I love Jane Yolen.

Finding Baba Yaga is a masterful combination of a fairytale with a novel(la) in verse. I devoured it in one sitting.

This is a perfect crossover book for fifth and sixth grade readers who are looking beyond graphic novels and need to find success in smaller novels. I would love to use this in book clubs with a traditional literature focus.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

A skillfully written novel in verse. I highly recommend this enchanting read for school and public libraries.

This verse novel blends a modern-day teenager escaping a bad situation with a new twist on the classic Russian Baba Yaga fairy tales. In precise wording, Yolen puts the reader into the emotional distress that can befall young people who have to deal with unimaginable things and the power that can come from living away from society's expectations. Highly recommended for teenage collections where verse novels or fairy tale retellings are popular.

While I enjoyed the well-written lines of poetry, the book was confusing and disjointed. I did not think the modern retelling worked well here. Even though she had a microwave and an updated kitchen, Baba Yaga was stuck in the past. She was also overshadowed by Natasha, the modern protagonist. My favorite thing about the book was the queer subtext. Natasha had strong feelings for Vasilisa, her roommate at Baba Yaga's house, and felt devastated when Vasilisa ran off to marry a man. Overall, I am giving this book 2 stars.

I definitely wanted to like this one more than I did. There's a part of me that thinks this poetry collection is similar in style to the older poetry collections I read in high school that convinced me that I didn't like poetry.

Although I really loved the mythology being explored--young girl from England somehow finds Baba Yaga's hut and comes to live with her and Vasilisa after leaving her parents' home--the skill in the verse writing just... wasn't there.

When I say that the skill wasn't there, I mean to say really that there is not a lot that would have been changed in this novel had it been written in standard text rather than prose. I very much feel as though, if an author chooses this style in which to write, there should be something that it is doing in that style that couldn't be done a different way.

Or, at least, couldn't be done well in a different way.

This twisty folktale weaves legendary Russian Baba Yaga folklore with a more modern American twist. Hard core Baba Yaga fans, do not fear, the chicken legs are still on the house. Written as a novel in verse.

Interesting, and different, this is an update on the classic Russian story of Baba Yaga told in poems written by the protagonist Natasha. Growing up with a strict religious father, Natasha runs away one day after her father's physical abuse becomes too much. After being on the run for. while, Natasha finds Baba's famous chicken legged shack and begins her real journey, learning about true true friendship in a very unexpected way.

Thank you, NetGally, for this review copy. I loved this book. I love fairy tales and fairy tale retellings, and Jane Yolen is hard to beat. I loved that Natasha was strong and independent. I think that's something you see more in Russian folktales than you do in European fairy tales, and this retelling definitely illustrates Natasha finding her voice. I also enjoyed that the book is in verse. I've been having middle grade and middle school students asking for books in verse more often all the time, and I would imagine young adults readers are intrigued by verse as well. This was a quick read perfect for fall!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital copy of this book. First of all I love the cover. It is spooky and yet deep. I love the colors as well. The story itself is well written with a good plot structure. It held my Interest throughout. Many of my students love poetry form novels. They are a fast read and beautifully written. I will likely be purchasing this for the library.

I don’t read a lot of novels in verse, but I’ve been a fan of Jane Yolen for quite a while. Pair that with a Baba Yaga story, and I’m in! This was a quick read, and while it took me a bit to really feel invested in the story, in the end, I really enjoyed this interpretation of Baba Yaga and the writing decisions behind presenting it as a story in verse.

The story follow Natasha, a girl running from a very unhappy home. As the cover of the book so beautifully depicts, she makes her way into the woods where she finds a certain house walking about on chicken feet. From there, the modern setting from which Natasha came mixes with the fairytale version of Baba Yaga that readers are more familiar with.

There are a bunch of incredibly strong themes in this book. Natasha, coming from a bordering on abusive home, travels an intense journey of self-discovery throughout the story. Through her, we see the struggles that face those who live in shut-down families, like the challenges to not only find one’s own voice, but even to give validation to one’s own thoughts as valid and worthy of expression. In her “new life,” she must not only tackle these growth areas, but deals with both sides of the emotional coin in loss and love. There’s also a very nice through-line about found families and the strength of connections that can be forged between two individuals who, outwardly, have nothing connecting them.

I also very much enjoyed the poetic style of the book. Like I said, I don’t read a lot of novels in verse. If anything, I’m more likely to pick up a collection of poetry than I am to read a book like this. In the past, I’ve often struggled to feel truly connected to a story that reads like a novel but is told through such a reduced number of words and often presented in challenging formats on the page itself. Maybe this comes from too many poetry classes, but I’m often so distracted trying to analyze line breaks and why a certain piece was laid out on the page the way it was and what that says about the content to maintain a consistent connection with the ongoing story.

