Foreign children's writers of the second half of the 19th-20th centuries. Children's literature

Preview:

For parents

A little about reading foreign children's literature

(excerpts from the book “Children’s Literature” edited by E.O. Putilova were used)

Foreign children's literature is incredibly interesting reading. It introduces the little reader to another world, way of life, national character traits, and nature. For the Russian-speaking reader, it exists in magnificent translations and retellings, and we would lose a lot if these foreign works would not have reached us. Children's books by writers from different countries open up a wide panorama of world culture to a child and make him a citizen of the world.

Children's literature, like literature in general, belongs to the field of the art of words. This determines its aesthetic function. It is associated with a special kind of emotion that arises when reading literary works. Children are capable of experiencing aesthetic pleasure from what they read no less than an adult. The child happily immerses himself in the fantasy world of fairy tales and adventures, empathizes with the characters, feels the poetic rhythm, and enjoys sound and verbal play. Children understand humor and jokes well.

English children's literature is one of the richest and most interesting in the world. It may seem strange that in a country that is traditionally perceived by us as the homeland of reserved, polite and reasonable people who adhere to strict rules, mischievous and illogical literature was born. But perhaps it was precisely this English stiffness that gave birth, out of a sense of protest, to a literature that is cheerful and mischievous, in which the world is often turned inside out... literature of nonsense. The word “nonsense” in translation means “nonsense”, “lack of meaning”, but in the very senselessness of this nonsense lies certain meaning. After all, nonsense reveals all the inconsistencies of things around us and within us, thereby opening the path to true harmony.

There are books that are best read in time, when the seeds from what you read can fall on the fertile soil of childhood and play an important role in the development and formation of the child as an individual and as a person. For you, dear parents, we will list some English works, to remind you of their existence, and ask you not to deprive yourself and your children of the pleasure of reading or re-reading them.

Alan Milne, "Winnie the Pooh and Everything"

Rudyard Kipling, “The Jungle Book” (The Story of Mowgli), “Just So Fairy Tales” (Interesting stories-myths about animals)

Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (The Exciting Adventures of Three Friends: Mole, Rat and Toad)

James Barry, " Peter Pan"(Book about a boy who didn't want to grow up)

Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland" ( Funny fairy tale, full of funny and witty jokes, word games, phraseological units)

A. Milne “Winnie the Pooh and all-all-all”

Alan Milne graduated from Cambridge University with the firm intention of becoming a writer. But we would hardly remember this writer now if not for his son Christopher Robin. It was for him that Milne began to write poetry, he told him funny stories, the heroes of which were little Christopher himself and his favorite toys - Winnie the Pooh bear, Eeyore and others. Milne's books reflected surprisingly truthfully inner world a child, his view of things, his problems, discoveries, games, sorrows and joys. Books appeared one after another over a short period of time that coincided with Christopher Robin's childhood: a collection of poems, When We Were Little, 1924; "Winnie the Pooh", 1926; collection of poems “Now we are already six”, 1927; “The House on Pooh Edge” (continuation of the story about Winnie the Pooh), 1928.

Milne's poems looked unusual compared to English children's poetry. At that time, books abounded mainly with fairies, and the attitude towards the child was condescending, as towards an unformed person mentally, and accordingly the poems were primitive. In Milne's poems, the world is seen through the eyes of a child (most of his poems are written in the first person), who is not at all a primitive creature or an “underdeveloped adult.”

For example, in the poem “Loneliness” the hero dreams of a home - an “enchanted place”, free from countless adult prohibitions. This house is his inner world, closed from others, the world of his dreams and secrets. In the poem “In the Dark,” the author shows how precious this world is for a child who is ready to fulfill all the demands of adults, just to get rid of them and finally “think about what you want to think about” and “laugh at what you want to laugh at.” " Jane in the poem "Good Little Girl" is annoyed by her parents' constant care and annoying question. She is offended that she is suspected of bad behavior everywhere, even at the zoo. It seems to the girl that her parents cannot wait for her to quickly ask if she behaved well. In the poem “Come with Me,” the hero tries to involve adults in his life, to show them all the wonderful things he has seen, but the adults brush him off because they are too busy (the poem was written 80 years ago!).

