His depictions of Alyosha convey his development throughout the story more powerfully than the text. He employs the same richly colored, realistic style in the watercolor illustrations for this tale. The illustrator has won numerous awards, including having four books named “Best Illustrated Book of the Year” by the New York Times. Alyosha’s betrayal of the kingdom and ultimate redemption make for riveting, if predictable, reading. He is sent back to regular life with a warning from the country’s king: “If you tell anyone about our underground kingdom you will destroy our happiness and bring us much hardship.” In the world of fairy tales, such ultimatums are meant to be broken. There, Alyosha is rewarded for his good deed with a magic seed of corn that enables him to know his school lessons without having to study. The hen turns out to be the enchanted ambassador of a kingdom of little people, and brings the boy on a mystical late-night visit to her underground world. Written by nineteenth-century Russian novelist Antony Pogorelsky (also a collector of Russian folktales, legends, and magical stories), and retold here by a prolific children’s book author, this tale is beautifully illustrated in a style reminiscent of Renaissance masters.Īlyosha, a boarding school student, rescues a little black hen from the cook’s knife. This Russian fairy tale is rich with action, enchantment, and moral choices, and clearly aimed toward a sophisticated elementary school audience.
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