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Finding Baba Yaga: A Short Novel in Verse Paperback – October 30, 2018
| Jane Yolen (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Finding Baba Yaga is a mythic yet timely novel-in-verse by the beloved and prolific New York Times bestselling author and poet Jane Yolen, “the Hans Christian Andersen of America” (Newsweek).
A young woman discovers the power to speak up and take control of her fate―a theme that has never been more timely than it is now…
You think you know this story.
You do not.
A harsh, controlling father. A quiescent mother. A house that feels like anything but a home. Natasha gathers the strength to leave, and comes upon a little house in the wood: A house that walks about on chicken feet and is inhabited by a fairy tale witch. In finding Baba Yaga, Natasha finds her voice, her power, herself....
"Jane Yolen is a phenomenon: a poet and a mythmaker, who understands how old stories can tell us new things. We are lucky to have her."―Neil Gaiman
- Reading age12 - 18 years
- Print length144 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level7 - 9
- Dimensions5 x 0.34 x 8 inches
- Publication dateOctober 30, 2018
- ISBN-101250163870
- ISBN-13978-1250163875
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Jane Yolen is a phenomenon: a poet and a mythmaker, who understands how old stories can tell us new things."―Neil Gaiman
“This novel-in-verse is a journey, an escape, and an encounter with an ambiguous evil. Tart and touching and sometimes deeply sad, with surprising stings of wit.”―John Crowley
“This is a Worm Ouroboros of a story, the old made new, the new made old, metaphors rubbing shoulders with painful truths. A book-length poem, Finding Baba Yaga is no gimmick but rather the only way the story could be told to deliver the impact that it does.”―Charles de Lint
“Seductive in the best way possible, Finding Baba Yaga draws you in from first word to last, its secrets doled out like sweet treats.... If you’ve never met Baba Yaga before, it’s time. If you think you have, be assured: not like this.” ―Nikki Grimes
“Blending Russian folklore with a contemporary American teen’s narration of her departure from an abusive family situation, Yolen’s (Monster Academy, 2018, etc.) entry into the Baba Yaga canon packs an emotional punch. ...Yolen’s wordplay is sharp, engaging, and evocative; even folklore-illiterate readers will be enchanted by this slim volume." ―Kirkus Reviews
“Yolen has created another magical tale...with her exquisite free verse. ...It is a heart-breaking story with little slips of humor. It is a terrifying story of abuse and an inspiring telling of becoming one’s own heroine. Here is yet another amazing book to be added to the over 300 this wonderful author has all ready [sic] brought to us.”―TeenReads
“Finding Baba Yaga is a unique experience. It is so many things wrapped into one; a fairy tale, a twist on the classics, a novella, and a story told in verse. It’s also a coming of age story, and a story about acceptance. It’s not every day that you can find something so small and compact that carries that much within it. For that reason alone I would say that Finding Baba Yaga is worth reading."―Word of the Nerd
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Finding Baba Yaga
A Short Novel in Verse
By Jane YolenTom Doherty Associates
Copyright © 2018 Jane YolenAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-250-16387-5
Contents
Title Page,Copyright Notice,
Dedication,
Foreword,
You Think You Know This Story,
Chapter One: The Last Fight,
Chapter Two: The Runaway,
Chapter Three: Into the Woods,
Chapter Four: Meeting the Baba,
Chapter Five: Vasilisa,
Chapter Six: Settling In,
Chapter Seven: A Prince Not Very Charming,
Chapter Eight: The Runaways,
Chapter Nine: Ever After,
Coda,
Reading Group Guide,
Selected Other Works by Jane Yolen,
About the Author,
Copyright,
CHAPTER 1
The Last Fight
Papa Says, Mama Says
It is not a conversation,
but serial monologues,
each one waiting
for that breath space
to say his own,
her own
piece.
Peace.
There is no peace
in this house,
only strips of paper,
tatters of cloth,
slivers of glass,
slit lips and tongues.
I pick up the shards
and put me to bed
every night.
Wake up in pieces
every day
because of what
Mama says,
Papa says.
I don't say.
Argument
At first no one screams,
trading whispered accusations.
Papa means, Mama means.
At first no one listens,
words like filth hang between us,
tears glisten.
At first no one forgets,
anger anchored way too deep
in an ocean of regrets.
At first no one thinks it matters,
Papa said. Mama said.
Night shatters.
At first no one denies
the sliver of surprise
beneath each glossy nail.
At first.
The Word That Shatters Trust
Papa does not let us swear.