In fairy tales about Winnie the Pooh main character- not a fictional child, but a real child with a special logic, a special world, a special language. All this is interpreted by the author not in the form of a dry treatise, but in a fun literary game. Christopher Robin appears here as an ideal hero, since he is only child, and all the other inhabitants of the forest are animated by his imagination and embody some of his features. Having thus been freed from some of his character traits, Christopher Robin in this tale is the smartest, strongest and bravest inhabitant of his fictional world. And Winnie the Pooh embodies the creative energy of a child and has a different way of understanding things, different from the logical one. Both his poems (“noisemakers”, “grumblers”, etc.) and his behavior are based mainly on intuition.

In Milne's books, the child, playing roles and doing nothing, acquires his own “I”. Some of Pooh's songs are permeated with the feeling of how great it is to be Pooh. Feeling one and only is a child’s natural state, giving him comfort. That is why it is so difficult for him to understand another person who is not like him. Just as it is difficult for a child to understand how someone can be unhappy when he is happy, it is difficult for him to understand and predict the behavior of another person. So, the characters in the fairy tale about Winnie the Pooh show different types children's characters and different traits. For example, children's fears are embodied in the book in such mythical creatures, like Heffalump, Yagular, Byaka and Buka. None of these characters actually exist, and no one like them appears in the forest. However, in Piglet's mind they are real, and when Piglet is next to Christopher Robin, he is not afraid of anything, like a child next to his parents.

In his Milne's tale presents an interesting speech portrait of a preschooler, shows how a child handles language, how he masters it, how he masters the world around him. The world that opens to a child is full of miracles, but what makes him even more wonderful is the opportunity to talk about these miracles. As Piglet said, what is the use of such amazing things as floods and floods if you have no one to even talk about them with.

Milne's Tale - Homemade literary game, fascinating for both adults and children. There is no negative pole in his books. The heroes have their shortcomings, but none can be called “negative” and evil does not invade the life of the forest. In the world of Winnie the Pooh, natural disasters occur, mythical fears appear, but all dangers are easily overcome thanks to friendship, optimism, ingenuity, and the kindness of the heroes. Milne leaves his heroes within the framework (so necessary for children) of a toy, home world, which gives children a sense of security.

And speaking of Milne’s book, one cannot fail to mention the one who taught the English teddy bear Winnie the Pooh to speak Russian. This is a wonderful writer, storyteller and translator, Boris Vladimirovich Zakhoder. It was he who introduced Russian children to the heroes of famous English fairy tales(“Alice in Wonderland”, “Mary Poppins”, “Peter Pan” and others) and wrote many funny poems, wonderful children’s plays, one of which was based on an opera (“Lopushok at Lukomorye”), and fairy tales. More than a dozen films have been shot based on his scripts, including cartoons, the main one, of course, being the cartoon about Winnie the Pooh.

About what
A 12-year-old orphan named Harry learns that he turns out to be a wizard and that his parents did not die in a car accident, as he thought, but were killed. Now the killer dreams of getting to Harry himself.

Why read
If you watched the movies, weren’t impressed, and didn’t read the book, you’re wrong. Movies are made about magic, dragons and special effects. These books are about love, about what it costs to protect friends from danger, about how difficult it is to constantly be a good man. These books teach how wonderful it is that people are different. Because anyone, even the weakest child, is capable of miracles. This is also the greatest book about death and the fact that there are worse things.

CC

About what
The adventures of a boy named , his teddy bear Winnie the Pooh and their friends.

Why read
If only because this book is kindness itself. Heroes are constantly solving some problems, but here, unlike all other classic children's literature, there is absolutely no negative characters. There are no enemies to defeat. There is only love. And friends. And in the end they turn out to be the most valuable thing you can acquire in life. The book teaches you to never lose friends.

Moomin series, Tove Jansson

About what
Description of the intricate relationships of the inhabitants of Moomin.

