Full Description
This groundbreaking anthology presents a century of Russian writing for children—from the Soviet era to the present—bringing together classic and contemporary works, many translated into English for the first time, in a richly curated volume that is both academically informed and fully accessible to children, parents, and adult readers alike.
A Hundred Years of Childhood: An Anthology of Russian Writing for Children, 1917-2017 is the first of two volumes featuring works for children and teens in English translation, many for the first time. Volume One focuses on literature for younger children; it includes short pieces and excerpts from longer works, combining poetic and prose texts written by thirty-six renowned children's authors from the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Eighteen translators contributed to the anthology, bringing a rich range of voices to the English-language texts. This book will appeal to a wide range of readers, including teachers and students of Slavic studies, childhood studies, caregivers and parents of young children, and anyone interested in Russian children's literature and culture.
Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Introduction: The Enduring Power of Children's Literature in Times of Social Change
Chapter 1. For Fun and Education (1917-1932)
Kornei Chukovsky
"Roach the Terrible"
Osip Mandelstam
"Two Trams"
Vladimir Mayakovsky
"What Is Good and What Is Bad"
Vitaly Bianki
"The Owl"
Samuil Marshak
"Baggage"
Daniil Kharms
"Mr. Golden Samovar"
"Ivan van Littleaxe"
Alexander Vvedensky
"Who?"
Chapter 2. Heroes and Victims (1933-1953)
Boris Zhitkov
"Yashka" [excerpt]
Nikolai Zabolotsky
"The Tale of the One-Eyed Little Man"
Mikhail Zoshchenko
"The New Year Tree"
"How Lenin Tricked the Police"
Sergei Mikhalkov
"Uncle Styopa"
Daniil Kharms
"Why Don't We Write a Story?"
"A Man Left His House"
"Once There Was a Little Man"
Vitaly Bianki
"The Little Ant Who Hurried Home"
Alexey Tolstoy
The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino [excerpts]
"Carlo Makes a Wooden Doll and Names It Buratino"
"Buratino Sells His Textbook and Buys a Ticket to the Puppet Show"
"On His Way Home Buratino Runs into Two Swindlers — Basilio the Cat and Alice the Fox"
Alexander Vvedensky
"Lullaby"
Agnia Barto
"The House That Moved"
"They Left"
"Off to School"
Chapter 3. Ordinary Children, Extraordinary Lives (1954-1988)
Boris Zakhoder
"Kitty's Sorrow"
"Hedgehog"
"Cooks"
"No One"
"The Termite's Diet"
Veniamin Kaverin
Many Good People and One Envious One [excerpts]
"Tanya Sets Out for the Blue Globe Pharmacy"
"Petya Takes a Pill for Cowardice and Becomes Brave"
"The Great Envier"
Agnia Barto
"Bedtime"
Alexander Raskin
"How Papa Chose His Profession"
Viktor Dragunsky
"The Main Rivers"
Viktor Golyavkin
"On the Balcony"
Kir Bulychev
"Bronty"
Emma Moshkovskaya
"I Was Very Mean to My Mommy"
"Clever Old Ladies"
Tales of Little Goat and Little Donkey [excerpt]
"The Second Tale"
Eduard Uspensky
Uncle Fedya, His Dog, and His Cat [excerpts]
Chapter 1. "Uncle Fedya"
Chapter 2. "In the Country"
Chapter 3. "New Worries"
Genrikh Sapgir
"Wonder Woods"
"The Princess and the Ogre"
Sergei Kozlov
"Hedgehog in the Fog"
"Hedgehog, Bearcub, and the Dust on the Stars"
Oleg Grigoriev
"Something Crawled onto the Table"
"My Bicycle Carried Me Away"
"A Boy Bought Some Bread at the Store"
Irina Pivovarova
"We Searched the World Both Far and Wide"
"When..."
"Teeny Tiny Pony"
"The Violin"
Chapter 4. New Russia, New Stories (1989-2017)
Grigory Oster
Horrible Advice: A Book for Disobedient Children and Their Caregivers
[excerpts]
"Caught red-handed by your mother"
"If you're racing down the hallway"
"Your parents have gone out again"
"Washing hands and knees and toes"
"When your mom insists on dragging you"
"Those who've not jumped off their roof"
"Remember kids, if you are lost"
Mikhail Yasnov
"Kitty-cat and Ratty-rat"
"Us and Birds"
"Autumn Grandpa"
"A Little Tree with Wings"
Sergei Sedov
Tales about a Boy Named Alex [excerpts]
Andrei Usachev
Smart Dog Sonya [excerpts]
"King's Pooch"
"Puddle"
"Hello, Thank You, Goodbye!"
"How Sonya Learned about Electricity"
"The Stain"
"How Sonya Lost Everything"
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
Piglet Peter Drives a Car
Piglet Peter at the Store
Artur Givargizov
Notes of a Distinguished F Student [excerpts]
"The Faculty Meeting"
"A Missed Lesson"
"How Sergei Lost all Respect on September 9, in Gym Class"
Generals [excerpts]
"A General Divulging Military Secrets"
"A General Reviewing His Troops"
"A General on an Island"
Dina Sabitova
Circus in a Treasure Box [excerpts]
Chapter 1: "How the Carouselli Circus Lost Its Clown, and Adelaida the Horse Lost Her Éclair"
Chapter 8: "How Marik Nearly Met His End but Was Saved"
Mikhail Esenovsky
The Essential Spy Question [excerpts]
Narine Abgaryan
Semion Andreich: The Scribble Chronicles [excerpts]
"Semion Andreich Celebrates a Birthday"
"Semion Andreich and the Sound sh"
"Semion Andreich Goes Skiing"
Masha Rupasova
"In the Old Days"
"I Am News"
"Jam"
"Great-grandmother"
Anastasia Orlova
This Is Truck, and This Is Trailer
Translators' Biographies
Alphabetical List of Authors and Titles in Russian
Additional Resources
Bibliography
List of Copyrights
