Russia
205
Givargizov, Artur (text)
Aleksandrov, Ivan (illus.)
My tak pochoži (That’s typical for us)
Moskva : Izdat. Dom »Samokat«, 2006. – 79 p.
ISBN 5-90232-620-6
Animals – School – Daily routine – Nonsense poetry
In these witty nonsense poems about the life of four-legged animals, centipedes, and millipedes, as well as about generals, cosmonauts, and the daily life at school, the author plays with language in a highly artistic way. His multi-layered humour and colloquial phrases easily draw the readers in. The illustrations are rendered in collage-technique with cardboard objects. They reduce the things presen-ted to the most characteristic features and thus perfectly capture the poems’ respective moods. Ivan Aleksandrov uses a minimalist style to create pictures with many different meanings. (5+)
206
Malov, Vladimir I. (text)
Vysockij, P. V. (illus.)
Tajny znamenitych korablej (The secrets of important ships)
Moskva : Oniks, 2006. – 255 p.
(Biblioteka otkrytij)
ISBN 5-488-00273-1
Ship/History
In human history, ships have always played a major role as an important means for discovering foreign countries and continents. Certainly one
of the most famous vessels is the Santa Maria, the ship with which Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic and landed in America in 1492. Yet, Vladimir Maslov’s tales tell of events dating back even further in history. He starts with the early sailors in the Mediterranean, the Vikings and the Roman galleys on their journeys of discovery. Moreover, the informative and enthralling book includes stories about ships such as the Beagle, on which Charles Darwin embarked on his research voyage, the tea- and wool-clipper Cutty Shark, Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen’s ship Fram, and the Titanic and its sinking in 1912. (11+)
207
Nusinova, Natal’ja I. (text)
Vronskaja, Anna (illus.)
Priključenija Džerika : [avtobiografičeskaja] povest’ (Jerry’s adventures : an [autobiographical] tale)
Moskva : Samokat, 2006. – 127 p
ISBN 5-90232-629-X
USSR/History – Childhood
With this autobiographical tale about the family, home, and country of her »Soviet childhood«, the author bridges the gap between modern Russia and the USSR. It is one of the first books to offer contemporary Russian children an insight into childhood in the Soviet Union from a modern point of view. To achieve this aim, Natal’ja Nusinova uses Jerry, the family dog, as her main protagonist. She gives an authentic and straightforward description of the life at that time through the eyes of a little girl who tries to understand everybody around her and to love them all. The humorous charcoal drawings and the atmospheric and informative photo-collages complement the meaning of the text and at the same time convey the atmosphere of life during the days of the late Soviet Union. (7+)
208
Ulickaja, Ljudmila E. (text)
Filippova, Svetlana (illus.)
Istorija pro vorob’ja Antverpena, kota
Micheeva, stoletnika Vasju i sorokonožku
Mar’ju Semënovnu s sem’ëj
(The story of sparrow Antwerp, tomcat Micheev, Aloe Vasja, and millipede Mar’ja Semënova and her family)
Moskva : Eksmo, 2005. – 70 p.
ISBN 5-699-10303-1
Animals – Plants – Anthropomorphism – Friendship – Solidarity – Search for identity
Highly educated Aloe Vasja has been left behind in an empty house where he lives together with a millipede. Since there is plenty of space, the two friends also take in two other homeless creatures: Antwerp, the sparrow, and tomcat Micheev. When the millipede has babies, all the flatmates just squeeze closer together and everybody tries to give their best to raise the millipede children properly. Their solidarity makes them all ponder their own lives and discover new sides to themselves. The full-page wax-crayon illustrations, which are just as imaginative as the text of this cheerful story, radiate great calmness and are often reminiscent of still life paintings. (5+)