Figure 1.-- One reader remembers Krapivin's book The Tales of the Old Arbat. Like many of Krapivin's books, the story includes children an fastasy creatures. Arbat is best known street in Moscow, the principal commercial street of the city where clothes and toys are purchased. Like some of Krapivin's books, it was illustrated by Evgeniy Medvedev. The illustrations show the short pants and long stockings worn by Soviet bows during the 1950s. They also show the " valenki " -- the kind of felt boots typically worn during the cold Russian winters, even inside the home.

A HBC reader tells us that Vladislav Krapivin was the most famous modern Russian author of the books for children during the late Soviet period. Krapivin had a close association with Evgeniy Medvedev who illustrated many of his books. Some books were about realistic childhood experiences such a children away fom home in summer camps. One reader remembers Krapivin's book The Tales of the Old Arbat. Some of Krapivin's books included children an fastasy creatures. Arbat is best known street in Moscow, the principal commercial street of the city where clothes and toys are purchased. Like many of Krapivin's books, it was illustrated by Medvedev. The illustrations show the short pants and warm-looking long stockings worn by Soviet bows during the 1950s. They also show the " valenki " -- the kind of felt boots typically worn during the cold Russian winters, even inside the home. Hpefully our Russian readers will provide us some information on Krapivin books that they remember reading as children.

Author

A HBC reader tells us that Vladislav Krapivin was the most famous modern Russian author of the books for children during the late Soviet period. We don't yet have much biographical information about him.

Illustrators

Krapivin had a close association with Evgeniy Medvedev who illustrated many of his books. The Tales of the Old Arbat was one of the books he illustrated. Yevgeniy Medvedev is another famous illustrator of Krapivin's books. One of the books he illustrated was Islands and Captains.

Books

We have some basic information about his books.

Summer camps

Some books were about realistic childhood experiences such a children away fom home in summer camps. After World War II, Pioneer summer camps became a standard experience for many Soviet children.

The Tales of the Old Arbat

One reader remembers Krapivin's book The Tales of the Old Arbat. Some of Krapivin's books included children an fastasy creatures. Arbat is best known street in Moscow, the principal commercial street of the city where clothes and toys are purchased. There was an especially important store there for children's clothing and toys. Like many of Krapivin's books, it was illustrated by Medvedev. The illustrations show the short pants and warm-looking long stockings worn by Soviet bows during the 1950s (figure 1). They also show the " valenki " -- the kind of felt boots typically worn during the cold Russian winters, even inside the home.

Ostrova i kapitany/ Islands and captains

A Russian reader tells us that he enjoyed Krapivin's book Ostrova i kapitany / Islands and Captains. It was illustrated by Evgenia Sterligova. It was written right after a World War II (1946-47). The central character in the book is Tolik (a boy 10-11 years old). He joins a boys' club--the "Red Robinhoods". It was just a children game, not a formal organization like young pioneers or other organizations. The club was where boys of 10-12 years old played together, wrote stories, performances, made forts, or took lake trips, invented a coat-of-arms, ect. The illustrations show how children dressed at the time. There are also useful references in the text.

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Created: March 3, 2003
Last updated: 1:53 AM 8/4/2007