Works by Volkov for children. Volkov Alexander Melentyevich - so that they remember

§ Biography

Born on June 14, 1891 in Ust-Kamenogorsk in a military fortress, in the family of retired sergeant major Melenty Mikhailovich Volkov. At the age of 12, he graduated as the first student from the Ust-Kamenogorsk city school, where started later their teaching activities.

In 1907 he entered the Tomsk Teachers' Institute, after which (in 1909) he received a diploma with the right to teach all subjects school curriculum except the Law of God.

Started working as a teacher in his hometown, in 1910 (by specialty - mathematician) worked as a teacher in the Altai city of Kolyvan. In the 1920s he moved to Yaroslavl, where he worked as a school director. Graduated in absentia from the Yaroslavl Faculty of Mathematics pedagogical institute.

In 1929 he moved to Moscow, where he worked as the head of the educational department of the workers' faculty. In seven months, I completed the course and passed the exams as an external student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. Since 1931, for twenty years since its founding, he has been a teacher, then an associate professor of the department of higher mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold.

Volkov was encyclopedic educated person, knew literature and history well, and spoke foreign languages.

At 24, Volkov met on New Year's ball in Ust-Kamenogorsk with gymnastics and dance teacher Kaleria Gubina. Two months later they got married and a year later they had a son, Vivian (died at five years old from dysentery), and three years later another, Romuald (died at two years old from croup). However, a few years later, Alexander and Kaleria again had two sons in turn, and they gave them the same names.

§ Creation

Volkov began writing his first novel at the age of twelve. Began publishing in 1916. In the 1920s, his plays were performed on the stages of several provincial theaters. At the end of the 1930s he joined great literature. Member of the Writers' Union since 1941. The total circulation of his works, published in many languages ​​of the world, exceeded twenty-five million copies.

Many of Volkov's works are dedicated to outstanding personalities of the past - scientists, builders, discoverers, philosophers. In his novels and stories, the writer most often turned to history.

Before working on such a book, he carefully and comprehensively studied the era, got acquainted with documents and special scientific works, so he combines a fascinating plot and emotional presentation with scientific and authenticity.

One of the first children's books on historical topic“The Wonderful Ball” reveals a picture of life in Russia in the 18th century. Main character In this story, the son of a merchant, Dmitry Rakitin, was imprisoned forever in a fortress, where he invented the first hot air balloon in Russia. The book "The Wake of the Stern" tells the history of navigation from primitive times to the legendary voyages of the Viking Leif Eriksson.

Volkov liked to develop topics related to national history, not only ancient, but also modern. In the story “The Captive of Constantinople” the author spoke about the times of the great reign of Yaroslav the Wise, in “Two Brothers” - about the reign of Peter I, and in “Journey to the Third Millennium” - about the construction of the Volga-Don Canal in the author’s native Soviet era.

Volkov was also involved in popularizing science for schoolchildren. He published a number of entertaining stories on geography and astronomy, combining them into the collection “Earth and Sky.” The popular science book “In Search of Truth” was dedicated to the history of science, and another book was dedicated to fishing.

      ¶  Cycle “The Wizard of the Emerald City”

As a rule, the name Volkov is known today only from this cycle. The first book in the series was based on the book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by American children's writer Lyman Frank Baum. Volkov undertook to translate this book in order to practice learning English. However, during the translation process, he changed some events and added new adventures of the heroes. The manuscript of the revised tale was approved by S. Ya. Marshak. In 1939, the story “The Wizard of the Emerald City” acquired the status of an independent work; it was translated into 13 languages ​​and went through 46 reprints.

In 1963, almost 25 years later, Volkov again began writing stories about the girl Ellie and her friends Scarecrow, Lion, Tin Woodman and other inhabitants of the Magic Land. The author created a whole series of stories in which he combined reality and fantasy. Volkov used techniques characteristic of literary fairy tale. For example, in the cycle you can see the “two worlds” traditional for this genre, the confrontation between good and evil, and he also filled the narrative with classical fairy-tale characters(by wizards who were talking animals), and used traditional motifs(flying shoes, a royal family immersed in a magical sleep, animated wooden figures, and so on).

