The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship

The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, retold by Arthur Ransome and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz. This is an old Russian folk tale, that portrays the message, "God loves a fool". This book is a bit more challenging than some of the other ones that I have discussed on my blog, but it gives kids a wonderful opportunity to learn new terms from other cultures; terms like czar and moujik would be introduced to kids young. The illustrations are Caldecott award winning and are amazing. The pictures are done in ink and water color; perfect relation to the text. I know this story does not exactly have a theme that parents try to teach their kids, but it is a nice message none the less. I think that sometimes kids get so overworked that they need to have a sense that sometimes everything works out in the long run. The second message, that anything is possible, is also a great touch to spark kids' imaginations and maybe boost their enthusiasms. Overall, a very fun legend to tell kids.