Children in Sharkovshchyna wrote nine magical stories about their city. And a miracle happened
Children in Sharkovshchyna wrote nine magical stories about their city. And a miracle happened: the book "Tales of Sharkov-Grad" was published.
Glossy, hardcover, with intricate monograms and capital letters. With large, colorful pictures. A real fairy tale book. Look, read, and be amazed!
The fairy tale began with the arrival of theater director Lyudmila Kazitskaya at the children's library of Sharkovshchyna. Working with books and children, she became convinced that pictures and videos were winning over letters. Children are almost not interested in poetry and prose; reading strains them. She decided to fix this, and a year later, the literary club "Living Word" appeared in the district center:
— As an experienced reader, it was hard for me to see children's faces darken at the thought of having to read a text longer than two sentences, — recalls Lyudmila Alexandrovna. — I set a goal: to convince children to pick up a book. I started with what was close to them: Sharkovshchyna was preparing to celebrate its 515th anniversary. Yes, it's a small town, but with its own character, traditions, legends and lore, and extraordinary people. I wanted the children to understand this too and fall in love. In books, in themselves, in their native places, in the very process of word creation.
They say anyone can write a fairy tale. It's even fashionable – there are plenty of step-by-step instructions online. But try it yourself, and you'll immediately understand the nature of the word "fairytale therapy." You need to invent a hero, see the plot, turn ordinary things into magical ones, defeat the villain, and become strong. In short, it took six months before the children wrote anything at all.
The process was difficult. Books, internet searches, conversations, drawings, dictionaries, creative diaries, drafts, tears... Lyudmila Alexandrovna listened to everyone but didn't prompt anyone – she wanted to know what the children thought about life and the place where they were born. The creative search bore fruit:
— They came up with nine plots, after reading which anyone could understand what kind of place Sharkov-Grad is. That's when I myself wanted to visualize these tales, and I gave them to Viktor Kruk, a teacher at the art school, to read. A member of the Belarusian Union of Artists immediately supported the idea and offered hism students to draw illustrations for these fairy tales.
Such a project could well become a nationwide trend, believes writer Viktor Pravdin:
—Children always have something to say about their native places. Perhaps such a book could have appeared earlier. But it depends on whether there are indifferent adults around the children, in love with their region and their work. Everything coincided here. Of course, the Year of Small Motherland, declared by the President, gave impetus to such ideas. It made many turn to their roots. After all, sometimes only in very mature age do we realize how childhood impressions influenced our destiny. The truth is spoken through the mouths of infants, which is why the book "Kаzki pra Sharkaў-Hrad" is so impressive. I want adults to pay attention to it, because today we need to talk to children about love for the Motherland. They should know who built these streets, lived in these houses, planted the lime trees here, and to whom the castles belonged. Believe me, there is not a single person in the world who is indifferent to living knowledge about their ancestors. Only a sense of real connection to one's roots gives the feeling that you are just a small part of a great history. This is how love for one's country is born.
Children do not like being lectured. But they adore fairy tales and know how to dream. In Sharkovshchina, everyone knows this now. The authors of the fairy tales have grown up, perceive their childhood fantasies a little differently, and have not yet realized that they have already entered the history of their hometown. They are now its characters. And they know for sure: life is a fairy tale that everyone writes for themselves. Perhaps someone will try to repeat it? We need to give children a voice, then we will learn a lot about ourselves and about what future awaits our country.
Glossy, hardcover, with intricate monograms and capital letters. With large, colorful pictures. A real fairy tale book. Look, read, and be amazed!
The fairy tale began with the arrival of theater director Lyudmila Kazitskaya at the children's library of Sharkovshchyna. Working with books and children, she became convinced that pictures and videos were winning over letters. Children are almost not interested in poetry and prose; reading strains them. She decided to fix this, and a year later, the literary club "Living Word" appeared in the district center:
— As an experienced reader, it was hard for me to see children's faces darken at the thought of having to read a text longer than two sentences, — recalls Lyudmila Alexandrovna. — I set a goal: to convince children to pick up a book. I started with what was close to them: Sharkovshchyna was preparing to celebrate its 515th anniversary. Yes, it's a small town, but with its own character, traditions, legends and lore, and extraordinary people. I wanted the children to understand this too and fall in love. In books, in themselves, in their native places, in the very process of word creation.
They say anyone can write a fairy tale. It's even fashionable – there are plenty of step-by-step instructions online. But try it yourself, and you'll immediately understand the nature of the word "fairytale therapy." You need to invent a hero, see the plot, turn ordinary things into magical ones, defeat the villain, and become strong. In short, it took six months before the children wrote anything at all.
The process was difficult. Books, internet searches, conversations, drawings, dictionaries, creative diaries, drafts, tears... Lyudmila Alexandrovna listened to everyone but didn't prompt anyone – she wanted to know what the children thought about life and the place where they were born. The creative search bore fruit:
— They came up with nine plots, after reading which anyone could understand what kind of place Sharkov-Grad is. That's when I myself wanted to visualize these tales, and I gave them to Viktor Kruk, a teacher at the art school, to read. A member of the Belarusian Union of Artists immediately supported the idea and offered hism students to draw illustrations for these fairy tales.
Young artists painted their pictures in secret from the young storytellers. Each chose the fairy tale that seemed most interesting to them. One fine day, members of the "Living Word" club were invited to an exhibition. It was at that moment that the book was born. Everyone somehow immediately understood: this magic must be published. Writer and prose writer Viktor Pravdin was the first to help. Then public organizations, church communities, entrepreneurs, students, and teachers joined in. More than 50 people took part in financing this miracle.
The book turned out surprisingly lively. You want to pick it up and read it to children. There is the kind Sharachok who grants wishes, a little ghost in the children's library, wonderful clay and healing berries, a Sharchy monk and holy temples, the mysterious place of Sharok and a magical park where rainbow dogs roam. Each fairy tale is written in Belarusian and Russian. The authors translated everything themselves.
Such a project could well become a nationwide trend, believes writer Viktor Pravdin:
—Children always have something to say about their native places. Perhaps such a book could have appeared earlier. But it depends on whether there are indifferent adults around the children, in love with their region and their work. Everything coincided here. Of course, the Year of Small Motherland, declared by the President, gave impetus to such ideas. It made many turn to their roots. After all, sometimes only in very mature age do we realize how childhood impressions influenced our destiny. The truth is spoken through the mouths of infants, which is why the book "Kаzki pra Sharkaў-Hrad" is so impressive. I want adults to pay attention to it, because today we need to talk to children about love for the Motherland. They should know who built these streets, lived in these houses, planted the lime trees here, and to whom the castles belonged. Believe me, there is not a single person in the world who is indifferent to living knowledge about their ancestors. Only a sense of real connection to one's roots gives the feeling that you are just a small part of a great history. This is how love for one's country is born.
Children do not like being lectured. But they adore fairy tales and know how to dream. In Sharkovshchina, everyone knows this now. The authors of the fairy tales have grown up, perceive their childhood fantasies a little differently, and have not yet realized that they have already entered the history of their hometown. They are now its characters. And they know for sure: life is a fairy tale that everyone writes for themselves. Perhaps someone will try to repeat it? We need to give children a voice, then we will learn a lot about ourselves and about what future awaits our country.