Alisa Streltsova is a laureate of the V. P. Krapivin International Children’s Prize in the category “Choice of the Professional Jury” (2021). "Shishkin Root…" is the author’s debut. A novella in the style of magical realism with unexpected detective twists, and also a guide to the sights of old and new Nizhny Novgorod, with vivid details and historical realities. The prototypes for the main characters and other figures in the book were sculptures portraying the faces of the city’s residents of the late 19th century, installed on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street. The story takes place in 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod, where fate unexpectedly throws a closed-off, self-doubting schoolboy who loves history—Seryozha Shishkin. Seryozha meets Grishka—a brave, open, and firmly grounded boot-cleaner. By sheer chance, the boys learn about a robbery being planned. They try to track down the attackers to prevent the crime. But something goes wrong…