Ivan the fool finds his life transformed when he captures a beautiful white horse with a golden mane in this retelling of the classic Russian fairy-tale. Given three young foals - two beautiful, one small and humpbacked - in exchange for the white horse's freedom, Ivan soon finds himself appointed stable-master to the Tsar after bringing the two beautiful ones to that ruler. The former stable-master whom he displaced becomes jealous, and manipulates the Tsar into setting all sorts of impossible tasks for Ivan, from fetching a Firebird to capturing a beautiful Tsarevna. Fortunately, he has the help of the magical little humpbacked horse in these tasks...

Margaret Hodge's The Little Humpbacked Horse: A Russian Tale is the second picture-book version of this story that I have read, after Elizabeth Winthrop's similarly titled The Little Humpbacked Horse. I hadn't realized, when reading that other title, that this story comes from a fairy-tale poem written by Pyotr Yershov, and had always assumed it was a variant of Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf, which clearly influenced it. Leaving the issue of source material aside, this is an engaging retelling, albeit quite text-heavy for a picture-book. The accompanying artwork from Chris Conover, who herself retold the Danish folktale of The Wizard's Daughter, is lovely. Recommended to folk and fairy-tale lovers, and to fans of Conover's artwork. ( )