TOP 11 undeservedly forgotten books for children

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In Soviet times, almost everyone, young and old, read. And what else could you do if there were no smartphones, and endless news from the fields was played on TV?

At the same time, many no longer remember what huge circulations teenage literature had in the Soviet Union. Arkady Gaidar was once read no worse than The Hunger Games …

Interestingly, will it be interesting for today's schoolchildren? Check it out!

Here are 11 undeservedly forgotten Soviet works:

1. Grigory Adamov, "The Secret of Two Oceans" (1938)

The novel describes the trip of the Soviet submarine "Pioneer" from Leningrad to Vladivostok across the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. The main character is young Pavlik, the son of a Soviet diplomat, who found himself on board due to a shipwreck.

The submarine follows around Cape Horn, nearly dies in the Antarctic seas, in the Pacific Ocean is attacked by the Japanese cruiser Izumo and destroys it with an ultrasonic beam. And one of the crew members turns out to be an enemy agent …

2. Arkady Gaidar, "Timur and his team" (1940)

Until 1986, the story "Timur and his team" was published in the USSR 212 times and was translated into 75 languages. The total circulation was 14.281 million copies. This is a legendary book, under the influence of which the children's social movement "Timurovites" has developed throughout the country.

Timur, Kolya Kolokolchikov and Sima Simakov help people in need of support, especially the relatives of those who serve in the Red Army. The girl Zhenya, who came to the dacha village, also begins to mark their houses with small red stars and to fight the hooligans Kvakin and Figura …

3. Veniamin Kaverin, "Two Captains" (1940)

From childhood, Sanya Grigoriev knew how to achieve success in any business. He grew up to be a courageous and brave man. The dream of finding the remains of Captain Tatarinov's expedition led him to the ranks of polar pilots.

Captain Grigoriev's life is full of heroic events: he flew over the Arctic, fought against the Nazis. Dangers awaited him, he had to endure temporary defeats, but the persistent and purposeful character of the hero helps him to keep the oath he made to himself in childhood: “Fight and seek, find and not give up” …

4. Valentina Oseeva, "Vasyok Trubachev and his comrades" (1947-1951)

This famous trilogy was awarded the Stalin Prize and two film adaptations.

The first part tells about one year of the pre-war life of the Moscow Region Soviet fourth-grader Trubachev and his classmates. The second part describes the events that took place with Trubachev and his classmates, who went on summer holidays to Ukraine and ended up in the territory occupied by the Germans. The third part depicts the process of restoration in Trubachev's hometown of the school destroyed during the bombing by the forces of grown-up and matured students …

5. Anatoly Rybakov, "Dagger" (1948)

This book (the first part of a trilogy, continued by the novels "The Bronze Bird" and "Shot") has been translated into many languages and filmed twice.

The protagonist of the story, Misha Polyakov, finds an 18th century officer's dagger hidden from prying eyes in the courtyard, in which he discovers an encrypted message. And now the whole life of Misha and his friends turns into an exciting, but very dangerous adventure. Traces lead to an underground counter-revolutionary organization …

6. Lev Kassil and Max Polyanovsky, "The Street of the Youngest Son" (1949)

Boy Volodya Dubinin lives in the city of Kerch the life of an ordinary Soviet boy. Volodya meets the occupation of Kerch by the Nazi invaders in the ranks of a partisan detachment. Fighting in its ranks together with other pioneers on a par with adults, he displays an example of true heroism and courage.

There is no intrigue here, no exciting plot twists. There is just childhood and war. And the story of one pioneer hero …

7. Vakhtang Ananyan, "Prisoners of the Barsovo Gorge" (1956)

The story tells about children in trouble in the Caucasus mountains. Once captured by the elements, they bravely endure the trials of fate. Friendship, mutual support and fortitude help them to overcome difficulties, and sometimes even mortal danger.

But this is not just a children's adventure novel. Boys protect and support the only girl, help the weak and re-educate one egoist in their company …

8. Mikhail Mikheev, "Virus" B "-13" (1956)

May 1945. The Second World War is over, Germany is defeated, a trial of international criminals is being prepared, and the Nazi henchmen who have not been killed are already looking for new masters.

In the hands of Soviet counterintelligence, materials accidentally fall into the hands of unambiguously indicating that the Nazis were actively working on the creation of a terrible biological weapon, and the participants in this secret project not only escaped arrest, but are also ready to continue what they started …

9. Alexandra Brushtein, "The road goes into the distance …" (1956-1961)

An autobiographical trilogy about Sasha Yanovskaya - a girl from an intelligent family, the daughter of a surgeon. Time and place of action - pre-revolutionary Russia, Vilno.

The first books talk about Sasha's school years, but then she becomes a student at the Women's Institute and learns about the Dreyfus case. A very interesting book that sheds light on life in the Russian Empire in the pre-revolutionary years. Sasha is faced with events that will play an epoch-making role in the history of the country …

10. Leonid Platov, "Secret Fairway" (1963)

The legend about the ship with a dead crew, the "Flying Dutchman", who always wanders the seas, is widespread among sailors all over the world. During the war, in the narrow bays and channels of the Baltic Sea, the commander of the torpedo boat Shubin had to face a mysterious submarine of the same name in reality. But the mystery of this submarine was solved only in the post-war period.

The book was filmed 23 years after the first publication, which speaks of its enduring popularity among several generations of Soviet readers …

11. Georgy Gurevich, "We are from the Solar System" (1965)

Kim, an ordinary prophylactic doctor, goes through the school of life in a socially cloudless, but still flawed future, inhabited by a 100 billion people. The solar system is being transformed, unprecedented opportunities are opening up for improving human life - achieving practical immortality, breaking through to the stars, establishing contact with other civilizations.

But people still suffer from unrequited love, look for their place in life, become disappointed and lose their illusions …