I had the same problem with this story, but about halfway through, I was able to get more fully into the action. I think this slow dive in also had to do with the way that Yolen tells her story. Things aren’t all simply revealed from the beginning. Instead, we’re slowly introduced to who Natasha really is, what her life has been, and how the events she’s currently experiencing connects to it all.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a very short read (not only page count, but word count), so readers are likely going to be able to finish it in one setting. If you’re skeptical about novels in verse, I’d also say that this might be a good introductory piece, especially if you have an interest in fairytales and Baba Yaga in particular (I didn’t get into her much, but I really enjoyed Yolen’s interpretation of this classic character as well!). And, of course, fans of Yolen’s work will not be disappointed by this new entry.

Rating 8: Though it starts slow, the style of the story adds power to the deeper themes it is presenting throughout, such as self-discovery and finding one’s own power in the world.

Original and fascinating. A treat for anyone who is familiar with fairytales and the folklore surrounding Baba Yaga.
Full review to come!

Finding Baba Yaga explores an age old story through verse. A young girl escapes her abusive family to live and work with Baba Yaga.

This book is short, sweet, and certainly for one type of audience. It's beautifully written, but I could see a lot of young readers not liking the vague explanations. I, however, am a fan of poetry, and I definitely enjoyed it :)

This is a good story, but it needed more development to be a great story. It's not a search for a Russian folk character so much as a character slowly developing into a strong independent female. Baba Yaga is a symbol and a metaphor, a goal to achieve rather than an actual person or being. I liked the inclusion of Vasilisa, Ivan, and Kotschai the Deathless, other Russian folktales I'm familiar with thanks to the Myths and Legends podcast. This book is worth the read, mainly because even if you don't like it, you'll lose about 20 minutes of time.

Jane Yolen retells the Baba Yaga story in blank verse; this is an interesting exercise. Good poetry.

I'm a big fan of YA novels-in-verse and thus decided to give Finding Baba Yaga a try. Unfortunately I didn't really connect with this book and frequently felt lost as to what was happening in the narrative (though perhaps that was the point? it is a fairy tale after all). Perfect for someone else, just OK for me.

I received a digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley.

I can really see why Jane Yolen is so beloved by many she is knows really how to weave verses with beautiful words that tell a story.

I'm personally not very familiar with the tale of Baba Yaga. I only know the basic details of Yaga herself but as for Vasilisa not really. I don't know why she came to live at Baba Yaga's like Natasha and why she would run away with a stuck up prince. It is revealed at the end that she is somehow Yaga's daughter which I thought was interesting but there is still so many gaps left unfilled.

But other than that I got lost in the words they were so beautiful and I liked Natasha as a character. She seemed smart and sensible and cared for Vasilisa. When she ran away it seemed to devastate her as much as it did Yaga. But I'm glad she stayed with Yaga and learned to do magic like her.That she would carry on the legacy of witchcraft born from this old woman. I wish there was honestly more in this book I really want more backstory and more on what became of Vasilisa but other than that I loved it.

I had never read anything by Jane Yolen or about Baba Yaga, so this seemed like a great way to kill two birds with one stone! Overall it was a pretty enjoyable, fast read. The verse isn't groundbreaking--I didn't read anything so powerful it gave me pause, or anything clever enough to make me do a double take--but the narrative was easy to follow and the story was entertaining. I enjoyed the idea of Baba Yaga in the modern world and Natasha was an interesting narrator. Nothing mind blowing in my opinion, but Yolen is a staple of the fantasy genre for a reason and I doub't anyone will be disappointed with this effort.

Token reinvents the classic tale of Baba Yaga with a modern twist, and poetry. I loved the texture of words Yolen created, mixing soft with rough, kind with unkind. You could really get a sense of Tash's turmoil, her sense of self. Her character growth is well developed, from afraid and weak to strong and confident under the Baba's tutelage.

There are some wonderfully playful elements to this story, between Tash and Vasilisa, and even with Baba Yaga. Yolen plays with modern elements, like with Baba Yaga's upgraded house elements, but still keeps much of the traditional story, like Baba Yaga teaching the girls to fly with the mortar and pestle. All the fun, interesting bits of Baba Yaga lore are there for fans to see, but Yolen also does a good job of ushering a new generation of Baba Yaga enthusiasts into the story, giving time to explain some of the more traditional elements of Baba Yaga's story.

I really enjoyed this book, and once again, Yolen really hooked me into this modern fantasy world.

I wasn't sure how I was going to like a novel that was written entirely in verse, but it didn't disappoint. It can be hard to get into at the beginning if you aren't used to that style of writing, but tough it out and you wind up mesmerized by the story as it's told. Sometimes it was easy to forget it was a modern retelling. I'll definitely recommend it to the teens I have that enjoy lyrical storytelling.

Finding Baba Yaga is a verse novel written by the poet, Jane Yolen, who re-imagines the tale of Baba Yaga set in modern times. Our narrator, Natasha, runs away from a loveless and abusive home and finds herself at the witch's doorstep, where she discovers herself and her own power. I'm not really a fan of verse novels or fairy-tales set during modern times, but Yolen's story is still captivating and worthwhile if you're interested in a feminist retelling of a Russian fairy-tale/folklore. There are many wonderful verses that reiterates this idea of not being the fairy tale you are used to that I absolutely adore. However, overall I find the format to be lackluster for me.