The plots of the cycle develop themes of moral self-improvement, the power of friendship, which can create real miracles, love for the homeland, and the collective struggle for freedom and justice. Although the main actions of the cycle take place in the Magic Land, the heroes find a way out difficult situations not so much due to some kind of magical help, but rather due to one’s own knowledge, intelligence, ingenuity, and mutual assistance.

The writer had faith in the omnipotence of man-made technology, so his heroes usually defeated witchcraft with the help of various technical inventions (a gun designed by Charlie Black, a mechanical drill, the super robot Tilly-Willy).

In the 1950s, the book appeared with drawings by L. Vladimirsky, who also made illustrations for other stories in the series.

• "The Wizard of Oz" (1939)
• "Oorfene Deuce and his wooden soldiers" (1963)
• "Seven Underground Kings" (1964)
• "The Fire God of the Marrans" (1968)
• "Yellow Fog" (1970)
• "The Mystery of the Abandoned Castle" (1976, book version - 1982)

      ¶  Stories

• "Two Brothers" (1938-1961)
• "The Wonderful Ball (The First Balloonist)" (1940)
• "The Invisible Fighters" (1942)
• "Planes at War" (1946)
• "Way as Stern" (1960)
• "Travelers into the Third Millennium" (1960)
• "The Adventures of Two Friends in the Land of the Past" (1963)
• "Prisoner of Constantinople" (1969)
• “And Lena was stained with blood” (1975)

      ¶  Stories and essays

• "Petya Ivanov's journey to an extraterrestrial station"
• "In the Altai Mountains"
• "Lapatin Bay"
• "On the Buzhe River"
• « Birthmark»
• "Lucky day"
• "Campfire"

      ¶  Novels

• "Architects" (1954)
• Volkov A. M. Architects: A Novel / Afterword: Doctor of Historical Sciences A. A. Zimin; Drawings by I. Godin. - Reprint. - M.: Children's literature, 1986. - 384 p. - (Library series). - 100,000 copies. (Abstract: A novel from Russian history of the 16th century about the construction of a miracle of Russian architecture, a magnificent historical monument- St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow).
• In the novel “Wanderings” (1963), the author spoke about the childhood and youth of the Italian astronomer and philosopher Giordano Bruno.

      ¶  Popular science books

• “How to catch fish with a fishing rod. Notes of a Fisherman" (1953)
• "Earth and Sky" (1957-1974)
• "In Search of Truth" (1980)
• "In Search of Destiny" (1924)

      ¶  Poetry

• "Nothing Makes Me Happy" (1917)
• "Dreams" (1917)
• "Red Army"
• "The Ballad of the Soviet Pilot"
• "Scouts"
• "Young Partisans"
• "Motherland"

      ¶  Songs

• "Marching Komsomolskaya"
• "Song of the Timurites"

      ¶  Plays for children's theater

• "Eagle Beak"
• "In a remote corner"
• « Village school»
• "Tolya the Pioneer"
• "Fern flower"
• "Home Teacher"
• “Comrade from the center (Modern auditor)”
• « Trading house Schneersohn and Co.

      ¶  Radio plays (1941-1943)

• “The counselor goes to the front”
• "Timurovites"
• "Patriots"
• "Dead of Night"
• "Sweatshirt"

      ¶  Historical essays

• "Mathematics in Military Affairs"
• “Glorious pages in the history of Russian artillery”

      ¶  Translations

• Jules Verne, "The Danube Pilot"
• Jules Verne, " Extraordinary Adventures Barsak's expedition"

§ Perpetuation of memory

In 1986, the newly built street of Ust-Kamenogorsk on the left bank of the Irtysh was named after A. M. Volkov.

Years of life: from 07/14/1891 to 07/03/1977

Soviet writer, playwright, translator.

Alexander Melentyevich Volkov was born on July 14, 1891 in Ust-Kamenogorsk in the family of a military sergeant major and a dressmaker. The future writer was not even four years old when his father taught him to read, and since then he has become an avid reader. At the age of 6, Volkov was immediately accepted into the second grade of the city school and at the age of 12 he graduated as the best student. At the end World War I war, he passes the final exams at the Semipalatinsk gymnasium, and then graduates from the Yaroslavl Pedagogical Institute. In 1910, after a preparatory course, he entered the Tomsk Teachers' Institute, from which he graduated in 1910 with the right to teach in city and higher primary schools. Alexander Volkov began working as a teacher in the ancient Altai city of Kolyvan, and then in his hometown of Ust-Kamenogorsk, at the school where he began his education. There he independently mastered German and French And.