Why read
All the characters are charming and so diverse that it is easy to recognize yourself in at least one of them. The book teaches that with two different people cannot be treated the same. You need to not be lazy and look for an approach to everyone. And also that fear can be overcome, friendship can be strengthened, love can be strengthened, and absolutely nothing is impossible if you are not alone.

"Pippi Longstocking"

About what
The girl lives alone with her favorite animals, and adults are constantly trying to prevent her from doing this.

Why read
Firstly, the heroine is a girl. And if you are raising a girl, you are probably tired of looking for books for her in which girls are the main ones. Moreover, the girl is excellent - brave, dexterous, kind, honest and with a sense of humor. The book teaches the most important thing: never, under any circumstances, no matter what they do to you, no matter how everyone is against you, no matter how hard it is, not to give up.

"Adventures of Tom Sawyer",

About what
The adventures of a not so obedient boy.

Why read
Yes, you yourself know why. This is a wonderful book, the translation is excellent, the adventures are exciting, the characters are charismatic. All in all, a classic. But there is another argument. When a child is restless, does not obey and constantly gets into trouble because of this, from the abundance of nagging he begins to gradually get used to the fact that he is a bad child, bad. This book is precisely about the fact that even if you don’t listen to your elders, you are still good. And for those who raise you, it’s generally the best. And you, too, are capable of noble and even great deeds. Also, if something happens to you, adults will be very sad, because you are the most precious thing they have. You probably forgot to remind your child about this today.

"The Chronicles of Narnia",

About what
A huge epic about children who find themselves in a parallel Magic world and must fight evil in order to save this world.

A book about love, suffering, overcoming, the impossibility of choice, and even a little about God. About what it costs to defeat evil in yourself every day, and about why it’s even worth doing. The book teaches how much more difficult it is to be noble man, than ignoble and why you still need to choose this difficult path.

"The wonderful journey of Nils with wild geese»,

CC

About what
For his rudeness, the wizard reduces the boy Nils to the size of a gnome. Nils goes on a journey with his goose Martin - he needs to find a wizard to enlarge him to the size of a boy.

Why read
The book is especially good for children who don't have siblings. It is much more difficult to explain to such people why they need to share, give in, and generally sacrifice something of their own. The book teaches how easy it is to do all this if you do it with love. And in general, this book is a good example of what you have to go to for the sake of those you love.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

About what
The boy Charlie, kind, honest, but from a very poor family, ends up in a chocolate factory, which he runs mad genius, who has big problems with his family.

Why read
There is a lot of magic around, and in the end the most honest and noble hero. But actually this is a book about how childhood grievances do not heal. About the fact that the child grows up into a gloomy type who remembers everything that his parents did to him when he was nine. About the fact that only those closest to us can truly hurt us. The child does not think so, but it is useful for you to think about it. But the child believes that the most valuable thing in life is when you are loved. It doesn't matter how. The main thing is that they love.

"Adventures Oliver Twist»,

On November 14, 1907, one of the most famous children's writers, Astrid Lindgren, was born. Her fairy tales have been read by several generations of children, and today we decided to present the best, in our opinion, children's works foreign authors.

Astrid Lindrgen was born in Sweden, in a small town in a farmer's family. The writer’s family had a special relationship: the parents were very attached to their children, and Astrid believes that this is what prompted her to write. Her father collected fairy tales, jokes, and folklore, which later formed the basis for Lindgren's fairy tales. Astrid started composing when she learned to write. From the age of sixteen, the writer worked as a journalist, but became pregnant without being married and left for Stockholm. At the age of 19, Lindgren gave birth to a son, but was unable to raise the boy because there was not enough money even for food. She gave the child to foster family from Denmark. A few years later, Astrid got married and took the boy with her. Soon her daughter was born, and Lindgren decided that the role of a housewife was more suitable for her. Occasionally she worked part-time, but still gave preference to writing books for children. The most famous works Astrid - “Pippi Longstocking”, “Mio, my Mio!”, “The Kid and Carlson, who lives on the roof”, “The Tricks of the Tomboy”, “The Adventures of Emil from Lenneberga”. The writer's works have been translated into seventy languages ​​and published in one hundred countries around the world. During her lifetime, Lindgren became a legend and the favorite of millions of children. Today we decided to compile a rating of the best children's books, which also includes works by the Swedish writer.

