Review by Booklist Review
K^-Gr. 3. The translation of this richly illustrated picture book combines elements from three Russian fairy tales: "Ivan-Tsarevitch and Gray Wolf," "Baba Yaga," and "Koshchei the Immortal." When Ivan, the czar's youngest son, succeeds in plucking a feather from the Firebird's tail, the king offers half his kingdom to the son who catches the extraordinary bird. With the help, advice, and encouragement of a magical wolf, Ivan endures a number of trials but eventually secures the Firebird, along with other treasures, and wins the love of the lovely Yelena as well. Handsomely designed, with a variety of ornate, folk art^-style borders around the text and enough blank space around the main paintings to showcase their detailed, magical images, the book visually transports readers to a fairy-tale world that is strange, menacing, and beautiful by turns. With muted colors and an overall glow of burnished gold, Spirin's precisely rendered watercolor paintings create dreamlike, yet utterly convincing, images of the characters and settings in a Russia that never was and never will be. --Carolyn Phelan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
As elegant as any imperial treasure, this sumptuously illustrated book showcases Spirin's (The Sea King's Daughter; Philipok) near-magical artistry. Here he adapts three Russian fairy tales to coin his own version of the story of the tsar's son and his quest for the dazzling firebird. This prince receives aid from a big gray wolf, who helps him through a number of trials, even though the prince doesn't always follow his instructions. Their adventures take them to far-off kingdoms, to Baba Yaga's chicken-footed cottage and to the battlefield of Koshchei the Immortal. Ultimately, Ivan-Tsarevitch not only finds the firebird but also rescues and wins the hand of princess Yelena the Beautiful. The cadences are stately ("In a moment, the wolf had transformed himself into a warrior's horse so great and strong that it cannot be described, either with words or with a brush"), and the artwork is some of Spirin's most exquisite. Some of his watercolors are shaped like triptychs or altarpieces, others stretch across both pages like tapestries. The central compositions twinkle and glow as if dusted with gold leaf; twining about the text, the borders are intricately detailed but wrought in an airier, more open style that recalls the folk origins of the story. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-5-Someone is stealing the Tsar's golden apples. When Ivan-Tsarevitch, the ruler's youngest son, is sent to watch, he discovers that the culprit is the magnificent firebird. Able to snatch only a single feather, he embarks on a quest to find the bird, accompanied by a faithful wolf with magical powers. In the course of the quest, he is also required to search for a horse with a golden mane, and battle Koshchei the Immortal to rescue Yelena the Beautiful. Spirin has blended versions of three different traditional Russian tales to create what the author's note refers to as an "original composition." While the writing generally flows smoothly, it sometimes veers away from the spirit of the core material, as when the evil witch Baba Yaga is interjected into the story and is inexplicably helpful to the hero, contrary to her usual persona. Spirin's illustrations are superior to the story he tells. Done in watercolor, the painterly pictures are elaborately detailed and exquisitely executed, capturing all of the magic and mystery of the long ago and far away. Of particular note are the elegant borders, which enhance the text they frame and invite readers into this magical realm. Larger libraries will probably want to purchase the book, but smaller collections already holding Demi's The Firebird (Holt, 1994; o.p.), Ruth Sanderson's The Golden Mare, the Firebird, and the Magic Ring (Little, Brown, 2001), or Jane Yolen's The Firebird (HarperCollins, 2002) may consider this an additional acquisition.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Tsar Vasilyi sends his three sons on a quest to capture the luminous firebird. An author's note indicates that the text was adapted from three Russian fairy tales, which may be why the narrative is dense and somewhat stilted. It is apparent that great attention was paid to design, giving each page of ornate but muted watercolor illustration a luxurious feel. From HORN BOOK Spring 2003, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Exquisite design and delicately elaborate illustration evoking the finely burnished gilt tradition of classic Russian lacquer ware transport the reader to once-upon-a-time and the faraway kingdom of Tsar Vasilyi. Each night, a fabulous peacock-like bird, with feathers of fiery magnificence, pilfers the fruit of the Tsar's exotic golden-apple tree. Vasilyi covets the bird, and he promises great rewards to the one who can capture and deliver this wondrous creature. This beautifully articulated translation of the traditional tale in which the youngest of three sons must conquer his impulses and complete a royal quest, is rife with verbal and visual motifs that invite the reader to slow down, to scrutinize, and to appreciate every aspect of this story of second chances and of learning from one's mistakes. The conflict between good and evil, between the strengths and weaknesses of human nature, is subtly communicated in the ingenious use of positive and negative space on alternating pages. Visual detail is enhanced by watercolor work so fine, it seems it could only have been wrought with a single hair of the great gray wolf who carries the earnest hero, Ivan-Tsarevitch, soaring over opulent, onion-domed rooftops toward the fulfillment of his promises and the hard-won rewards of a man of honor. Readers will find this version less cumbersome than others in which the Firebird is sometimes bird, sometimes woman, and which often include a much larger cast of characters and distracting, gruesome scenes. Here, the message is illuminated, not obscured, by the medium and the manner in which it is offered. Masterful. (Picture book/folktale. 5-12)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
