About the book: 2016 / The monograph of the famous Finnish literary critic is dedicated to the four-hundred-year history of Russian literature for children and youth from its very origins at the end of the 16th century to the present day. This story is full of successful careers and tragic destinies, talented writers and mediocrity, bestsellers and long-forgotten works. After seizing power in 1917, the Bolsheviks planned to create a new culture for a new person, the starting point for which was to be children's literature, which, like all other literature, was subject to Soviet censorship. The book examines the work of various Russian children's writers of the past and present, their books are analyzed in the context of critical debates, translated literature, journalism and the cultural politics of their time.