"Baby and Carlson." Astrid Lindgren. One of the best foreign fairy tales for children before school age. In many countries this work was filmed cartoons. Enough to remember soviet cartoon- one of the most beloved among several generations of viewers. This is a good Swedish fairy tale about a boy who found a true friend, however, this friend always brought the Kid complete trouble, but the boy adored him. Carlson was always cheerful and funny, looked at the world with optimism.

"Cinderella". Charles Perrault."Cinderella" is one of the most frequently filmed fairy tales in the whole world. She teaches children kindness and that you can be happy not only in wealth, but also in poverty. The story of an unfortunate girl who was bullied by her evil stepmother cannot leave even adults indifferent. The fairy tale teaches that even despite great troubles, there is always a place for a real miracle in our lives, but you just have to believe in it, and then a miracle will definitely happen.

"Mermaid". Hans Christian Andersen. The saddest fairy tale is about how one person can give his life for another if he loves him very much. The little mermaid fell in love ordinary person, but she couldn’t give it up and turned into sea foam. Residents of Denmark love the heroine of Andersen's fairy tale so much that they even erected a monument in her honor!

"Emil from Lenneberga". Astrid Lindgren. If your child loves very much funny works, That funny stories what happened to the boy Emil will definitely please him. Lindgren wrote six works about the adventures of Emil, a simple village boy who constantly falls into funny situations. Emil lives with his parents, little sister and two workers in a tiny village. He loves carpentry, knows horses and knows how to make money.

"Winnie the Pooh". Alexander Milne. There is probably not a single adult who does not know the screams, noisemakers and nozzles performed by Milne's most famous character. The funny little bear, whose head is filled only with sawdust, has many friends - Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, rabbit and others. Each hero of this work has an interesting and unique character. Comical stories always happen to Winnie the Pooh and his friends.

"The jungle book". Rudyard Kipling. Each book by this popular author introduces children to nature and animals, each of which has a unique character. All the author's stories are written in an instructive manner. The main characters are only animals, as well as the boy Mowgli - a child raised by a pack of wolves. “The Jungle Book” has been filmed several times, both in Russia and abroad. Many full-length films and cartoons have been shot based on Kipling’s works.

"Little Muck". Wilhelm Hauff. This is one of the most unusual fairy tales in the world, which tells about an old man named Little Mook. He was very lonely because of his small stature, children and even adults teased him, so he only appeared on the street once a month. This fairy tale, like some other works by Gauff, was successfully filmed in many countries.

"Pippi Longstocking." Astrid Lindgren. Pippi - main character series of books by a Swedish writer. The tale tells of a mischievous red-haired girl who lives without her parents in a large villa, surrounded only by animals - a horse and a monkey. Pippi - daughter famous captain, who became the leader of the blacks. This girl is very mobile, strong and dexterous, she does not depend on anyone and does whatever she wants.

"Alice in Wonderland". Lewis Carroll. One of the most mysterious fairy tales in the world. A very exciting story about a girl named Alice, who unexpectedly found herself in magical land, reminiscent of a parallel world. This is very kind and unusual fairy tale about magic and transformations, as well as about the adventures of Alice, who finds herself in incredible situations.

