Thread: Детские книжки. Читать! Читать! Читать!

Wow, Starrysky! The illustrations by Boris Diodorov and Vladislav Erko are fantastic!

Aren't old fairy tale illustrations magical...?

People in Scandinavia used to believe that trolls and other magical creatures lived in the forest.

Did Russians also believe in such tales? I know there are some great old Russian folk tales but nothing comes to mind other than "Baba Jaga" the evil witch. I'd love to hear!

People believed that trolls stole babies and maidens... They believed that men were lured to get lost in the forest by a "magical" troll women who hexed them to follow her to her dwellings in caves.. There are hundreds or stories on these themes....

Wow, spooky! Great pictures!

Yeah, I'm not just a children's books junkie but I absolutely adore everything to do with mythology. Especially Northern (Norse/Nordic?) mythology. It's just so dark and thrilling... Wasn't Tolkien very much influenced by Norse mythology? I think children's authors from Northern European countries are so popular in Russia because our countries have a lot in common in terms of nature/weather. That's why I love Tove Jansson's "Trollvinter" so much - she describes winter, snow, frost in a way that absolutely melts my heart.

I also love Lucy Mod Montgomery who is a Canadian writer and her series of books "Anne of Green Gables", "Anne of Avonlea", etc. Her descriptions of nature sort of resonate with me - because it's Canada, the same climate. I only read those books a few years ago - although they were written at the beginning of the 20th century, they have only recently been translated into Russian.

As for Russian/Slavic folklore creatures, I've actually posted a thread about them over in "Culture and History." It's a fasinating topic. Besides various gods, there were all these spirits in Slavic mythology - leshy (a wood spirit/sprite) - a bit like a troll, vodyanoy - a water sprite, rusalka - a mermaid, domovoy - the spirit of the house, and others.

Originally Posted by Mandy

Olya,

What did you like so much about "The Little Prince" by Exupery.

I'm looking for a gift for an 8 year old Russian boy.

Though the question is not addressed to me... I absolutely love "The Little Prince" now because it's very deep/profound. In fact, it's so deep, I'm not sure I understand all of it even now as a grown-up. I'd say it's a book about love and death, but it's told in this allegorical form which gives the book its ethereal, unearthly, other-worldly quality, but which might make it difficult for a child to appreciate it. I still maintain that it's not so much a kid's book as an adult book. But then, there are some children who might "get" it, like Olya. Andersen's fairy-tales are also very sad and lyrical so I can actually appreciate them better now but I think it's important for a child to be exposed to this sad side of life. It shouldn't be only happily-ever-after Disney all the time.

Originally Posted by devochka

I love Uspenski's Cheburashka. The first Russian cartoon I ever saw was about Cheburashka (teacher showed it) and I instantly fell in love with the little creature. "Это я - Чебурашка." Sooooooooooooooo cute.

And I would like to recommend "Доктор Ай-болит" by Korney Chukovski. The book as well as the cartoon. The first part of the cartoon can be found here:

Чуковский "Тараканище" http://textbook.keldysh.ru/tarakan/text.htm

Чуковский "Доктор Айболит" http://sheba.spb.ru/libra/chukovskiy_aibolit.htm



Чебурашка







Apparently, Cheburashka is quite popular in Japan.
Cheburashka has also been chosen as the official mascot for the Russian Olympic Team in the following games:

2004 Summer Olympics in Greece
2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy (with white fur)
2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China (with red fur)
2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver (with blue fur) -- thus we have all three colours of the Russian flag.

Originally Posted by Johanna

I am not sure if it was written by a Russian or not but it seems likely that it was..

Try to read Bazhov's tales http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Bazhov It is real Urals folklore rather different than old Russian tales. The famous tales are

Хозяйка медной горы

Серебрянное копытце

Каменный цветок



In these tales we can find many interesting characters.

Бабка Синюшка: (a sort of Баба Яга)

Огневушка поскакушка: (related with gold

Yes, yes, yes, Bazhov! I loved the "Silver Hoof" as a kid. The Urals folklore is all about precious stones, very special and unique. My father comes from Perm which is a city in the Urals and I've been there several times so I feel some connection to the place. And one of my favourite Andersen's books' illustrators is Sergei Kovalev from Perm.

A fantasy film has just come out "Книга мастеров"/The Book of masters (?), which is a joint Russian-American production and the first Disney project in Russia. It's partly based on Bazhov's fairy-tales!
http://www.ng.ru/culture/2009-11-02/100_book.html

Originally Posted by Starrysky

I also love Lucy Mod Montgomery who is a Canadian writer and her series of books "Anne of Green Gables", "Anne of Avonlea", etc. Her descriptions of nature sort of resonate with me - because it's Canada, the same climate. I only read those books a few years ago - although they were written at the beginning of the 20th century, they have only recently been translated into Russian.