On the eve of the revolution, Volkov tries out his pen. His first poems “Nothing makes me happy” and “Dreams” were published in 1917 in the newspaper “Siberian Light”. In 1917 - early 1918, he was a member of the Ust-Kamenogorsk Soviet of Deputies and participated in the publication of the newspaper “Friend of the People.” Volkov, like many “old regime” intellectuals, did not immediately accept the October Revolution. But an inexhaustible faith in a bright future captures him, and together with everyone else he participates in building a new life, teaches people and learns himself. He teaches at the pedagogical courses that are opening in Ust-Kamenogorsk, at the pedagogical college. At this time he wrote a number of plays for children's theater. His funny comedies and plays “Eagle Beak”, “In a Deaf Corner”, “Village School”, “Tolya the Pioneer”, “Fern Flower”, “Home Teacher”, “Comrade from the Center” (“Modern Inspector”) and “ Trading house Schneersohn and Co. great success performed on the stages of Ust-Kamenogorsk and Yaroslavl.

In the 20s, Volkov moved to Yaroslavl to become a school director. In parallel with this, he is taking exams as an external student at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Pedagogical Institute. In 1929, Alexander Volkov moved to Moscow, where he worked as the head of the educational department of the workers' faculty. By the time he entered the Moscow State University, he was already forty years old married man, father of two children. There, in seven months, he completed the entire five-year course of the Faculty of Mathematics, after which for twenty years he was a teacher of higher mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold. There he taught an elective course in literature for students, continued to expand his knowledge of literature, history, geography, astronomy, and was actively involved in translations.

Later, in his fifties, Alexander Melentyevich brilliantly graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics at Moscow University in just 7 months. And soon he becomes a teacher of higher mathematics at one of the Moscow universities. And here the most unexpected turn in the life of Alexander Melentyevich takes place. It all started with the fact that he, a great expert foreign languages, decided to learn English. And for practice I tried to translate the fairy tale American writer Frank Baum's "The Wise Man of OZ" He liked the book. He began to retell it to his two sons. At the same time, redoing something, adding something. The girl began to be called Ellie. Totoshka, having found himself in the Magic Land, spoke. And the Sage from the Land of Oz acquired a name and title - the Great and Terrible Wizard Goodwin... Many other cute, funny, sometimes almost imperceptible changes appeared. And when the translation, or, more precisely, the retelling, was completed, it suddenly became clear that this was no longer quite Baum’s “The Sage.” The American fairy tale has become just a fairy tale. And her heroes spoke Russian as naturally and cheerfully as they had spoken English half a century before.

Samuel Yakovlevich Marshak, having become acquainted with the manuscript of “The Wizard”, and then with the translator, strongly advised him to take up literature professionally. Volkov heeded the advice. "The Wizard" was published in 1939.

The incredible success of Volkov's cycle, which made the author modern classic children's literature, largely delayed the “penetration” of F. Baum’s original works into the domestic market; nevertheless, with the exception of the first story, Volkov’s cycle is the fruit of his independent imagination.

In addition to works for children, Volkov is the author of other works. They were very popular in the country historical works Alexander Melentyevich - “Two Brothers”, “Architects”, “Wandering”, “Captivity of Tsargrad”, collection “The Wake of the Stern”, dedicated to the history of navigation, primitive times, the destruction of Atlantis and the discovery of America by the Vikings.

In addition, Alexander Volkov published several popular science books about nature, fishing, and the history of science. The most popular of them, “Earth and Sky” (1957), introducing children to the world of geography and astronomy, has gone through multiple reprints.

Volkov translated Jules Verne (“The Extraordinary Adventures of the Barsak Expedition” and “The Danube Pilot”), he wrote the fantastic stories “The Adventure of Two Friends in the Land of the Past” (1963, pamphlet), “Travelers in the Third Millennium” (1960), short stories and essays “Petya Ivanov’s Journey to an Extraterrestrial Station”, “In the Altai Mountains”, “Lapatin Bay”, “On the Buzhe River”, “Birthmark”, “Lucky Day”, “By the Fire”, story “And Lena Was Stained with Blood” ( 1975, unpublished?), and many other works.

