“Kolobok is Siân’s inventive and playful adaptation in English of a famous Russian folktale about a resourceful bun (a kolobok) on the run, who skilfully avoids being caught and eaten by various animals. Told in Siân’s brilliant rhyming couplets, with beautifully textured illustrations by UK-based artist and illustrator Dovile Ciapaite, this new version of Kolobok is a fabulous addition to the body of English translations of Russian skazki – fairytales or folktales”

“And now on to my very favourite bit: the kolobok’s song! I actually prefer Valvis’s version to the original because it is more inventive. The kolobok sings his song four times and each one varies ever-so-slightly. This is to maintain the rhyme of the new lines added in each iteration: the song grows with the mention of the kolobok’s escape from the previous animal. But each additional line could easily have ended in the same end-rhyme as the previous one (as in the original).”