About the book: 1984 / "Children of the Dungeon" - a story about children's friendship, about the life of the poor in Tsarist Russia. It is impossible to read this unforgettable story without excitement. It is written so truthfully, with such warm sympathy and love for unfortunate people! The author of the story, Russian writer Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, grew up in Ukraine, in a poor, working family. In his works he always fought for the truth. Korolenko could not look with indifference at the suffering of the common people, he passionately hated all evil, violence, injustice in public life. You can’t live like that, his stories, short stories, essays said, you can’t meekly tolerate the cruel, unjust power of the rich over the poor. It is necessary to fight for a better life for all honest workers on earth, because “man is created for happiness, like a bird for flight.” For his speeches against social injustice, Korolenko was imprisoned more than once and spent many years in exile. And the heroes of many of his stories and the stories begin this fight against the culprits of the people's grief and poverty. Korolenko wrote many wonderful works. One of the first was the story “In Bad Society” (1885). Soon, with slight abbreviations, it was published for children under the title “Children of the Dungeon.” The book is illustrated by the wonderful artist Veniamin Kostitsyn.