As a child, there were few books in his father’s house, and from the age of 8, Sasha began to skillfully bind neighbor’s books, while having the opportunity to read them.

Even as a child I read Mayne Reed, Jules Verne and Dickens; Of the Russian writers I loved A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Nikitin.

Bibliography

Cycle The Wizard of the Emerald City
The first book was based on the American children's writer Lyman Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
(1939)
(1963)
(1964)
(1968)
(1970)
(1975, published 1982)

Popular science books
How to catch fish with a fishing rod. Notes of a Fisherman (1953)
Earth and Sky (1972)
In Search of Truth (1980)

Poetry
Nothing Makes Me Happy (1917)
Dreams (1917)
Red Army
Ballad about a Soviet pilot
Scouts
Young partisans
Motherland

Songs
Marching Komsomol
Song of the Timurites

Plays for children's theater
Eagle beak
In a remote corner
Village school
Tolya the Pioneer
Fern flower
Home teacher
Comrade from the center (Modern auditor)
Trading house Shneersohn and Co.

Radio plays (1941-1943)
The counselor goes to the front
Timurites
Patriots
Dead of night
Sweatshirt

Historical essays
Mathematics in military affairs
Glorious pages in the history of Russian artillery

Translations
Jules Verne, Danube Pilot
Jules Verne, The Extraordinary Adventures of the Barsac Expedition

Film adaptations of works, theatrical productions

The Wizard of Oz:
1974 - Puppet cartoon(10 episodes), based on Volkov’s fairy tales “The Wizard of the Emerald City”, “Oorfene Deuce and His Wooden Soldiers” and “Seven Underground Kings”.
1994 - Film directed by Arsenov. The film has a star cast: Innocent and Innocent Jr., Pavlov, Varley, Shcherbakov, Kabo, Nosik.

- (1891 1977), Russian writer. A mathematician by training. Best known as the author of the series fairy tales for children: “The Wizard of the Emerald City” (1939, based on the book by the American children’s writer F. Baum “The Sage of Oz”), “Urfene ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1891 1977) Russian writer. A mathematician by training. He is best known as the author of a series of fairy tales for children: The Wizard of the Emerald City (1939, based on the book by the American children's writer F. Baum The Wise Man of Oz), Oorfene Deuce... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1891 1977). Rus. owls prose writer, playwright, translator, more famous work. det. lit ry. Genus. in Ust-Kamenogorsk, began publishing in 1916. SP. V.'s fame was brought by his free reworking famous novel F. Bauma "Amazing... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

Alexander Melentyevich Volkov Date of birth: July 14, 1891 Place of birth: Ust-Kamenogorsk, Russian empire Date of death: July 3, 1977 Place of death: Moscow, RSFSR Citizenship: USSR Occupation: writer ... Wikipedia

Volkov, Alexander Melentievich- (1891 1977) writer. Author of a series of fairy tales for children: The Wizard of the Emerald City (1939, based on the book by American children's writer F. Baum The Wise Man of Oz), Oorfene Deuce and His Wooden Soldiers (1963), The Seven Underground... ... Pedagogical terminological dictionary

Wikipedia has articles about other people with the surname Volkov. Volkov, Alexander: Volkov, Alexander Alexandrovich: Volkov, Alexander Alexandrovich (lieutenant general) (1779 1833) lieutenant general, chief of the 2nd (Moscow) district of the Corps... ... Wikipedia

Volkov is a surname formed as a patronymic from the non-church male personal name Volk. In Rus', such a nickname was often given in order to protect a person from predators. According to ancient beliefs, whoever received the name of the corresponding animal or element entered with them ... Wikipedia

- ... Wikipedia

Volkov: Wiktionary has an article “Volkov” ... Wikipedia

Books

• Constantinople captive
• Captive of Constantinople, Volkov Alexander Melentievich. Alexander Volkov recreates life with historical accuracy Ancient Rus' XI century, when the Pecheneg raids terrified the inhabitants of Chertory. Leaving in its wake burnt houses, destruction and...