Words, he says, bind the world,
otherwise we shatter the trust
God gave us in this life.
Good words, logos he calls it,
God's words in the beginning.
It's why he's so careful with them,
doling them out like a miser
on Christmas morning.
But bad words, he calls bogus,
confusing anger with sin.
Sometimes a bad word
is punctuation to a bad day,
makes us laugh, gives us courage,
lifts the heart.
Swearing can be held too tight in the heart,
Speaking it aloud, an artifact, an art.
The Goodest Word, The God-est Word
Has Papa ever said love without warning?
Has he ever said love with warming?
Has he ever said love without worry?
Has he only said love in a weary way?
Has he ever spoken,
Has he ever really said the word?
Love.
Soap in the Mouth
I simply say the bathroom word,
the one written on school walls.
The common one in the mouths
of angry teachers when chalk breaks.
And Papa calls me filth,
takes the Dove soap,
jams it in my mouth
before I can apologize, turn away.
There's no anger in what he does,
only deadly purpose.
He says words have power.
The power to make you feel dirty
even while getting clean.
Angels are always clean.
Through the bubbles I ask:
What about feather mites?
This time I remember to duck.
The Taste That Lingers
Soap on the tongue lingers.
You cannot spit it out,
cannot swallow it down.
It is as if that word still
tingles in my mouth, a reminder
of my father's distaste.
I think of Nathaniel
in my kindergarten class,
the only Jew I've ever known.
He told us how he learned
to read Hebrew prayers
by licking each letter.
They were strange and difficult,
smeared with honey
on the rabbi's book.
Words shouldn't be dirty or clean
but definitely sweet,
on the tongue, in the mind.
Nathaniel taught me that
before I knew the alphabet.
Papa would have been horrified:
at the letters,
at the honey,
at the Jew.
Behind A Closed Door
No words can unlock the door,
can find the key to my cage.
I swing my head like an old elephant
well used to captivity. I pace the floor,
count the steps between bedroom walls.
In mourning, I wait for morning.
Waiting is a coffin that confines me,
defines me.
I have to find the courage.
I have to find
the key.
Fence of Bones
Mama unlocks the door after Papa leaves,
the accusations between us
like a fence made of bones.
Long leg bones the railings,
arm bones the gate,
eye socket the lock,
middle finger bone the key.
We sit at the table,
coffee growing cold.
My mother grows old,
her face skull-like.
I watch her fast-forward
into a bleaker future.
Standing, I fling the coffee cup,
call her witch,
wish I could believe
in the magic of escape.
I will be well punished for that word as well.
The Porch Tells Me to Go
I sit in the porch rocker
where once I was a child.
The porch tells me to go.
The steps tell me to get away.
The driveway tells me to flee.
The old tree tells me to leave.
The swing hung on a limb,
where once I could almost touch the sky,
Papa's hands on my back, pushing,
before he was pushed into preaching,
that swing says nothing.
A car rushes down the street,
as I should,
singing a tireless song.
The rocker tells me to stay,
its voice a comfort.
But the road beckons,
the highway calls,
the day seduces.
Another word I'm not allowed to speak
Unless it's to condemn.
If I'd Made a Plan
If I'd made a plan
it wouldn't be this one.
If I'd packed a bag,
it wouldn't be my backpack.
If I'd left a letter,
I couldn't have written a word.
See, it all begins and ends
with that.
A word.
But which word:
love,
regret,
goodbye?
The Runaway
Never Look Back
Never look back at the porch,
the house, the bedroom,
the secrets.
Look ahead.
Never look back at the kitchen,
the soap, the lock, the key,
the silence.
Look ahead.
Whatever I'm wearing, I wear.
Whatever's in my pockets, I have.
Whatever I think I know, I know.
Whatever I forget is gone.
Goodbyes are not an option.
Only so-longs.
All Paths Lead Here
I run out of the house,
across the road,
forget to look both ways,
hear the door slam behind me.
No one follows to beg me to come home.
No one sends me a letter.
No one tracks my email.
No one calls 9-1-1.
All paths lead here,
the Baba tells me later.
No paths lead out.
The Hardest Part
The hardest part is not looking back.
The hardest part is looking ahead.
The hardest part is not turning the corner.
The hardest part is crossing the street.
The hardest part is not passing the school.
The hardest part is walking out of town.
The hardest part is not thumbing a ride.
The hardest part is getting in the car.
The hardest part is not getting out of the car.
The hardest part is going in the 7-Eleven.
The hardest part is not stealing the chocolate bar.
