Babushka Baba Yaga

Patricia Polacco is an award-winning author and illustrator of contemporary fairy tales, based on the folklore her grandmother brought to America as an immigrant from Russia. Polacco's work is known for its whimsical combination of rich colors and folksy, pencil-sketch designs.

Babushka Baba Yaga tells the story of a very traditional and well-known Russian fairy-tale figure: Baba Yaga. She is a woodland witch, a Trisckster character. Sometimes she is depicted as villainous and cruel -- but just as often, as in this work, she is depicted as a kind, grandmotherly soul, in touch with nature and creatures of the natural world.