Friday Finds - Grandma Chickenlegs

This week's Friday Find is brought to you by Froggy. Her new most favorite non-Disney based books is Grandma Chickenlegs. If it were up to me this book would not be quite as well read as it has been this week.

The book is fun with incredible illustrations. The story is a retelling of the Russian folktale about Baba Yaga with a Cinderella twist to it. McCaughrean's language is vivid and wacky. The witch's front door, for example, "swung on its hinges, squealing like a thing in pain"; the house itself is a "rickety-rackety shack" that runs around the garden atop "four scratching, paltry poultry legs." The illustrations are a wacky as the language. Using a style that is a pleasing mix of realism and impressionism, the artist captures the fantasy inherent in the tale. With their vivid greens, reds, oranges, and blues, the lively art jumps off the page. There is detail to discover in every page. For instance, Grandma's iron-fanged dentures sit in a cup on the nightstand, fabric on her loom bears a broom motif, a chimney cap takes the shape of a witch's hat

What are your favorites or your child's favorite even if you loathe it?