School Stories: New Russian–English short stories for children aged 7–10
My new book, School Stories / Школьные истории, is now available on Amazon.
Part of the Anya and Friends series, this illustrated collection brings together five stories in Russian and English about friendship, school life and the surprising things that can happen during an ordinary day.
I created this series for children aged 7–10 who understand spoken Russian but may find reading in Russian more demanding than reading in the language they use at school. The books offer short, complete adventures, with English translations and reading support built into the pages.
At the centre are four friends: Anya, Nora, Lev and Bram. They investigate, disagree, make mistakes and help each other. Bram also claims to understand the language of cats, although his friends have good reasons to question his translations.
The collection includes:
The Cat at Break Time / Кошка на перемене. A cat appears in the school playground, and the friends follow her to find out what she is doing there. Bram appoints himself her interpreter.
The Case of the Missing Poster / Дело о пропавшем плакате. A poster the children spent a week making disappears shortly before another class arrives to see it. The friends begin examining clues, with several competing explanations.
The Drum That Was Too Fast / Слишком быстрый барабан. A group music performance keeps falling apart as Lev’s drumming gets faster. The children have to work out how to stay together.
Only One Answer / Только один ответ. Nora wants to finish her work first. Looking at a friend’s answer seems like a small shortcut, until she has to explain her thinking.
Five Minutes Until the Exhibition / Пять минут до выставки. A last-minute improvement sends the children’s marble run crashing down. With visitors almost at the door, they have very little time to decide what can be saved.
These are stories about situations children can recognise: wanting to be first, being certain you are right, feeling frustrated with a friend, or having to put something right after a mistake.
Humour runs through the conversations, including the moments when nobody’s plan is working.
Each story appears first in Russian, followed by its English version. Selected Russian words have stress marks to show where the emphasis falls. Illustrations accompany the stories, and each one ends with two bilingual questions: one about what happened and one inviting the reader to think further.
Families can use the two languages in whatever way suits their child. A child might read the Russian independently and check a passage in English, or read together with an adult and discuss the characters’ decisions afterwards. Each story stands on its own, so there is a natural place to pause before beginning another adventure.
As a children’s author, language educator and mother raising a bilingual daughter in the Netherlands, I want to create books that give children a reason to keep reading in Russian: characters they enjoy spending time with and stories they want to follow.
School Stories / Школьные истории is available in paperback on Amazon.
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