The House with Chicken Legs

The House with Chicken Legs is a middle-grade fantasy novel by Sophie Anderson. Originally published by Usborne Publishing in 2018, the novel is a reimagining of the Slavic and Russian folktales of the witch Baba Yaga. Anderson’s narrative traces the story of the 12-year-old protagonist Marinka. She lives with her grandmother Baba in a house with chicken legs. Marinka loves Baba and appreciates her job of guiding the dead from life into the afterlife, but she is desperate for freedom and independence. When Baba suddenly passes into the beyond, Marinka finds herself more alone and trapped than ever. She is left on her own to make sense of her new life as Yaga. The novel explores themes of the Tension Between Tradition and Self-Determination, the Search for Friendship and Belonging, and the Relationship Between Life and Death.

This guide is based on the 2018 Scholastic Press paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide include depictions of illness, violence, bullying, child death, and death.

Plot Summary

Twelve-year-old Marinka lives in a house with chicken legs with her grandmother Baba. Her only friend is a jackdaw named Jack. Marinka loves Baba but is always lonely. She appreciates her magical, self-transporting house, but wishes she and Baba could stay in one place long enough for her to make friends. Despite Marinka’s longings, Baba is preparing her to become the next Guardian. Baba is the current Guardian, whose job it is to lead the dead from life through The Gate and into the afterlife. Marinka appreciates this tradition but has no interest in devoting her life to the dead. The dead only make her sad. She can appreciate the stories they tell about their lives before passing through The Gate but they always leave her.

Marinka tries to tell Baba how disinterested she is in becoming a Guardian. She asks constant questions about the role, insisting that Baba doesn’t need a successor and that the dead don’t need her. Baba always patiently argues otherwise and encourages Marinka to accept her life as it is. Her late parents were also Yagas, Baba tells her, and the tradition is in her blood.

The house relocates to the Lake District in England one day. Marinka is unenthused until she meets a living boy named Benjamin. They become fast friends when Benjamin asks her to watch his lamb for him. Only a day or so later, however, Marinka, Baba, and the house move again. Marinka is devastated that she didn’t return the lamb—which she names Benji—or get to say goodbye to her one and only friend.

Then one night, Marinka resentfully helps Baba with a guiding ceremony and discovers that a dead girl named Nina has been left behind. She does not tell Baba what has happened and instead takes a walk with Nina and engages her in conversation. The girls take walks several days in a row, but Nina begins to fade away as time passes. The magical house catches on to Marinka and insists she tell Nina that she is dead, show her to Baba, and guide her through The Gate. Marinka agrees, on the condition that the house bring Nina to the beach. While the girls are out walking, Marinka discovers that she is fading, too. Horrified, she and Nina race back to the house. Marinka confronts Baba, demanding to know if she is dead. Baba admits that she died when she was a baby but came back through The Gate; Baba has raised her ever since. Marinka is still mad, but Baba insists they focus on guiding Nina. When it is time, Baba informs Marinka that she herself will be accompanying Nina through The Gate, as Nina is too weak to go alone. She reminds Marinka of what a good Yaga she will make and departs.

Over the following days, Marinka refuses to believe that Baba is gone. She does not know what to do without her and fears that she will disappear forever if she leaves the house. Finally, she convinces the house to take her to a market in North Africa where she reunites with the Old Yaga and asks for advice. Marinka wants the house to pull up and open The Gate so she can go in search of Baba. The house has refused to do so since Baba’s disappearance, afraid that Marinka will dive over the threshold. With the Old Yaga’s help, Marinka determines how to bond with the house so it will open The Gate; she tells the Old Yaga she needs The Gate because she wants to be a Guardian, omitting the truth about seeking out Baba.

The Old Yaga throws a Ceremony of Bonding, which will unite Marinka and her house for as long as Marinka lives. When The Gate appears and opens, Marinka throws herself through, but the Old Yaga yanks her back.

Not long later, Marinka convinces the house to let her through The Gate again. She apologizes for lying to and upsetting the house, explaining that she only misses Baba. The house agrees to help her on the condition that Marinka tell her more about her feelings. Marinka opens up to the house about her frustrations and sorrows, longings and desires. Then, the house opens The Gate, and Marinka jumps over the threshold. She swims through the dark in search of Baba, eventually realizing that Baba is gone for good.

Back in the house, Marinka confronts the truth of Baba’s absence for the first time. Then the Old Yaga arrives in her house. She comforts Marinka while also revealing that Marinka’s house might have turned her back into a living girl. The house admits it did just that to make Marinka happy.

In the Epilogue, Marinka and the Old Yaga make a life together. They merge their Yaga houses and continue guiding the dead. They often travel from place to place, but they also stay put more often. Their favorite place is in the Lake District, where Marinka rekindles her friendship with Benjamin. Marinka is now a Guardian, but she enjoys this life. She appreciates the dead and now has her freedom, too.