Wow, 100% agree - I loved those books and read them when I was quite young. The climate was the same for me too. They are really quite magical and it was great being able to follow her life...

Apparently, Cheburashka is quite popular in Japan.

He is the best! He was a real favourite in Scandinavia too.

In Sweden there was a "puppet theatre" with Gena and Cheburaska dolls -- they "discussed" topics like why children should be nice to each other... why they should obey their parents.. etc! Then they showed an episode of the Russian cartoon dubbed into Swedish. This show was probably running for at least 10 years.

One of my very first memories is crying in despair when the Russian film was over... Everybody remembers that series with great fondness.

In fact, we had several other kids series from the USSR too - all really good.

100% Cult Nostalgia in Sweden...
How can you not like Russia after growing up with this..? LOL !

Thanks Wowik for the Urals folklore tips!!
Great pictures...
I am *almost* good enough at Russian to be able to read a VERY simple story... I think....

It would be great to read an old fairytale or fable...

Originally Posted by Johanna

I am *almost* good enough at Russian to be able to read a VERY simple story... I think....

Try this:
http://uploaded.to/file/s9sf6u
It's "Три котенка" by Владимир Сутеев. You can find it here too, but without accents.
I think it's simple enough. )

Here you can find "Приключения Пифа," which is originally French. To download it, click on the words скачать djvu.
The best programme for djvu files I know is WinDjView.

Sorry for the offtop, I know these books are not for children who are 10-11 years old.

Originally Posted by Zaya

Here you can find "Приключения Пифа," which is originally French.

О господи. Своим глазам не верю.

Originally Posted by Johanna

Originally Posted by Starrysky

I also love Lucy Mod Montgomery who is a Canadian writer and her series of books "Anne of Green Gables", "Anne of Avonlea", etc. Her descriptions of nature sort of resonate with me - because it's Canada, the same climate. I only read those books a few years ago - although they were written at the beginning of the 20th century, they have only recently been translated into Russian.

Wow, 100% agree - I loved those books and read them when I was quite young. The climate was the same for me too. They are really quite magical and it was great being able to follow her life...

I live in the UK. Do you know where I could buy these books or similar children's books via the internet? In Russian, of course!

Where can I buy some of these children's books in Russian. They look really good. I'm in the UK and could also order from the internet. Does anyone know anywhere?

Originally Posted by Mandy

I live in the UK. Do you know where I could buy these books or similar children's books via the internet? In Russian, of course!

http://www.ozon.ru/ -- good, reliable site, similar to amazon. I'm not sure, but I do think they send stuff abroad.

Originally Posted by Zaya

Sorry for the offtop, I know these books are not for children who are 10-11 years old.

Hmmm... What do you mean, Zaya? The entire thread is one huge offtop. I'm very much ashamed of my share of it. It seems that the thread might do better now re-named and re-located somewhere in the "Book Review" section.

The answer to the initial question at what age Russian children can understand Harry Potter is -- the same as English, American and all others. It could be discussed, of course, but it's all way too individual. I think that intelligent kids who read a lot are perfectly able to "get" HP at the age of 7. They probably wouldn't get everythig from the later books - 4-7 - because they are way too serious, dealing with such subjects as death, poverty, racial prejudice, government bureaucracy, teenage hormones, etc. I enjoyed the later books more exactly because they are less childish and more adult-minded but that's because I read them as an adult.

The thing with children's books is that even if the child doesn't get all of it, it's still better to give them something more challenging than dumbed-down stuff. Later, when they grow up, they'll be able to enjoy it better. I read "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain at 7. Surely, it's no more difficult than HP.

The translation of HP into Russian is not as bad as it's made out to be, in my opinion. I didn't like some things, though. For instance, Voldemort, which is French "vol de mort" - the flight of death/flight from death - has been translated as Волан-де-Морт. Now, some people claim that it puts them in mind of Voland from "Master and Margarita", but I'm personally reminded of "рюшки и воланы". Maybe they should've translated it as "Смертолет"...

Originally Posted by Johanna

Wow, 100% agree - I loved those books and read them when I was quite young. The climate was the same for me too. They are really quite magical and it was great being able to follow her life...

And Anne herself is such a special and unique character in children's lit. I'm sure I've never read about anyone quite like her, with all her monologues on nature, kindred spirits and all sorts of things. She's just hilarious, enchanting and endearing! Strangely enough, her monologues, though long, aren't one tiny bit boring. On the contrary, they make you see things through her enthusiastic, enraptured eyes.

Unfortunately, I've only read the first book, because I can't find the others in paper form in English, and I don't like reading from the screen. I know there are translations in Russian, but I enjoyed reading the first book in English so much. Montgomery's language is very vivid and colourful.

