Amazon.com: AT THE WISH OF A FISH: A Russian Folktale (9780689813368): J. patrick Lewis, Katya Krenina: Books

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1999

In this adaptation of a traditional Russian tale, a lazy fool catches an enchanted fish which promises him that every wish he ever makes will come true.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } In this adaptation of a traditional Russian tale, a lazy fool catches an enchanted fish which promises him that every wish he ever makes will come true.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lewis (The La-di-da Hare) takes a tale ripe with classic folk elements and brings out its full flavor by means of thoughtfully seasoned language. Emelya, the village fool, is promised anything he desires in return for freeing a pike he has accidentally caught. He tests out the pike's powers before accepting the deal, but he doesn't avail himself of the pike's help until much later, when he is ordered to get a sleighful of kindling from the forest. Then, issuing a rhymed command ("At the pike's request, the sleigh runs west"), Emelya races his sleigh so quickly that the peasants can't get out of his way in time. The Tsar orders him seized ("You knocked over half a village," the Tsar roars), and the rest of the story concerns Emelya's love for the Tsar's beautiful daughter and his use of magic wishes to win first the girl and then her outraged father's approval. The wishes made in rhyme combine with metaphoric language ("Winter is still beating at the door," says Emelya's sister-in-law when she tells him to gather the kindling) and colorful expressions ("Faster than a mouse on a cat's watch, Marya ran down the stairs"). Unfortunately, Kr?nina's (The Birds' Gift: A Ukrainian Easter Story) folkloric watercolor and gouache art works against the comedy and liveliness of the tale. For example, the fateful sleigh ride isn't depicted; instead, readers see a few peasants at a safe remove, gaping but otherwise untroubled. A regiment of the Tsar's Imperial Guard is visually translated as three men in red caftans, and even the action sequences seem static. Ages 6-9. (May)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In this imaginative classic Russian tale, Emelya, a lazy simpleton, catches an enchanted fish. The pike promises to grant Emelya his every desire if he will pitch the fish back into the sea, and soon everyone is transfixed by Emelya's powers. Formerly, he did no chores; but now, buckets of water march into his house, and kindling is split and stacked at his command. When Emelya meets the tsar's daughter, he falls in love with her and requests the pike to make her fall for him, too. When they want to marry, the tsar refuses his daughter's hand to a simpleton and casts them both into the sea. The pike rescues them and turns Emelya into a nobleman, and the tsar finally approves the marriage. Children will marvel at the cleverness of a man who, though a fool, knows what to wish for and gets what he wants. Krenina's richly colored watercolors provide additional magic to a delightful, fanciful romance. Shelley Townsend-Hudson

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's J. Patrick Lewis Page

After nearly three decades as a professor of economics, J. Patrick Lewis turned to poetry. He is the author of more than 75 children's books including A Hippopotamusn't (1990), BoshBlobberBosh (1998), Please Bury Me in the Library (2004), First Dog (2009), Spot the Plot (2009), and The House (2009).

He has recently been named the third U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (2011-2013) by the Poetry Foundation.

His books have been published by Creative Editions, Knopf, Atheneum, Dial, Harcourt, Little, Brown, National Geographic, Chronicle Books, Scholastic, Candlewick, Schwartz & Wade, Holiday House, Sleeping Bear Press, Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, Dawn Publications, and others. Gulls Hold Up the Sky, his first book of adult poems, was published by Laughing Fire Press (2010).

Pat's children's poems have also appeared in CRICKET (26 times), SPIDER, LADYBUG, CICADA, ODYSSEY, RANGER RICK, HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN, Ms. Magazine, YOUR BIG BACKYARD, CREATIVE CLASSROOM, STORYTIME, STORYWORKS, CHICKADEE, AHOY, LANGUAGE ARTS, JOURNAL OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, BOOKBIRD, READING TODAY and over 100 anthologies. He wrote the 1992 National Children's Book Week poem, printed on one million bookmarks and distributed nationally.

Lewis has received numerous awards from the American Library Association, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and others. He was the recipient of the 2010-11 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Excellence in Children's Poetry Award, presented every two years.

WHERE I'LL BE NEXT--Schools, Bookstores, Conferences

October 14-16, 2011 Poetry Foundation--TED Lecture Chicago, Illiniois
October 23-25, 2011 NY State Reading Assn. Rye Brook, New York
October 28-31, 2011 Keystone State Reading Assn. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
November 5, 2011 Buckeye Book Fair Wooster, Ohio
November 8, 2011 Ashland University Ashland, Ohio
November 15-16, 2011 St. Joseph's College Rensselaer, Indiana
November 17-20, 2011 NCTE Convention Chicago, Illinois
December 1, 2010 Hillview Elementary Newark, Ohio
December 8, 2011 West Chester University (Dan Darigan) West Chester, PA
January 18, 2012 Richard Avenue Elementary Grove City, Ohio
January 24, 2012 Fouse Elementary Westerville, Ohio
March 1-3, 2012 Charlotte Huck Ch. Lit. Conference Redlands, California
April 3-5, 2012 Holland Hall Primary Tulsa, Oklahoma
April 12, 2012 Washington-Centerville Public Library Centerville, Ohio
April 13, 2012 Stingley Elementary Centerville, Ohio
April 17-25, 2012 Anglo-American School Moscow, Russia
April 29-May 2, 2012 IRA Convention Chicago, Illinois
May 10, 2012 Wynford Elementary Bucyrus, Ohio
March 22, 2013 OCTELA Conference Columbus, Ohio