The hardest part is walking out the door.
The hardest part is not eating the chocolate.
The hardest part is ...
There is no easy part.
Phoning a Friend
With almost the last charge
of my cell phone battery
I phone a friend.
She says come over,
have dinner,
stay the night.
I who have never
come over, had dinner,
stayed the night
before.
When I get there,
my mother's battered car
idles in their driveway.
I don't go in.
Only then do I remember —
I have no friends.
What Happens Next
There's only
forward,
outward,
onward.
There's only
inward,
downward
afterward.
There's only away.
A Long Walk to Nowhere
Your back wears out before your feet do.
Your shins complain before your stomach.
It's no longer easy to live on candy bars
stolen from the corner store, though the map's good.
Rain takes a long time to dry on your clothes.
Sleeping on the ground is harder than you think.
Learning to pee in the woods, in the scrub,
means unlearning years of potty training.
Hunger is a bad companion and a worse friend.
Somewhere becomes a nightmare.
I knock on no doors, make no phone calls.
Nowhere becomes my destination.
You can find it on the blank spaces
of any free map in any old store.
Just turn a corner of your mind,
and it's there.
Sleeping Rough
First night I lie on a picnic table
looking up at the stars.
All I can pick out are Orion and the Dipper.
Maybe I can borrow a library book.
Learn the names of galaxies, constellations.
Find out about the moon and tides.
Remember then I have no library card with me.
I have no library to go to.
I turn angrily, fall off the table.
See stars.
Washing Away the Filth
It's too cold to wash in the river.
Besides, I've left all that soap behind.
I think of it suddenly, the Dove resting
in its plastic nest, wondering
when Noah will send it forth.
My mind wanders over the endless sea
of my leaving. There is an ocean
between me and the safety of some Ararat.
Who knows what toothy creatures
hunt in the dark waves.
I'm filthy now just as Papa always said
There's no sea, no ocean, no rainfall,
that can ever wash these stains away.
Stain — almost an anagram for Satan,
one small letter difference.
Things always come back
to the word.
This Is Not a Fairy Tale
Expect no princes.
Expect no magic rings.
Expect no glass slippers.
Expect no fairy godmothers.
Expect no singing dwarfs.
Expect no talking dragons.
Expect only
seven deadlies delivered:
exhaustion,
boredom,
regret,
hunger,
anger,
danger,
death.
All part of God's taketh away.
The Last Road
I turn off the highway onto an A road,
cross to a B road, sidestep onto a thin blue line,
numberless but still paved.
Cars brush by me, one so close, my map
flies into the air on its own wings,
a fat, lazy pigeon, not a dove.
When I find the map again,
along the shoulder of the road,
the page I'm on is crossed with tire tracks.
Finding a space in a hedgerow, I plow on through.
My options narrow to this: A simple path
into a wood of ghostly white trees.
Above me a murder of crows discuss dinner.
A wind puzzles through the birches.
Like the hero in any good tale, I boldly walk in.
Into the Woods
Counting Stones
This is the abacus of my journey.
A stone for the days I was on the road: 7.
A stone for the nights I slept rough: 6.
A stone for the days I saw no one to talk to: 5.
A stone for the days I had nothing to eat: 4.
A stone for the days I longed to go home: 3.
A stone for the days I tried to return: 2.
A stone for the doors I walked out of: 1.
A heavy heart with all those stones
weighing me down.
A February of them.
I leave the abacus in the woods.
The Forest Opens Like a Yawn
The forest opens like a yawn,
as if it knew I was coming,
has seen me before,
can't be bothered to resist.
The forest parts like a curtain,
once drawn tight against the night,
now opening for the performance,
an invitation to applause.
The forest lies like a carpet,
like a bathmat, like a woman
used to being beaten, like a girl
who runs away from home.
The forest opens
and every tree holds out its leafy arms.
Stopping to Consider
Whose woods these are I think I know,
a line I learned at school
but never really considered.
Miles to go before.
Miles to go after.
Though I think I know now
there are no happy evers.
Only happy moments.
Bird song.
A spotted fawn
as dappled as the shade.
The oratorios of frogs.
A single butterfly.
And the deep thrumming
of the forest that too many people
mistake for silence.
Call and Response
I hear birds calling back and forth,
a duet I will later learn.
This is a place of correspondence,
perpetual conversation,
letters written in the air.
River asks a question,
rock asks one back.
Aspen asks birch, birch asks
bracken, bracken asks earth,
earth holds all the answers
tight against her breast.
