Vasilkin Will Go to the Blackboard!

“My name is Dima Vasil’kin. I’m in the third ‘A’ and I constantly end up in funny situations. Not all of them, though, seem funny at first—like, for example, when Kostik and I got stuck at his place until right before night. Still, I love these cases—telling them later is pure pleasure! And what I don’t like is this: ‘Vasil’kin will go to the blackboard…’ — those are the words our teacher Svetlana Alekseevna says every day.”

Victoria Lederman’s new book is a collection of amusing and instructive stories from the life of a third-grader, arranged into a single narrative that gradually reveals the character of the young hero to the reader. In fact, the reader knows this hero well—because Vasil’kin is just like any other nine-year-old schoolboy! Victoria Lederman writes easily and engagingly. The writer manages to create a truthful and memorable image, just as she did in her previous books that became real hits: “The Calendar of the Mayans,” “A First-Year Student,” “Only Eleven! or Shury-mury in the Fifth ‘D’,” “Classes Won’t Be Held!”