The Little Black Hen. Antony Pogorielsky. Retold by Elizabeth James. Illustrated by Gennady Spirin. Vancouver, BC: Simply Read Books, 2003. 32 pp., cloth, $19.95. ISBN 1-894965-03-5. Subject Headings: Tales-Russia. Chickens-Folklore. Grades 1-5 / Ages 6-10. Review by Helen Norrie. **** /4

excerpt:

The school holidays finally ended, and Aloysha could hardly wait to know if the magic seed would work. Just as the king promised, the wish came true and Aloysha began to astonish his teachers and school friends with his amazing abilities. His answers were always right and he knew all his lessons without having to study.

Antony Pogorielsky was born in Moscow and lived from 1787 to 1836. He wrote The Little Black Hen for his nephew, the future author Alexei Tolstoi. Elizabeth James has retold the story in this beautifully illustrated picture book. Gennady Spirin, the Moscow born artist who has done the artwork, is an accomplished and celebrated illustrator who now lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

     Aloysha, a young boy living in a boarding school in St. Petersberg, saves the life of a little black hen in the school's farmyard by offering the cook a gold coin in exchange. That night, the black hen wakes Aloysha and leads him through a maze of underground rooms guarded by a parrot, a cat, and knights, to an underground kingdom where the hen turns into a "round little man dressed in black, wearing a white lace collar and a feathered hat." He is an ambassador of the underground
kingdom.

     In return for saving the ambassador's life, the king gives Aloysha a magic seed of corn which enables him to get top marks in all his classes without ever studying. However, Aloysha becomes arrogant about his powers, and, when he is asked to recite twenty pages of a book, he cannot do so and finds he has lost the seed. After a reprieve, he breaks down and reveals the story of the little black hen and the underground kingdom. Since he had been warned this was something he must never do, his magical powers vanish and the underground kingdom disappears. Aloysha, however, learns humility and the value of good study habits.

     With its combination of fantasy plus a worthwhile moral lesson, this might well be a popular book for six to ten year olds. The illustrations, which are paintings done in a antique style suitable to the origin of the text, are full-page and detailed. Readers are told that The Little Black Hen is one of the "most loved fairy tales in Russia." The book is also large and handsome and would make a good birthday gift to a reluctant scholar.

Highly Recommended.

Helen Norrie's column, “Children's Books,” appears in the Winnipeg Free Press monthly.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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