It's very surprising that Anne is not better known in Russia as she seems to be very popular in the rest of the world! There have been lots of adaptations and I haven't seen a single one! It's time to correct this!



The funny thing is, I learned about Anne of Green Gables through Harry Potter. I used to go to this English HP site (I think I owe a great part of my knowledge of English to HP and to that site) and in the section about other books there was this thread entitled Anne of Green Gables which I ignored for a long time since I didn't know anything about this book. Until one day I was given a cd with e-books on it and there was Anne! So I tried reading it -- just because I saw a name familiar from that site -- and fell in love with L.M.Montgomery's book.

Originally Posted by Оля

But the most genius children's book to me was (and is) "The Little Prince" by Exupery. I felt emotional shock when I had read it. I was a child, but I remember I told myself it was genius.

Perhaps you are thinking of the Russian word гениальный but in English 'genius' cannot be used as an adjective. You would have to say: I told myself it was a work of genius, or use a different word ( the most brilliant children's book, I told myself it was brilliant ).

Yeah but informally it can be used that way.

For example if I say that I have invented a machine that can clean the whole house by itself... Then you might say: "That's genius!"

To say that a book is "genius" means that it's a very clever book; for example it has a number of intervowen novel ideas, exceptionally good language and very interesting characters.

I don't think there's a problem with saying that "The Little Prince" is a "genius" book since everyone agrees that it's a truly outstanding book. Perhaps it's different in the US but in the UK, it's absolutely fine.

Originally Posted by Zaya

Originally Posted by Johanna

I am *almost* good enough at Russian to be able to read a VERY simple story... I think....

Try this:
http://uploaded.to/file/s9sf6u
It's "Три котенка" by Владимир Сутеев. You can find it here too, but without accents.
I think it's simple enough. )

Here you can find "Приключения Пифа," which is originally French. To download it, click on the words скачать djvu.
The best programme for djvu files I know is WinDjView.

Thanks for these tips Zaya! Soon enough I will read it..

Since my studies in Russian are completely voluntary and not under strict time pressure (unlike other langauges I've studied in the past) I am basically studying Russian in the way that appeals to me... Reading a fairytale definitely appeals! I am trying to avoid "boring" grammar studies and long glossary lists. But I guess I can't put off the grammar forever...

However, finding something nice, interesting and inspiring is a big plus in language studies.

Since we are talking about children's books that adults might enjoy, I have to mention the Narnia books by CS Lewis. They were my absolute favourites as a child. Frankly they are superior in every way to Harry Potter.

The books are great stories in their own right, but they also follow a timeline and have a plot that stretches across all seven books.

The first book ("The Magician's Nephew") introduces the birth of Narnia.. The last book finishes the series (it's called "The Last Battle"). Basically the series losely follows the Bible, starting with Creation and ending with the Day of Judgement. But the stories are so good that it's possible to read and enjoy them without any bible knowledge whatsoever, and without being a Christian. CS Lewis is a top class writer, his langauge is fantastic and the stories are very engaging.

The whole series is available as audio books read in British English for anybody who is interested. The BBC have also made some top class radio-drama of each one of the seven books. I have these, so let me know if you want me to upload them somewhere...







.

The picture for The Magician's Nephew is great! So mysterious.

I read only three books by Lewis: "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", "The Magician's nephew", and "The Voyage of The Dawn Treader". I'd like to read others. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is a marvelous book indeed. Very touching and powerful -- not surprising since it's based on Christ's story! Humorous, too -- "The Shining City of War Drobe". And atmospheric. Excellent read for children.

More Andersen illustrations -- this time by Edmund Dulac from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17860...-h/17860-h.htm

To The Snow Queen:





To The Knightingale:





To The Little Mermaid:





To The Wind's Tale:




The Little Mermaid from the Russian cartoon


Illustrations to "The Little Mermaid" by Anton Lomaev:


from http://www.liveinternet.ru/community...post109429940/


from http://www.liveinternet.ru/community...post109429940/


from http://www.liveinternet.ru/community...post109429940/


from http://www.liveinternet.ru/community...post109429940/


from http://dreamworlds.ru/kartinki/page,...a-lomaeva.html


from http://www.liveinternet.ru/community...post109429940/


from http://www.liveinternet.ru/community...post109429940/

Originally Posted by Zubr

Originally Posted by Zaya

Here you can find "Приключения Пифа," which is originally French.

О господи. Своим глазам не верю.

Oh my God indeed, although I'm not sure what you mean.
I had vinyl records of Pif stories and at a certain age listened to them countless times.
I've found an example of those, although quality of sound isn't good at all.
http://www.onlinedisk.ru/file/202380/