Olga Bukhina - Children's Literature Discussion

the Russian State?
While patents, teachers, and researchers still debate the burning issue of the death of good Russian children’s literature, it has gradually but steadily staged its comeback. Among multiple publications of quality contemporary and classic European and American literature, not to mention the Russian and Soviet classics, we seea growing number of modern Russian poetry collections for small and not that small children, new books for teenagers, andnon-fiction books for young readers. Several innovative publishers together with a variety of literary prizes were and are constantly discovering new names of these who write in Russian. These new books are often talking about serious and controversial issues of Russian history, contemporary events, and problems and feelings of contemporary children and teens. They strive to talk to modern teenagers, using their language and their spheres of interest. A lot of conservatively oriented parents and teachers are not very happy with this new development; they still prefer to read and reread the familiar Soviet and Russian Imperial classics. Some of them are constantly trying to see the traces of “sedition” in these new books for children. The Russian State also wants to regain the control of children’s literature; a special law “protecting” children from any upsetting information in children’s books was issued by the Russian Duma in 2014. Nevertheless, the process once started is not that easy to stop, and every year brings more of new promising names and new interesting books.