Together again, Johnston and dePaola team up to transport Baba Yaga, one of Russia's great folklore figures, to the American Southwest. Incarnated here as Alice Nizzy Nazzy, the child-eating witch lives in an adobe hut perched on "skinny roadrunner feet" and surrounded by a fence of prickly pear cactus. When Manuela wanders by in search of her lost sheep, she ends up in Alice's soup caldron. But quick thinking and personal merit ("Good children taste so sour!") save the day, the witch is routed, and sheep and shepherdess arrive home intact. Johnston's frothy tale is handsomely set off by dePaola's exuberant artwork, aglow with the colors of a Santa Fe sunset. DePaola clearly takes great glee in creating a witch of magnificent proportions: with her jalapeno-crowned coiffure, beady red eyes, scarlet fingernails, belt of silver conchos, and a horned lizard draped around her neck like a scarf, Alice Nizzy Nazzy is set to take her place in wicked-witch history. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3?Johnston removes Baba Yaga, aka Alice Nizzy Nazzy, from the Russian forest and places her in a roadrunner-footed, adobe hut in the desert near Santa Fe. Unlucky little Manuela happens upon the sinister scene while searching for her lost sheep. The witch puts her in the cookpot, Manuela tries to make a deal that falls through, but her "goodness" saves her: only naughty children are tasty to witches. Alice flies off in search of a better meal and Manuela happily takes her sheep home. dePaola's pictures are more engaging than ever. He does wonderful things with colors in the Southwestern landscape. His mountains look like ice-cream confections littered with carnival confetti, and he has fun with the little artistic conceit of the first-page image of Frida Kahlo. In spite of the art, the story doesn't quite come off. In traditional tales, the protagonist escapes from the witch's snare through virtuous acts. And in the "Baba Yaga" tale, the heroine helps the gate, dog, etc., and in turn they help her to escape. Kindness brings reward. In this version, however, Manuela offers only flattery instead of good deeds to the witch's fence, house, and lizard/familiar, and they do not help her, even though they seem to like the flattery. The child does nothing to win release from her captor, to get back her sheep, or to deserve a good outcome, but she gets it anyway. This is too facile to be satisfying.?Ruth Semrau, formerly at Lovejoy School, Allen, TX
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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