Biography, life story of Volkov Alexander Melentyevich

Volkov Alexander Melentievich - Russian writer, translator.

Childhood

Alexander Melentyevich Volkov was born on June 14, 1891. His place of birth is the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. Alexander's father's name was Melenty Mikhailovich, he was a retired sergeant major.

Volkov's passion for literature manifested itself in early childhood. At the age of 4, thanks to the efforts of his father, Alexander already knew how to read. Since then, books have become his faithful companions.

At the age of 6, Alexander began studying at the city school, and he was immediately accepted into the second grade. And at the age of 12, Volkov had already graduated from this educational institution.

Education, teaching

The year 1907 was marked for Alexander Volkov by entering the Tomsk Teachers' Institute. In 1910, having received a degree in mathematics, he worked for some time as a teacher in the village of Kolyvan ( Altai region). A little later, he worked as a teacher in his native school in Ust-Kamenogorsk. At this time, Volkov independently mastered the German and French languages ​​to perfection.

In the 20s of the 20th century, Volkov moved to the city of Yaroslavl, where he took up the post of school director, while simultaneously studying at the correspondence department of the Yaroslavl Pedagogical Institute.

Alexander Melentyevich arrived in Moscow in 1929. There they began to work as the head of the academic department of the working faculty. For seven months (instead of the required five years) he studied at Moscow University. By this time, Volkov was already married and had two sons.

In 1931, Alexander Volkov became a teacher and then an associate professor at the Department of Higher Mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold.

CONTINUED BELOW

Volkov’s first poems (“Dreams”, “Nothing Makes Me Happy”) were published in the newspaper “Siberian Light” in 1917. Right after October revolution Alexander Melentyevich wrote many plays for children's theater - “Village School”, “In a Deaf Corner”, “Fern Flower” and others. Productions based on his works were very warmly received by the audience.

As a teacher at the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold, Volkov decided to master English language. To do this, Alexander Melentievich read a book by Lyman Frank Baum entitled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Remaining impressed by what he read, Volkov tried to translate fairy tale story into Russian. In the process of work, the Russian writer changed many aspects of Baum’s story, added some points, so the result was not a translation, but a reworking of the book. As a result, the fairy tale “The Wizard of the Emerald City” came out of Volkov’s pen. Alexander Melentievich showed his manuscript to the famous children's writer. He noted that the manuscript was very good, sent it to the publishing house, and advised Volkov not to give up his literary studies.

“The Wizard of the Emerald City” immediately became popular among readers. The success of this book encouraged Volkov to continue writing. His talent allowed him to become a member of the USSR Writers' Union in 1941.

Throughout his life, Alexander Melentyevich wrote more than 50 works, among which were poems, popular science books, historical essays, novels, plays, and stories...

Death

Volkov Alexander Melentyevich died in Moscow in 1977 on July 3 at the age of 86 years. A street in his hometown of Ust-Kamenogorsk is named in his honor.

A. Volkov is an excellent scientist, teacher and translator, who for his creative career wrote several popular science works, historical novels and fantasy stories, and also translated many popular works into Russian foreign authors. To a wide circle He became known to readers thanks to a series of children's books based on Baum's fairy tale, which tells the story of the Wizard from Oz.

Brief biography: Volkov A. M. (childhood)

The writer was born on June 14, 1891 in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk in a family of a simple class. His father was a retired sergeant major, and his mother earned her living as a dressmaker; both knew how to read and write, so at the age of three little Sasha already knew how to read. A love for fairy tales was instilled in him by his mother, who, according to the writer’s recollections, knew many of them and in her spare time always told her son interestingly and in a new way.

The family lived very modestly and there were few luxuries such as books in the house. In order to be able to read as much as possible and earn a little money, at the age of eight, the boy learned how to cleverly bind the books of his father’s neighbors and co-workers. A. Volkov with childhood I read the works of such masters of the pen as Pushkin, Lermontov, Nekrasov, Nikitin, Jules Verne, Dickens, Mine Read. The work of these writers significantly influenced his future fate.

