she's good at. What she's good at is books like the ones linked above. Not ones like this.
How anyone could turn such a fantastic tale like Baba Yaga's into such garbage I'll never know.
My God, this is terrible. What toddler knows the definition of 'morar' and 'pestle'? My five year old daughter happens to be beyond her age group in just about every subject and in vocab she's hurtling through it faster than anything I've ever seen. She used words you just do not expect to hear from a five year old. And yet.
Julia and I are both fans of fairly tales and folk tales. But this missed the mark by about a thousand feet. Vladimir Vagin's illustrations are by far the best part of the book and we're not talking anything outstanding there either.
Yuck. Just yuck. No more picking up Yolen books by title or cover. From now on I'll be glancing through each to make sure it's worth the time. I know she's been hit or miss for some time now but it seems to me she's missing more than hitting.
We read Baby Bear's Big Dreams and Baby Bear's Books along with this garbage and in my opinion Yolen needs to stay with what she's good at. What she's good at is books like the ones linked above. Not ones like this.
How anyone could turn such a fantastic tale like Baba Yaga's into such garbage I'll never know.
December 28, 2011
Absolutely stunning illustrations help tell the tale of Baba Yaga, the flying witch, and her plan to fatten a young girl lost in the woods. The young girl tricks the flying witch into finding her farmer father at the market.
September 1, 2015
Something about showing Baba Yaga flying upside down made her seem extra creepy.
Meanwhile, I liked how in this version the father and daughter worked together - despite being separated - to outwit the witch.
August 31, 2015
My kids liked it. I thought it was lame. I hate scrubbed clean fairy tales where everyone (including the witch) live happily ever after. Lame. Lame. Lame.
October 12, 2021
Ah.... Jane Yolen... You are just one of my favorite authors. And if you enjoy Yolen's other works, I believe you will enjoy this story too.
Yolen crafts her own Baba Yaga out of previous stories before her and really makes this one her own. Our heroine in the story is so very smart and a role model for the reader. And our family really enjoyed the ending where no one was eaten but everyone was fed.
Yolen crafts her own Baba Yaga out of previous stories before her and really makes this one her own. Our heroine in the story is so very smart and a role model for the reader. And our family really enjoyed the ending where no one was eaten but everyone was fed.
February 5, 2026
Baba Yaga flies her mortar by simply pulling up on the pestle while standing inside the mortar. Brilliant! Like Baron Munchausen pulling himself up by his own bootstraps, the origin of the phrase BTW. Better physics than spacetime, dark matter, darwinism, string theory, the big bang, superposition, radiative transfer, the multiverse, singularities (I could fill the entire box) etc., but that's faint praise.
December 2, 2018
A different take on Vasilisa the Fair, with only a few original characteristics. I like the illustrations in this one, particularly that Baba Yaga has an iron nose. I like how the story plays on her ambiguity and, especially the ending/lesson of this book.
October 2, 2019
I really enjoyed this book and I think the children in my classroom would too someday. I would use this book as a lesson, in the end, it teaches a lesson, so we would have a conversation about what they think the lesson is and how it may pertain to them.
October 13, 2019
An original Baba Yaga tale. I will use it with my students to introduce the character of many Russian folktales, and as a "witch" character for the Halloween season. The mortar and pestle form of transportation is pretty bizarre, though!
January 16, 2022
Yolen creates her own Baba Yaga tale. Two stars for the story and an extra one for the illustrations.
May 2, 2025
The ending leaves something to be desired. Like, the witch suddenly doesn’t crave human flesh any more? And, she’s ok with the dad just breaking and entering?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 22, 2022
The illustrations make the book.
November 28, 2016
From my insider’s perspective, this picture book is the most authentic of the books in this text-set. Both the author and the illustrator did a good job.
The story includes important words that I know well from original Russian tales. When Yaga’s hut is properly addressed, it turns around:
Turn, little hut, turn.
Stand with your back to the old oak tree.
Stand with your front door open to me.
I would draw my students’ attention to it as a new element of the character of Baba Yaga.
Also, the illustrations are authentic. There is a Russian church, a Russian samovar, and also a Russian forest. Even the faces of the girl and her father look Russian in comparison to other picture books.
