Valka's Friends and Sails

A person of not quite twelve years old. He has dreams and secrets. He has friends that he finds not easily, but apparently successfully. There are no enemies. What enemies could a regular fifth-grader have— calm, non-fighting Valka Begunov? But among the boys and among adults, sometimes there are cold and cruel people. Days pass, and Valka realizes that with such people too, one has to fight. And he protects first a town built out of sand by little kids, then a sail-powered schooner he imagined. Then his red necktie…