The House With Chicken Legs is the extraordinary debut novel from Sophie Anderson. Steeped in traditional Russian folklore with the author’s own unique twist, the story focuses on the traditional tale of Baba Yaga.

The House with Chicken Legs makes a tremendous addition to primary classrooms. There are endless possibilities in terms of things you can do to link learning to the book. This includes finding out about other cultures and researching fascinating Russian folklore.

This download features a range of cross-curricular activities based on the book. There is also a newspaper template PDF for use in one of the exercises.

What is The House with Chicken Legs about?

In many tales, Baba Yaga is a crooked, evil witch with a long nose who rides around on a pestle and mortar and eats children.

Here, Baba Yaga (more affectionately known as just Baba) is actually the sweet grandma to main character, Marinka. She is also the guider of the dead through the gate to the next world, which happens to reside in their house – a house with chicken legs that regularly uproots the pair to different places around the world.

Much to her chagrin, Marinka is destined to be the next guardian of the gate. When Baba disappears, Marinka has to figure out on her own whether she is truly suited for such a destiny.

With the help of her house – which has a mind of its own – and friends she meets along the way, Marinka has to quickly mature and be brave as she seeks to truly understand her own fate and find her beloved Baba.

Ashley Booth is a Y6 teacher in Toxteth, Liverpool. Find him at theteachingbooth.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter at @mrboothy6.

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