I have questions I don't know
how to ask. There are answers
I don't know how to hear.
Here everything talks
at the same time.
I need to learn how to frame a question.
I need to learn how to listen.
Stones Across a Stream
The water sings as it rushes by.
If you drink me, you will become
a wolf, a fox, a deer.
Hunger brings strange dreams,
stranger longings.
Papa says water over twenty-one stones
becomes pure. People take longer.
Counting the stones, I step across.
There are only nineteen here.
Papa says we must become water.
I think I must become stone.
I want to get through Autumn
without having another fall from grace.
Here Where the Path of Healing Starts
This is the path of healing,
silver in the moonlight,
white stones glowing
like will-o-wisp
signposting the way.
On either side, pulses
of bloody trillium
warn the weary:
do not step out here,
do not stop out here.
Trees bend over with burdens
of old leaves, new,
baring shadow teeth,
whispering secrets
only trees can decode.
Behind, lies only
the cutting knife
devil's bargain,
severed past.
Behind, the clean words sulk
in their dishes of soap.
Bubbles burst on their way
to a stainless heaven.
Here the colors run riot,
little birds mob a hawk,
bats jitter on parade.
The forest is anything but silent.
I step onto the path,
knowing it is but the beginning,
one foot, then the other,
till I gleam silver all over,
in the moonlight,
starting with my hands.
Evening Meadow
The hallelujah chorus of birds,
a feathered symphony,
mossy grass beneath my feet,
trees standing silent watch
from the edges of the meadow.
A fox makes a parenthesis in the air,
hunting a meal. A woodpecker
jackhammers his invitation.
Leaves tremble when I pass
as if fearing contagion.
I am becoming a poet.
I am thinking in metaphors.
I am walking through a poem.
Learning the Words
The longer I am in these woods,
I learn words.
I become cornucopic
with language
which rolls around my mouth
like dark chocolate,
like butterscotch
like peppermint.
There's no one to caution my tongue,
no one to soap my mouth,
no one to bridle my brain.
Here I find such words as smut,
putrefaction, ordure, sludge,
all synonyms for filth
my father doesn't know.
But beautiful words, too:
allure, taradiddle, calliope,
mellifluous, dulcet, paradigm
which he has never spoken.
There is no end to such learning,
And no seeming end to these woods.
Little House in the Wood
It's unassuming, uninviting,
a pimple on the backside of the birch forest.
It makes no good first impression,
no impression at all. Reminds me
of a girl like me, on the first day of school,
on the last.
A light in a window, flickering,
smoke making curlicues above the chimney
like a child's first drawing of a house.
The little hut is fenceless, defenceless.
I am not afraid.
One step, two,
and then the house itself moves,
turning counter-clockwise,
widdershins,
shows me its door.
The lock grins open, baring its teeth.
It spits out a word.
Meeting the Baba
That First Word
That first word hangs in the air
between the house and me,
droplets of spittle suspended
in the dusk.
Later, I learn spittal meant hospice,
hospital, journey's end,
so foreign I don't know
if it's clean or dirty,
whether welcome or warning.
I smile, say the magic word Please,
that all wheedling children know.
An upstairs light trembles.
Curtains twitch like eyelids reading text.
The door sticks out its tongue
testing for, tasting for honey,
then sighs with happiness,
lets me come in.
Knock Knock, Who's There
It's a joke, you know.
You don't know?
Knock knock,
Who's there?
Witch.
Witch who?
Not who.
Where's who?
Who's on second,
Which is on first.
Something like that.
I saw it on tv.
One of the few shows Papa allowed.
Two old guys,
one fat, one thin.
A routine, Papa called it.
Rhymes with clean.
Well, it was funny at the time.
Before the door was closed.
Was opened.
I See the Bony Hand First
I see the bony hand first,
knuckles broken on the wall of time.
Dirt under long fingernails.
It signals me in.
I see the crusted eyelids next,
the crafty blue eyes, so startling
in that face, wrinkled as the sea.
Hair the grey of winter waves.
And then she smiles.
It proves no improvement.
Cheekily, I smile back.
If she's surprised,
She doesn't show it, grunting
an animal acknowledgment.
It's invitation enough for me.
Meeting Baba Yaga
She's oceanic, a mighty force.
Teeth so full of fillings,
they might as well be made of iron.
Swollen knuckles on her fingers,
plain and round as worn wedding rings.
It aches to look at them.
She shuffles about in tired slippers
that slap at her heels like velvet-pawed cats.
