When Six, a pink armadillo with nine green siblings, brags that he is “#1” in everything, his family expresses a different opinion.
#1 (One)
Europe
Materials from Europe
The Impudent Rooster
Using his amazing swallowing ability, a rooster foils the evil plans of a greedy nobleman and brings back riches to his poor master.
Stone Men
Grandma tells Arnie how a poor peddler saved a village from being destroyed by soldiers with the help of the stone men he always made on his journeys.
Noah and the Devil: A Legend of Noah’s Ark from Romania
In this Romanian folk version of the Noah story, getting the animals to march, two by two, onto the ark is the easy part–it was persuading his wife to come aboard that gave Noah a headache. And when he snapped, “Oh, you devil, come in!,” that gave the Devil himself just the invitation he needed. Once aboard, in the shape of a mouse, the Devil gnawed a hole in the ark, to sink it beneath the flood.
The Firebird
A retelling of the Russian folktale in which Prince Ivan encounters the magical Firebird who helps him defeat the evil Kostchei.
Who Is My Neighbor?
A young boy discovers that his upstairs neighbor has some very special talents.
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
A retelling of the old Russian fairy tale in which beautiful Vasilisa uses the help of her doll to escape from the clutches of the witch Baba Yaga, who in turn sets in motion the events which lead to the once ill-treated girl’s marrying the tzar.
Juna’s Journey
In a time and a land not so different from ours, lives a one called Juna, a dream helper who has spent much of his life dreaming for others. He has never dreamed for himself, until one evening when he has a dream of his own, which contains a mysterious message just for him. To learn the secret of it, it is clear he must go on a journey. But a journey to where? And for what? In search of the answers, Juna starts on his way, meeting some surprising helpers who join him on his quest. Traveling as a team they move toward a destination fraught with suspense, enchantment, mystery and promise of a new future for the people of earth.
The Devils Who Learned to Be Good
After feeding two starving beggars, an old Russian soldier receives a magical flour sack and deck of playing cards which help him to remove some pesky devils from the Tsar’s palace.
The Tzar’s Bird
A tzar’s fear of going to the edge of the world grows when Baba Yaga threatens him, but in time he learns that fear of the unknown is a senseless fear.