About this book:
This is a Russian story about an old woman who is known to be the best in the town at handcrafting beautiful patterns on eggs. Every year she presents these eggs in the town festival and wins first prize. One day during the winter as she is feeding a herd of caribou who had wandered to her little house (a miracle, she calls it) she notices a herd of honking geese, one of which fell to the ground. She goes over to examine it and notices that its wing had been shot by a hunter. She takes the goose into her house and cares for it, calling it Rechenka, and treating it like her little friend. One day, as Rechenka is being adventurous around the house, he hops up onto her work table and knocks all of her precious, handcrafted eggs onto the ground and shatters them. She is so devastated that she chases the goose around the kitchen to shoo it away. She knows that there is no way she could go to the festival. But the next morning, as Rechenka lays an egg, the old woman notices that this egg is very colorful, as if it had been hand painted. This is another one of her "miracles" and every morning, she finds an egg more colorful as the last. Before she leaves for the festival, she decides that the goose is okay to be in the wild again. Then she presents these eggs to the festival, wins first prize, exclaims that it was a miracle, and returns home. That night, she finds that Rechenka has left her with one more surprise--a baby goose that will stay with her always. Another miracle.
What comes from this book:
This is a charming story that revolves around Russian culture. The illustrations show the eggs painted in old Ukrainian styles and the story itself is told around Old Moscow and its cultures and festival traditions. It gives younger kids a look at a precious story, but also gives them a little bit of history and current traditions of a culture that might be otherwise foreign to them.
Classroom uses for this book:
Teachers can read this story to their students as an opening to a unit over different cultures and religions. This is a quick story that gives a few details about Russian traditions, which can be followed up by fun facts about Russia and Moscow.
Further information about this book:
Polacco, Patricia, and Nanette Stevenson. Rechenka's Eggs. New York: Philomel, 1988. Print. ISBN: 0-399-21501-8
This is a Russian story about an old woman who is known to be the best in the town at handcrafting beautiful patterns on eggs. Every year she presents these eggs in the town festival and wins first prize. One day during the winter as she is feeding a herd of caribou who had wandered to her little house (a miracle, she calls it) she notices a herd of honking geese, one of which fell to the ground. She goes over to examine it and notices that its wing had been shot by a hunter. She takes the goose into her house and cares for it, calling it Rechenka, and treating it like her little friend. One day, as Rechenka is being adventurous around the house, he hops up onto her work table and knocks all of her precious, handcrafted eggs onto the ground and shatters them. She is so devastated that she chases the goose around the kitchen to shoo it away. She knows that there is no way she could go to the festival. But the next morning, as Rechenka lays an egg, the old woman notices that this egg is very colorful, as if it had been hand painted. This is another one of her "miracles" and every morning, she finds an egg more colorful as the last. Before she leaves for the festival, she decides that the goose is okay to be in the wild again. Then she presents these eggs to the festival, wins first prize, exclaims that it was a miracle, and returns home. That night, she finds that Rechenka has left her with one more surprise--a baby goose that will stay with her always. Another miracle.
What comes from this book:
This is a charming story that revolves around Russian culture. The illustrations show the eggs painted in old Ukrainian styles and the story itself is told around Old Moscow and its cultures and festival traditions. It gives younger kids a look at a precious story, but also gives them a little bit of history and current traditions of a culture that might be otherwise foreign to them.
Classroom uses for this book:
Teachers can read this story to their students as an opening to a unit over different cultures and religions. This is a quick story that gives a few details about Russian traditions, which can be followed up by fun facts about Russia and Moscow.
Further information about this book:
Polacco, Patricia, and Nanette Stevenson. Rechenka's Eggs. New York: Philomel, 1988. Print. ISBN: 0-399-21501-8