Ivan and His Little Horse

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Ivan and His Little Horse. (2007). (J. Urangoo, Trans.). N.p.: Soyombo Printing Co. Retrieved from http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/BookPreview?bookid=uraivan_00900175&route=simple_0_0_0_English_11&lang=English&msg=&ilang=English

Ivan and His Little Horse is a Mongolian/English bilingual text about a story of a boy named Ivan and a horse that comes and eats out of his produce. The horse then apologizes for eating his produce and allows the boy to keep him as his master. One day, a king asked Ivan to be his horseman because his horses wouldn't behave. Ivan takes the job, but he continually gets tricked by another evil horseman. The horseman keeps telling the king things about Ivan, and Ivan is forced to continually get things for the King (in risk of his life). The last thing the king asks for is the Moon Princess, so Ivan travels seven seas to get her- the moon princess tells the King he must swim in boiling water, milk, and cold water and then she'll marry him. He tells Ivan to do it first- and Ivan turns into a pretty prince. The King then does it, and dies- so Ivan marries the Moon Princess instead.

Wow. So, this book was definitely a confusing shocker. I didn't realize that this book was a fairy tale until about half way through the story. The characters used in the book are all white, with mostly brown or white hair- except for the moon princess who of course has that stereotypical blonde hair. The character's in the book, however, are represented with Mongolian style clothing and art. This could definitely be used in a culture unit as part of a fairy-tale unit. You could discuss how fairy tales are different and similar in cultures, and the things that differentiate them from other cultures (for example, foods, backgrounds, clothing, people, etc;).

The book is suitable for children, but even with such, there are a few kind of harsher themes. For example, the King threatens the young boy of the death penalty if he does not bring back everything he wants. Also, the moral of the story is very unrealistic. Personally, I would not choose to read this book in the classroom except for the purpose of looking at the Mongolian style pictures- or during a fairy tale unit. I would use this for third grade and up.

Lexile: n/a

Literary Elements:
Setting- Fairytale land of Mongolia, blue skies, king's courts, hay stables
Character: Daring, exciting, tough, respectable, honest
Mood: Appealing, Questioning, Interesting, Unique