Yakov y los siete ladrones (Yakov and the Seven Thieves) Book

Maybe an extra star for the illustrations.

Gennady Spirin is an illustrator I love, and it astonished me that he had worked on a book with Madonna. The story is not the worst book I have read but it desperately needs editing. The tone is all over the place, at times suggesting a mode of self-consciousness which is anachronistic. The descriptions of the thieves are cloying in an attempt to be humourous: one thief's attributes rhyme in a sort of triplet, and the rest are depicted in ordinary prose, so that the intended effect is puzzling.

Questions:
If the story is based on the Baal Shem Tov why are all the character names Slavic?
Why does the wise man explain the miracle through a kind of third hand Jungian metaphor?
Is it okay to refer to someone as a midget?
Can there be only one "naughty" female thief amongst of all the males?
Will a disgruntled reader ever go on a pyromaniacal rampage at the warehouse storing these and all other poorly edited but best-selling vanity projects?
Should I acquire this book for Spirin's sake or not? (Answer: probably not.)

Madonna gets some credit for being more literate than she had to be, and for choosing a first rate illustrator, and for giving him credit on the cover.