Veins in her ankles broad as the River Don.
Eyes as light blue as a waterfall,
shot through with mica glints.
I cannot read her intent.
First she smells like a musty closet,
then like a garden of herbs,
tansy and thyme and the musk of sage.
I hold out my hand in greeting.
She grips it so hard, I wince,
whisper — Damn!
Papa's voice in my ear
saying, Don't swear.
I taste soap.
The old lady laughs.
You'll do, girl, you'll do.
And I do.
Touring the Little House
It's so much bigger than its seams,
room after room, appearing
along the hallway; river pearls
on a watery strand.
Here rooms grow like gourds
in a garden, all sizes, all shapes,
all colors, with windows in each wall,
no two ever the same.
It's so much bigger than it seems,
as if expansion, like a land war in Asia,
is the point of living here.
It seems I have a bed, bathtub, closet.
It seems she knew I was coming.
It seems the house knew how to prepare.
The Baba is unsurprised by seemings.
They are part of her witchy trade.
Chores
The Baba doesn't ask, just tells me,
the list as long as a death sentence,
but not as final.
Sweeping of course. And dusting.
A house that can walk about has rooms
full of sand, weeds, seedlings, burrs.
Making turnip soup each morning.
That ugly, prolific old root gives gladly,
like a missionary in a cannibal's clay pot.
Sprinkling poppy seeds around the foundation.
For the hut's protection, she says.
Get an alarm, I think, but don't say it out loud.
Washing the dishes, drying them on the cutting board.
For one old person, she uses a lot
of utensils, especially sharp knives.
Answering questions when the Baba asks.
After a while, I just make things up.
She seems to find that amusing.
Feisty Girls
Baba Yaga prefers them bright, asking questions,
challenging her, turning their backs.
She likes the ones who stick out their tongues,
laugh at death threats, use foul language, never beg.
She wants them to sweep the hut without whining,
empty the compost without complaint,
cook the soup, put a hand on the pestle,
learn to steer.
If they can sing the Volga Boatmen song,
dance the Kazachok without falling over,
recite Pushkin from memory,
know all the patronymics for Rasputin,
that's a plus.
Boys, on the other hand, she devours whole,
spitting out the little finger bones.
Even if they can dance and sing.
Even then.
(Continues...)Excerpted from Finding Baba Yaga by Jane Yolen. Copyright © 2018 Jane Yolen. Excerpted by permission of Tom Doherty Associates.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
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Product details
- Publisher : Tordotcom (October 30, 2018)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 144 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250163870
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250163875
- Reading age : 12 - 18 years
- Grade level : 7 - 9
- Item Weight : 6.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5 x 0.34 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,130,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Plotwise, it is good but not extraordinary. Natasha (Tash), a young girl from our time, gets fed up with her parents' fighting and runs away from home. After some time wandering she finds the House on Chicken Legs, where she is welcomed as Baba Yaga's -- protege? servant? something else? At any rate, she starts learning a great deal from the Baba.
Another girl, Vasilisa, comes along, and they become friends. Then comes the Handsome Prince, and everything gets complicated as several fairy tales cross their wires.
The story is told in compact poetry, seemingly written by Natasha. Most of it is neither metrical in the traditional sense, nor rhymed, but "free verse" is not a really apt descriptor: the poems all have clear structure. It's an unusual way to tell a story, because the poems are short, each focused on one event, impression, or idea, so the whole story is built as a sort of mosaic.
Character is at the core: Tash is something of a blank slate for Baba Yaga to write on, but the Baba herself is a masterpiece, wonderful and horrible in equal parts. There is no mistaking that she is the witch that terrified many generations of Russian childern; but at the same time, she is definitely a "Baba", a grandmother-type.
I really enjoyed this and wish there was more of it. It was difficult for me to fall in love with it, as it was my first time reading a book in verse, but perhaps on a second reading my rating will change.
Overall, I found the story clever and inspiring. I do wish there had been more Baba Yaga in it, but the main character is a good one. I like that she takes us on this journey of self-discovery that just happens to include an extended encounter with Baba Yaga. There's a big "how your mother/father raised you" theme to explore in this book.
The educational materials at the end were really great, but without those, the overall story wasn't as impressive. To be clear, the story is good and worth reading, but a lot of depth comes from reading the end material. Without the end material, the story is a fun, if not a bit dark, poem. With the end material, the story is epic- a novel in verse.
Recommended to fans of poetry, strong female characters, European myths and legends, and novels in verse.