Is your baby's birthday approaching? We are offering to you

Modern children and teenagers have access to the widest range of translated literature. Peculiar culture, peculiarities national character peoples, social realities and types of creative approach to life that transforms reality into unique artistic pictures - all this can be discovered by a child reading a book translated from another language. The scope and boundaries of reality are expanding, the world appears more diverse, rich, mysterious and attractive.
Proper place in children's reading devoted to legends and myths of various times and peoples. Especially great importance has an ancient Greek, Olympian mythological cycle. For children of primary and secondary school age, the legends about the exploits of Hercules and the Argonauts contain a lot of entertaining and instructive things. Older people are attracted by the severity of conflict situations, confrontation contradictory characters and titanic passions, retellings of the Illiad and Odyssey. In legends and myths Ancient Greece young readers encounter the system for the first time symbolic images, who have become household names of heroes who are included in the permanent collection of world culture. Without prior acquaintance with the “primary sources” of ancient imagery, many works of Russian and foreign literature, appealing to the immortal colors and images of ancient Greek art.
English and English-language American literature has a very important place in children's and youth reading. Russian children have access to works of British folklore, songs, ballads, and fairy tales in translations and retellings. The richest library of English fiction for children there are also numerous high-quality translations into Russian. Books and heroes by D. Defoe, D. Swift, W. Scott, R.L. Stevenson, C. Dickens, A. Conan-Doyle, L. Carroll, A.A. Milne, O. Wilde and many others with early childhood accompany our children along with national literary works.
Daniel Defoe (c. 1660-1731). The name Defoe became known throughout the world thanks to the hero of his work, Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is rightfully considered one of the creators of English realistic novel. Thanks to this, the story he told caused numerous imitations in his time. The title of his work is very long and bizarre. The novel usually comes to Russian children in an adapted form under an abbreviated title. Especially famous is “Robinson Crusoe” in the retelling of K.I. Chukovsky. This novel is without a doubt one of the favorite works for numerous generations of young readers. The indescribable aroma of distant travels, the romance of adventure, discovery, creative work, persistent defense of one’s human face Among the vicissitudes of fate - the basis of the educational and artistic power of the book, all this continues to attract more and more readers to Defoe's hero.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) did not count on a child reader when creating his satirical novel"Travels to Various Distant Countries of the World by Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships." The addressee of his books is the common people of England, who with humor and mocking sarcasm perceive dirty political intrigues, the arrogance of aristocrats, and the futility of scientific disputes that are far from life. Children's reading in a modified, adapted form includes the first two stories, telling about Gulliver's adventures in the land of Lilliputians and the land of giants. In children's editions of Gulliver's travels, the main interest is focused on the adventure side of the plot, the unusual situations in which the hero finds himself. If Defoe is able to captivate the young imagination with the unusualness of the life-like, then the beauty of Swift’s book lies in the ability to turn the most bizarre into a reason for thinking about the eternal moral values on which the world is based.
Among the numerous English-language works of the historical adventure genre, a special place belongs to the novels of Walter Scott (1771 - 1832). The novel “Ivanhoe,” which tells the story of the valiant knight of the glorious king Richard the Lionheart, was especially popular in our time.
The works of the Englishman Thomas Main Reid (1818-1883), who traveled all over Europe and America and led full of adventure and the trials of the life of the wanderer, and his older contemporary, the first great US novelist James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851). The plots of Mayne Reid's novels "The Headless Horseman", his most popular work among middle school children, and Cooper's "Pathfinder, or on the Shores of Ontario", one of the writer's many works telling about colonization and conquest by Europeans, are connected with American realities. North America. Cooper and Mayne Reid's favorite heroes are brave, frank, and profess a cult of noble and calm strength. Their life is full of surprises, numerous enemies do not stop intrigues, intrigues, more and more new dangers and trials await the characters after the ones they have just overcome. The fascination of the plot, the mystery of the conflicts, and the unpredictability of the outcome maintain interest throughout the reading and are a sure guarantee of success for the teenage reader.
Among adventure books English writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), the best is the novel “Treasure Island”. His main and, in fact, only positive hero— teenager Jim. It is his view of the world, where passions rage, ambitions fight, fate and circumstances laugh at people, that allows us to revive the romance that is leaving the too pragmatic world.
Romantic adventure line in the development of English and English-language American literature on another historical stage was transformed in the deeply original work of R. Kipling, who told children about the exotic and beautiful world of the Indian jungle, D. London, who introduced gold miners, travelers, adventurers of the world corroded by contradictions at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.
WITH realistic depiction ordinary life, where passions also run high, people must make choices, and goodness does not always easily find its way to people’s hearts, as G. Beecher Stowe introduces in the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” This book, in life-like pictures, revealed to its fellow citizens the full horror of the existence of black slaves.
A significant part of the work of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known under the pseudonym Mark Twain (1835-1910), is distinguished by its initial focus on children's perception. The writer himself called “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” a hymn to childhood. The actual adventure motif in Twain’s work is presented quite realistically, and the adventures of Tom and Huckleberry Finn do not go beyond the realm of the entirely possible in the conditions in which they lived. The true merit of Twain’s work is that he was able to fill conflicts with moral and psychological content, reliably show everyday realities, social types of its time. And all this is colored by the perception of a living boy, well versed in the motives and passions of people, a sincere dreamer, poet and bully, who knows how to make friends, love, and fight. The cheerfulness of Tom and his friends always preserves hope, gives joy, affirms the light. Subsequent works " baby cycle"M. Twain, "The Prince and the Pauper", "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", are becoming more and more perfect and complex in plot, composition and stylistic terms.
