Knock, Knock, Teremok!

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-This traditional Russian tale is well known as various versions of The Mitten by Jan Brett (Putnam, 1990) or Alvin Tresselt (Morrow, 1964) and Mirra Ginsburg's Mushroom in the Rain (Macmillan, 1987), in which many animals harmoniously take shelter under an ever-expanding roof. Here, the key object becomes a teremok, or small traditional Russian house. This version, told with rhythm and some rhyme, begins with ``...the Fly, queen of the sky,'' and the structure expands to include Mouse, Frog, and so on, until ``...Bear sat on the house and squashed it.'' Most youngsters won't notice that a tiny picture of Lenin hangs over the little house, or know that the bear is a symbol for the Soviet Union. Arnold writes in her note that she sees the tale as an allegory for the collapse of the USSR, and, fortunately, her message is fairly unobtrusive. Only the final phrase, ``Everybody barely escaped!'' is jarring, mostly because it abandons the rhythm that has carried readers through the text. The illustrations are vivid, folksy watercolors outlined in bold black line. Like the text, they are cumulative, adding characters without altering or moving the previous ones. White space is used effectively to dramatize the growth of the teeming residence. All told, this is a pleasing story to read to a group, as well as a vehicle to introduce symbolism and allegory to older students.-Carolyn Noah, Central MA Regional Library System, Worcester