Includes The White Duck. ( )

This large format, softcover book is about 9" by 12". The illustrations are outstanding. The Russian fairy tale, The White Duck, has been re-told in English by Trina Zheleznova. It was published by Goznak, in Moscow, in 1977. It has 12 pages and several lovely illustrations that are signed by a Russian artist and dated 1901. Fine condition. ( )

Published in the former Soviet Union, and illustrated with the gorgeous folk-motif art of Ivan Bilibin, this beautiful picture book contains two Russian folktales from the collection of the poet Alexandr Pushkin.

In Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka, two orphaned siblings somehow find themselves living with the Tsar - Alyonushka as his wife, and the enchanted Ivanushka as their pet goat. When an evil witch sinks Alyonushka in the sea and takes her place, Ivanushka the goat must find a way to communicate with the tsar...

The White Duck also features an evil witch intent on taking the heroine's place, transforming a beautiful princess into a white duck in order to make the substitution. When the princess' three sons - hatched out of three golden eggs - are also threatened by the witch, the white duck must try to protect them...

Although Pushkin retold many traditional Russian tales in verse, these Goznak editions present prose stories, and are both highly readable and visually engaging. ( )