The book is about a girl who gets lost and tries to find the way to the market where her father sells turnips. Baba Yaga is seeking children to eat. The girl is smart; she says that she is not plump enough and she needs to be fed for some days. Then her father guesses where her daughter is. The girl feeds Baba Yaga with turnip stew, and they have dinner with her father. In the end the girl and her father promise to bring more turnips. Baba Yaga lets them go home. She is not a bad character in this tale. Children should notice that the girls’ kindness melts her heart.
The story includes important words that I know well from original Russian tales. When Yaga’s hut is properly addressed, it turns around:
Turn, little hut, turn.
Stand with your back to the old oak tree.
Stand with your front door open to me.
I would draw my students’ attention to it as a new element of the character of Baba Yaga.
Also, the illustrations are authentic. There is a Russian church, a Russian samovar, and also a Russian forest. Even the faces of the girl and her father look Russian in comparison to other picture books.
The book is about a girl who gets lost and tries to find the way to the market where her father sells turnips. Baba Yaga is seeking children to eat. The girl is smart; she says that she is not plump enough and she needs to be fed for some days. Then her father guesses where her daughter is. The girl feeds Baba Yaga with turnip stew, and they have dinner with her father. In the end the girl and her father promise to bring more turnips. Baba Yaga lets them go home. She is not a bad character in this tale. Children should notice that the girls’ kindness melts her heart.
July 16, 2012
Introduces a Russian witch called Baba Yaga who flies in a mortar and pestle. She tried looking for children to eat, but the forest did not have any. Instead she ate very plain soup. A little girl gets lost in the forest, and Baba Yaga finds her. Baba Yaga offers her a ride home, but instead takes her back to her house propped up by chicken feet. She tried to eat her, but the girl tricks her and says that she is not fat enough to eat yet. She tells the witch her father sells turnips and if the witch buys them to eat she will get fatter. She goes to the market to buy all of his turnips. The farmer puts two and two together and follows Baba Yaga home. The girl starts to cook turnip soup, while her father runs in to rescue her. When he enters the house the little girl is feeding the witch the soup and they are both having fun. They stay for dinner and promise to come back and bring her more turnips and even potatoes.
June 26, 2012
This is a strange, but entertaining Baba Yaga tale. The illustrations are nicely detailed and we were surprised by the witch's conveyance. Instead of a broom, she rides a mortar and pestle.
The story has an oddly happy ending we did not expect. The witch is very frightening-looking, but even her ugly appearance seems to soften at the end of the tale. Overall, we enjoyed reading this book together, but it's not our favorite of the Baba Yaga tales we've read recently.
The story has an oddly happy ending we did not expect. The witch is very frightening-looking, but even her ugly appearance seems to soften at the end of the tale. Overall, we enjoyed reading this book together, but it's not our favorite of the Baba Yaga tales we've read recently.
October 17, 2014
The Flying Witch is not a traditional Baba Yaga story, but it’s still entertaining. I love that we have a strong female lead in the little girl and a dad who is not the stereotypical disinterested/absent fairy tale father. He cares and risks his safety to go after her.
The ending was a bit of a surprise. I expected the girl to get away, but it was actually a happy ending all around.
You can see my whole review at Carol's Notebook.
The ending was a bit of a surprise. I expected the girl to get away, but it was actually a happy ending all around.
You can see my whole review at Carol's Notebook.
December 6, 2013
My girls absolutely LOVED this book! Who knew? That's how we got started with Jane Yolen books. She is phenomenal - great vocabulary, imagery, wide topic base. Best children's books I've read in awhile!
February 16, 2014
Not the best fairy tale from Jane Yolen, but the illustrations by Vladimir Vagin are remarkable. I still love the old Russian tales about Baba Yaga, like the ones in the classic books by Aleksandr Afanas'ev like "Russian Fairy Tales", and W.R.S. Ralston's "Russian Folk-Tales".
March 21, 2012
My 3-yr-old loved this book. It was a cute fairy tale with a happy ending for all. I liked that it stared a clever little girl who was brave and self-assured and outsmarted the witch.
July 26, 2012
I found the illustrations to be underwhelming and just not to my taste, but The Flying Witch is an interesting retelling of the Baba Yaga story.
March 21, 2013
Read for Phil's, 3/21/13. a little scary.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews