From a small Russian village, three brothers are sent into the world by their father to find their fortunes. Fyodor is sent to the far north in the largest ship with furs of wolf and fox and sable; Vasily is sent to the cities of the south in a fine ship with a cargo of gleaming ice; and Ivan, thought of as a fool by his father, is sent out in a small ship filled only with wooden spoons.

Fyodor and Vasily set sail with hopes of discovering vast wealth and claiming it as their own. But Ivan, the dreamer, leaves his home port asking, "How high is the sky?" and "Is the world round or flat?" Fyodor and Vasily meet only doom and disaster from their travels. But Ivan discovers a mountain made of salt—the spice of life—which he trades to a foreign tsar for barrels of gold, silver, and precious gems.

After a storm ravages Fyodor's and Vasily's ships, Ivan rescues his two older brothers and offers to share his bounty with them. But their greed leads to treachery; they claim Ivan's successes as their own and throw him overboard. Ivan, however, is not to be beaten so easily. Spurred on to complete his journey by his love for a beautiful tsarevna whom his brothers have taken as their own, he will not be stopped by any challenge—no matter how large.

Newbery Honor winner Jane Langston's prose is rich in the cadences of traditional Russian storytelling, and Caldecott Honor winner Ilse Plume's jewellike paintings re-create the classic symbols of the Russian heritage in exquisite detail.

Children will delight in the story of Ivan's bravery, generosity, and finally in his discovery of how high the sky is and whether the world is round or flat.

From the dust jacket