Ludmilla Derevyanchenko

I'm reading through as many Russian readers as I can find in order to find interesting readings for my students. The title of this collection (it only has three stories in it) implies that the stories are about 'today's' Russia, but even though the book was first published in 1992, the stories do not seem to have any relation to what was happening in Russia during this time. The stories themselves are ok, two of them are based on real events, but no dates or contemporary events are mentioned and the stories could have taken place sometime in the 1980s or even 1970s. A little clarification on when these events took place could have been helpful. There are several typos, some words are translated at the bottom of the page, but there is no glossary at the end of the book. The language is fairly simple, most 2nd year students or even an advanced 1st year student could read this without too much trouble. Overall, the language is very bland.
"School Holidays in Petersburg" is probably the newest tale, seeing how it uses the new (old) name for St. Petersburg. A high school girl, Tanya, has a visitor from Germany, her pen pal for many years, stay with her for a week. During this week, Tanya realizes what her true feelings are about her long-time neighbor and classmate. That is about it. I realized in reading this story that I had never before come across the word in Russian for "extension cord" until now. So, now I know how to say "extension cord" in Russian.
"The Bear and the Girl" includes photographs of the two protagonists. This is a true story of a family who while visiting a zoo by the Black Sea, decide to take home an abandoned polar bear cub (the family lives in Siberia). The cub bonds with the family, especially the little girl, Veronika. The family decides to reintroduce the cub to the wild, since it is becoming too large to live in the apartment with them. This does not succeed, and they end up donating the bear to a zoo in Germany. It is an interesting story, made especially poignant through the photographs of the bear and the family. Apparently the father was a biologist and film director. It would be interesting to watch the documentary about this bear.
The last story called "Without a parrot or a (Man) Friday" relates another 'true story' about a boy who ends up on a desert island for over a month by himself. It tells step-by-step how he fed himself, built a tent, kept warm, his worries and thoughts, and finally his rescue.… (plus d'informations)