Alexander Afanasyev (1826-1871) was a Russian author who collected and published over 600 Russian folktales and fairy tales, the largest collection of any person in the world! He also published Russian Fairy Tales which was an 8 volume collection of tales based on the famous Grimm Brothers’ collection.
A famous character from many Russian and other Eastern European fairy tales is Baba Yaga. She is an old witch that is said to live by the forest in a house that stands on a pair of giant chicken legs. She is shown as being scary in stories. Often she is the villain, but in some stories she is helpful to the hero, too.
Other popular Russian children’s stories include those that are translated into English:
“Masha and the Bear” by M. Bulatov
“The Little Scarlet Flower” by Sergei Aksakov
“The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights” by Alexander Pushkin
There is also the collection of tales illustrated by Ivan Biliban:
“The Tale of Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire-bird and Grey Wolf”
“Vassilisa the Beautiful”
“Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka – The White Duck”
“The Frog Princess”
There is a popular “Oz” fantasy series in Russia. These books are based on L. Frank Baum’s classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and translated by Alexander Melentyevich Volkov. The Wizard of the Emerald City and Urfin Jus and his Wooden Soldiers are two of the first books in the series of five.
Online Russian lessons for kids: dinolingo.com
