My book this week is supposed to be a book from another culture, fairly apt doing a blog about somewhere far away when I was away from home myself.
It should have been a simple enough task. It really wasn't. Firstly, if the book is about another culture does it count if it isn't written by someone native to that culture? Does it have to be modern? Or can it be historical in context? Does it even have to be something that is non-fiction or can stories count?
See? Not exactly an easy path to follow, especially with children's books.
Written by English author James Mayhew it retells four traditional Russian tales which are then wrapped up in a larger fictional narrative.
The main 'fake' story is of a Tsar who punishes his wife after being tricked (by her wicked sisters no less) into believing that the handsome strapping sons she's promised to bear him are instead animals and monsters. Aware that she is being tricked she conceals one son in the folds of her clothes in an effort to try and save him.
But none of this is enough to save her and with her son still hidden away in her garments she is placed into a barrel and cast into the sea, where she drifts forever and a day before washing up on a mystical island complete with a magical storytelling cat.
A merchant passes and offers to pass on a message to the Tsar after encountering the Tsarina, her son and the magical cat. But when he relays the message to the Tsar he is forced to 'test' the cat by trying to get it to retell particular stories that no one should really know. Is there more to this cat than meets the eye? And will the truth finally come out in the end?
Woven into this are four actual traditional Russian fairy tales including one which was the root of a ballet called The Firebird which was composed by Igor Stravinsky.
Set out in picture book format it features tonnes of beautifully vivid sketch like illustrations. The language is also beautiful and reflective of a really intelligent style of writing. At a length of 79 pages which can be quite text heavy it isn't to be taken lightly. In fact I personally wouldn't let a child under 8 read it unless they were an avid reader. It might simply put them off with the small print and large amounts of text.
It is well worth a read though, and it gives us a warm impression of tales that would've been told around the fire. The tales are well woven into the fabric of the main story and had it not been for the author's notes at the back of the book I would never have known which stories were genuine tales and which were the author's inventions.
Book 45 of 52 and my book from a different culture, this is my choice this week. Now time to rest again!
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