The Month-Brothers: A Slavic tale [Hardcover]

S Marshak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1983

A retelling of the Slavic folktale in which a young girl outwits her greedy stepmother and stepsister with the help of the Month Brothers who use their magic to enable her to fulfill seemingly impossible tasks.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation)

About the Author

Diane Stanley lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and frequent collaborator, Peter Vennema, and their son, John. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Wm. Morrow; 1st ed edition (1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688015093
• ISBN-13: 978-0688015091
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #435,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful retelling of a Russian Cinderella story., September 11, 1998

By 

([e-mail] (Catonsville, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Month-Brothers : A Slavic Tale (Library Binding)

This is a delightful tale for children in early grade school. Younger children will enjoy the realistic and warm illustrations by Diane Stanley. This story tells the tale of a young girl who is forced to go out in a January storm by her stepmother to look for flowers for her stepsister. While stumbling around in the snow, she meets all twelve Month Brothers, representing all the months of the year. My 8 year old has checked this book out of the school library so many times that we are finally purchasing the book for our personal library. That is the highest recommendation any author can get, the repeated reading by a child.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful retelling of an old folktale, February 9, 2003

By 

F. Orion Pozo "Orion Pozo" (Raleigh, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Month-Brothers: A Slavic tale (Hardcover)

The Month Brothers, A Slavic Tale by Samuel Marshak

Everyone knows that the twelve months of the year never meet but in this charming folk tale a little girl saw all twelve months at one time. Deep in the forest around a blazing fire the Months meet together as brothers in the depths of the Winter.

On a freezing January night, a wicked woman ordered her stepdaughter to go into the forest to find flowers. The poor child, bundled in her ragged clothes, sets out on her impossible quest. She is without hope knowing that she cannot return without flowers and that flowers won't bloom until March. The young girl weeps as she walks on until she comes upon a glade where twelve men stand warming themselves by a huge fire. They listen to her story, and you must read this book if you want to find out how they help her.

This children's book is based on a Soviet-era Russian play The Twelve Months by Samuel (or Samuil) Marshak. With delightful color illustrations by Diane Stanley, this book is a delight to read. A longer version of Marshak's story was released in English in 1967 by Dorothy Nathan.