A funny teddy bear has become quite comfortable among Russian children Winnie the Pooh, his owner, the boy Christopher Robin and all, all, all the heroes of the book by the American writer Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956). His work was translated into Russian by B. Zakhoder in 1960 and since then has firmly established itself among the books most beloved by preschoolers and primary schoolchildren.
Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Latwidge Dodgson, 1832-1898) creates a strange, seemingly deformed world in his fairy tales. He was not professional writer and his stories about “Alice in Wonderland” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass” were originally composed orally for specific children. A mathematics professor by profession, Carroll also in literature strives to prove the abstractness of much in the world, the relativity of the great and the small, and to emphasize the juxtaposition of the terrible and the funny.
IN last years The greatest attention of publishers in our country was attracted by the trilogy of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) “The Lord of the Rings” (“The Watchmen”, “The Two Towers”, “The Return of the Sovereign”). He tried in his own way to continue the Carroll tradition. This was facilitated by studies in mathematical linguistics and the birth of heroes in direct communication with children. Tolkien’s book, written quite a long time ago and already half-forgotten, was remembered and revived also because the genre of so-called “fantasy” gained enormous commercial popularity; Tolkien’s plots became the basis for corresponding bright, technically sophisticated visual films, appealing to even less complex, although rapidly emerging human emotions than the literary source.
French children's literature is widely represented in translations into Russian.
And this acquaintance begins for most of our little readers with the fairy tales of Charles Perrault (1628-1703).
He wrote the fairy tales “Sleeping Beauty”, “Cinderella”, “Bluebeard”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Puss in Boots”, “Tom Thumb”. Hard work, generosity, resourcefulness of representatives common people Perrault tried to establish the values ​​of his circle. The poeticization of these qualities makes his fairy tales important for the modern child.
The books of Jules Verne (1828-1905) firmly retain their place in children's reading. The success of his novel Five Weeks hot-air balloon"(1863) exceeded all expectations. And therefore, the aerial fantasy is replaced by a geological one - “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (1864), followed by the publication of the novel “The Journey and Adventures of Captain Hatteras” (1864-1865), “From the Earth to the Moon” (1865). Upon completion of the novel “The Children of Captain Grant,” the writer combined previously written and all subsequent works into a common series called “ Extraordinary travels" The main advantage of his books is associated with the created characters of people striving to learn all the secrets of the earth, to overcome evil and social illnesses. This aspect has become especially important for the writer since the creation of the famous novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.” The image of Captain Nemo was originally conceived as the character of a rebel, a Protestant, a fighter against injustice, tyranny and oppression. Of the other novels included in “Extraordinary Journeys” and which are popular to this day, it should be noted “Around the World in 80 Days” (1872), “The Mysterious Island” (1874). New for its time in Verne’s works was also the affirmation of the idea of ​​the absolute equality of people before the court of morality. This is the only thing that distinguishes people of different nationalities in his works, social status: they represent the best or worst sides of a single humanity.
Among French artists XX century, who wrote about children and for children, the most famous among us is Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exu-Péry (1900-1944), author of the fairy tale “ A little prince" The genre is a philosophical fairy tale. Its main character is an inhabitant of an asteroid planet who unexpectedly appears in front of a pilot who has suffered an accident in the sands of the Sahara. The pilot calls him the Little Prince. The fairy tale delights more and more generations of readers. Many phrases from it have become aphorisms.
For young readers in our country, German children's literature is associated primarily with the names of great storytellers: the Brothers Grimm, Hoffmann, Hauff.
Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) Grimm lived during the era of the birth and heyday of romanticism, as an important trend in world culture at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. Most of fairy tales were collected by the brothers Grimm, professors of philology, during their numerous expeditions throughout rural Germany, recorded from the words of storytellers, peasants, and townspeople. In the form processed by the Brothers Grimm, they have become an important part of children's reading in many countries around the world. These are the fairy tales “The Brave Little Tailor”, “A Pot of Porridge”, “Grandma Snowstorm”, “Brother and Sister”, “Clever Elsa”. Simplicity, transparency of plot action and depth of moral and ethical content are perhaps the main distinctive features Grimm's fairy tales. Their “Bremen Town Musicians” continue their journey through times and countries.
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822) was also influenced by romanticism. The discord between dreams and reality is not only a sign of a romantic worldview, they also characterized state of mind Hoffmann himself, who led a boring life as an official, but dreamed of traveling and freely serving beauty and fantasy. These contradictions were also reflected in his fairy tales: “ Sandman", "The Nutcracker", "Someone else's Child", "The Golden Pot", "Little Tsakhes, nicknamed Zinnober". The Nutcracker is the most firmly established in children's reading. This is one of the most life-affirming and funny tales Hoffman, although the heroes of this Christmas story have to go through a long series of difficult trials before they find happiness.
Wilhelm Hauff (1802-1827) tried to create a completely special type based on the fairy-tale traditions of various peoples. literary fairy tale, fantastic-allegorical short stories, united in cycles. His tales: “Little Muk”, “Caliph Stork”, “Dwarf Nose”. Fairy tale "Dwarf Nose" for children younger age is interesting for its mysterious and fantastic story of the transformation of the boy Jacob into a squirrel, an ugly hunchback, and his return to normal human appearance. Affects the feelings of a child and a touch of eerie “bloody” romance associated with the actions of an evil sorceress.
The best tale of the third volume, “Frozen,” illustrates everything significant that this early-dead writer enriched the genre with. Everyday storytelling is organically combined with a magical element. The hero walks a difficult road moral search, losses and gains. The classically simple and traditional idea of ​​the fairy tale is to affirm goodness, justice, and generosity, embodied in the image of the Glass Man, as opposed to the cruelty, greed, and heartlessness of Michel the Giant and his henchmen.

