This book was recognised by the Mother Goose Award.

There are 40 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 1999 by Barefoot Books Ltd .

Aleksei Tolstoy (1883-1945) was born and lived in Russia. During his four-decade literary career, he witnessed milestone historic events, both in his home country of Russia and abroad. He was a master storyteller, and wrote several children's tales as well as poems, plays and stories for adults. Niamh Sharkey, an award-winning Irish illustrator, graduated from the College of Marketing and Design, Ireland, in 1994 with First Class Honours. She works in oils on a gessoed textured background to create the richness in colour that has already established her as a world class illustrator. Niamh has illustrated a number of best-selling titles at Barefoot Books: Tales from Old Ireland + CD (1-905236-03-4), The Gigantic Turnip + CD (1-902283-29-5) and Tales of Wisdom and Wonder (1-84148-191-2). Niamh Sharkey has twice been shortlisted for and once won the Bisto Book of the Year Award and she has slso won the Mother Goose Award. Her "Tales from Old Ireland" was an IBBY Honour Book 2002. She lives in a small fishing village north of Dublin, with her family.