For Duffy and the Devil: a Cornish tale (1973), Margot won the Caldecott Medal from the American Library Association recognizing the year's best-illustrated U.S. The husband-and-wife team produced 13 books together, often simply as 'Harvey & Margot Zemach' although he wrote and she illustrated. Next year Little, Brown published her work with another writer, Take a Giant Step by Hannelore Hahn. She did the illustrations and he did the text under the pseudonym Harve Zemach. Houghton Mifflin published their first collaboration in 1959, Small boy is listening, based on their experiences in Vienna. Zemach began her career when Fischtrom urged her to do children's books. Margot Zemach died in Berkeley, California on May 21, 1989, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. They had four daughters, including Kaethe Zemach who is another writer and illustrator of children's books. She studied at the Los Angeles County Art Institute and, on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1955–1956, at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in Austria.

When she was growing up there during the Great Depression, she used drawing to make people laugh but she never had enough paper. ( November 2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Perhaps we could learn a short dance ourselves! I would use this book as an example of how important it is to believe in yourself no matter what others think.This section does not cite any sources. Since the book mentions a mandolin and dancing, I would have some Russian music to play and have some examples of Russian dances to show the class.

I would use this book in the classroom as an introduction to Russian literature. It makes me want to check into more Russian legends and find out more about what the giant in this story might represent. Although it is not something I would typically pick up, I’m glad that I did. With illustrations that capture the simplicity of the story, the book grabbed me from the beginning. With the help of a giant, however, Ivan is able to return to his home and reclaim what is his, earning his father’s respect in the process.

However, the brothers find him at sea, toss Ivan overboard and claim the princess as their own. In the process he wins the heart of the king’s daughter, and the two set sail with their gold and silver for Ivan’s home. He takes a shipload of this salt to a kingdom and convinces the king to buy his cargo. When he sets sail following his brothers’ two precious cargo laden ships, Ivan gets separated and lands on an island with a mountain made of Russian salt. Ivan, the youngest of three sons of a rich merchant, is seen as a foolish musician who cannot be trusted with valuable items. This Traditional Fantasy tells the Russian legend of Ivan the Fool.

Salt by Harve Zemach