Youth

At the age of twelve, the talented boy graduated with honors from the city school, where, after graduating from the Tomsk Teachers' Institute, he entered the service as a mathematics teacher. Since 1910, Alexander worked as a teacher, first in Kolyvan, and then returned to his native Ust-Kamenogorsk, where in 1915 he met his future wife- dance teacher Kaleria Gubina. Having an ability not only for the exact sciences, A. Volkov independently studied German and French and began to try his hand as a translator.

Volkov published his first poems in 1917 in the city newspaper “Siberian Light”, and in 1918 he took an active part in the creation of the newspaper “Friend of the People”. Imbued with revolutionary ideas about universal education, Volkov teaches at teacher courses in Ust-Kamenogorsk and writes at the same time comedy plays, which are staged in theaters for children's audiences. Having moved to Yaroslavl in the twenties, he holds the position of school director and graduates in absentia from the mathematics department of the city pedagogical institute. In the thirties, A. Volkov with his wife and two sons moved to Moscow to head the educational part of the Faculty of Work.

At the same time, in just over six months, having finished training course, is taking exams as an external student at Moscow University at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. In 1931, the Moscow Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold was created, where Volkov worked for many years. First as a teacher, and later as an assistant professor in the department of higher mathematics. In addition to scientific and teaching activities, Volkov was actively involved in literary creativity throughout his life.

Volkov Alexander Melentievich: books, biography of the writer

Volkov's first attempts at writing were at the age of twelve; inspired by Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe, he tried to write his own adventure novel. Then he became interested in poetry, the poetic fruits of which he published in 1916-1917 under the general title “Dreams” in the newspaper “Siberian Light”.

During his life in Ust-Kamenogorsk and Yaroslavl, Volkov also wrote a number of plays for children's audiences: “Village School”, “Eagle Beak”, “Fern Flower”, “Home Teacher”, “In a Deaf Corner”. These and other plays were staged in city theaters in the twenties and were extremely popular among young audiences.

In 1937, A. Volkov completed work on historical story"The Miracle Ball", published in 1940. The work tells about a political prisoner of the times Russian empress Elizabeth, who managed to leave the dungeon with the help hot air balloon (original name"The First Aeronaut")

The Emerald City and its heroes

In the same year, wanting to practice his English, Alexander Melentievich took on the task of translating the fairy tale “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Fascinated by the translation process and the plot of the fairy tale, Volkov decides to make it more colorful, he endows the heroes with new qualities and adds adventure. Volkov sent the manuscript for the revision of the book for approval to the children's writer Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak, who not only approved it, but strongly recommended that the author take up literary activity on a professional basis. In 1939, a book called “The Wizard of the Emerald City” with illustrations by the artist Nikolai Radlov was published, it won the hearts of many readers and became the beginning famous cycle with the same name. In 1941, Melentievich became a member of the trade union organization.

War period

The theme of adventures and fantastic stories during the war years goes to another level; all the works of the author of this period have a military and patriotic orientation. Thus, in the works “Invisible Fighters” 1942 and “Planes at War” 1946 year goes by talk about the importance of mathematics in modern types weapons. Volkov also writes many patriotic plays and poems for funds mass media. His historical works “Glorious Pages on the History of Russian Artillery” and “Mathematics in Military Affairs” also emphasize the strength and invincibility of the Soviet army.

IN post-war period From the pen of the author come historical novels: “Two Brothers”, “Architects”, “Wanderings”, as well as works of a science-fiction nature “Earth and Sky: Entertaining stories on geography and astronomy”, “Travelers in the third millennium”.

Return to the magical land

In 1963, the author, inspired by the success of the first book about adventures in magical land girls Ellie, dog Totoshka and their fairy-tale friends, publishes books that continue the fairy-tale cycle: “Oorfene Deuce and His Wooden Soldiers”, “Seven Underground Kings” (1967), “Fiery God of the Marrans” (1968), “Yellow Fog” (1970), “The Mystery of the Abandoned Castle.” Alexander Volkov writes all books as completely independent; the works are united only by the main characters fairyland. Even the girl Ellie, having matured, could no longer return to Magic world and comes to the aid of fairy-tale friends new heroine Annie with her dog Artoshka.

Alexander Melentyevich died in 1977 on July 3, leaving behind a rich legacy in the form of translations of the works of famous foreign authors, popular science works, historical novels and, of course, the adventures of the heroes of the Emerald City.