Overall a very nice story. A play on some very familiar storybook themes (one version of Hansel and Gretel has them escaping with a comb and mirror; Cinderella/Snow White with the evil stepmother; Little Red Riding Hood with going to visit a relative; Baba Yaga, the Russian witch who lives in a house with chicken legs). This book has Olga, an orphan whose father has remarried, being sent to her stepmother's sister to ostensibly borrow some needle and thread. However, the real plan is for Baba Yaga to eat Olga. Luckily, because Olga is kind, she has some help in escaping.Though translated from the original Dutch, this is, in the main, a very nice book.
The illustrations are are absolutely fabulous and the book is worth reading just for those alone.
Four stars
This book comes out September 13
