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Children's books receive valuable feedback
The State Duma has called for a fight against the distribution of "subversive" children's books. Nina Ostanina, head of the Committee for the Protection of the Family, sent a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko. She cited a study by the Writers' Union Committee on Children's Literature, whose experts analyzed 930 modern works published in Russia. Two-thirds of them, according to the association, form "negative attitudes" in the child's mind, including instilling indifference to the future, reducing human nature to instincts, or rejecting the traditional roles of men and women. In a comment to Kommersant FM, the authors of the initiative explained that they are mainly talking about Western authors whose texts are printed in small print runs in the Russian Federation.
As an example of "subversive" literature, the authors of the initiative cited the book "Soldier" by Italian Cristina Bellemo, whose main character always thought about war, but threw off her uniform when she learned about the existence of peaceful life. But no one accused him of desertion. In Russia, this is a criminal offense, the authors remind. These books do not violate the legislation of the Russian Federation. All claims concern the position of the author, as Nina Ostanina, Chair of the State Duma Committee for the Protection of the Family, explained to Kommersant FM: "They are incompatible with our mission to educate our traditional spiritual and moral values. Betrayal is the norm for them. This is not typical of our Russian character. This will never educate heroes in our children. What would you recommend to our readers? This is exactly what we are talking about. This is not done by officials or agents, but by people who write themselves. They should also be developmental psychologists.
You need to think about who you invite there. Young modern parents who cannot be seduced or tamed. Trust me. “They are the ones who came to me to think about how we can gather them and limit this children’s content.”
Some children's publishers refused to comment on the State Duma's proposals to limit the distribution of so-called subversive books. And the writers themselves, in private conversations, called this initiative political. In their opinion, if it were implemented, it would be difficult to avoid excesses. For example, censors prefer that children's books not touch on such difficult topics as suicide or betrayal. In this case, readers, especially children, may lose trust in the author, emphasized children's writer Irina Krestyeva:
“There has to be some censorship, but we writers have to be very careful not to ban topics that we need to talk about with teenagers.
Rather, we are talking about the age of 12 and up. Suicide, let's take this topic as an example. This cannot be ignored at all. To give a negative assessment of such behavior, one should not show romanticism, but directly, but not directly. Of course, many books are completely calm and ordinary, so they do not need censorship at all. We will not ban the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood". "More than a generation grew up on this fairy tale and nothing terrible happened."
In May 2024, the media reported that the Krasnoyarsk Regional Prosecutor's Office demanded that the sale of Grigory Oster's book "Harmful Advice" be recalled. The content included "depictions of cruelty, violence and antisocial behavior that instill fear in children." The regulator later reported that concerns had been raised about the illustrations. At the same time, activists are increasingly dissatisfied with the text of the book, says children's writer Tamara Kryukova. "We need censorship and education for young people, but books should be assessed by experts.
People look for completely wild ideas in works that don't even hint at it. There is a very good and amazing book about New Year's miracles, in which some readers saw shadows of Stalinism.
Even in my delirium, I could not believe that Father Frost had anything to do with Stalin. Or, for example, the story about the castle where an old wizard lives and he has an apprentice. Someone saw propaganda again. How can an old man and a schoolgirl be together? Sorry, that's a surname, not a truck in a communal apartment. Some people start looking for fleas just to find them. Now they will start banning everything. I would not want that. We must be very careful with our literature, which is flourishing now. As for Western books, most likely, the rest is being printed now. The rights to the work have already been bought. This will pass. There is indeed a distortion in this text. They do not talk about love for their country at all. How can you talk about love for the Motherland when you live there? "There are no slippery topics in children's books by modern Russian authors."
Among other things, the agents point out in their appeal to the government that modern children's books often "normalize deviations" and, in particular, present personality flaws as "something that does not require correction." Descriptions of the so-called subversive mood can include scenes from classical and folk works, notes children's writer Yuriy Nechiporenko:
"In folk tales and A.S. Pushkin, if you want, you can dig into violations of 16 years and older, insults to the clergy. In particular, it talks about "The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda." In our Russian Empire, V.A. Zhukovsky rewrote it, replacing the first with merchants. Then the Soviet government returned it. And in this sense, Pushkin fought against censorship, because it had many restrictions. But censorship in a sense disciplined the author. Any order always seems insulting to the writer. But I can understand the state trying to protect children, and I can understand parents.
But I think it’s more important to choose good books and distribute them across the country than to mess around with small volumes, find flaws and create your own hype to attract attention.”
Polyandria Publishing House, which published The Soldier, notes that the meaning of the book is distorted. “Of course, I think that the content of the text is different for each person, but this is a very important book. It also calls on parents to remember themselves and their experiences, their fears of adults and their sometimes very demanding world. It shows that children sometimes feel very lonely in the conditions of competition and achievement imposed on them. In the end, we learn that we can be happy and successful. Fellow athletes and ballerinas have now become friends, not just rivals. And in their lives, in addition to hatred, there is room for mutual understanding, joint creativity and simple children's fun,” says Darina Yakunina, editor-in-chief of Polyanria Publishing House.
Irina Balakhonova, editor-in-chief of the children's publishing house "Samokat", recalled in a conversation with "Kommersant FM" that censorship in Russia was abolished by the 1993 constitution. Smart, free-thinking people who respect themselves and are ready to make independent decisions, which are necessary for any developing country. It is inappropriate to talk about the nationality of literature. We all grew up on the books of Vladislav Krapivin and Yegor Gaidar, as well as Astrid Lindgren, Tove Jansson, Alexandre Dumas, William Faulkner, Maurice Druon, Jack London...
And "Russianness" is not a guarantee of political correctness. Korney Chukovsky was not published for a long time, because Nadezhda Krupskaya identified "enemy" ideology in his works and called him bourgeois scum. And Chukovsky's student Agniya Barto, supporting this point of view, betrayed her teacher three times (on the issue of betrayal). Where are Krupskaya and Barto now, and where is Chukovsky in the hearts of children?
In a conversation with Kommersant FM, the publishing house "Subscription Editions" expressed concerns that the implementation of the State Duma proposal will deal a financial blow to market participants, for example, when already published works will have to be withdrawn from circulation. They also doubt the legality of such a ban. Small publishing houses and chains already incur significant expenses due to the need to label their books, the company says.
Everything is clear with the Kommersant FM Telegram channel.