The original role in the array of children's literature of various nations translated into Russian belongs to Italian writers.
The hero of the novel Spartacus by Raffaello Giovagnoli (1883-1915) brings with him the spirit of heroism. Being a professional historian, the writer was able to create memorable portraits of real historical figures— Sulla, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Crassus, the work plastically reconstructs the atmosphere of life in Ancient Rome that fascinates people of our time.
The Italian writer Collodi (Carlo Lorenzini, 1826-1890) renders great services to the young readers of our country. After all, it was his book “The Adventures of Pinocchio” that inspired A. Tolstoy to create the fairy-tale story “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio.”

Several interesting children's writers came from Northern European countries and Scandinavia, where an original tradition of creativity for children and about children has developed.
First of all, of course, we should name the great Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875). He, like no one else, managed in his own way to embody in his work the folklore-Pushkin principle - “a fairy tale is a lie - but there is a hint in it, good fellows lesson". The moral-philosophical and social-didactic principles in his fairy tales grow through plots and conflicts that are absolutely accessible to children.
Andersen's fairy tales retain their charm for people even after they leave childhood. They attract unobtrusively, folk origin wisdom, versatility of embodied emotions. Almost never does Andersen's work come down to the embodiment of a single all-consuming feeling. His fairy tales painted in the tones of life, where joy, sadness, lyrical sadness, laughter of different shades, from cheerful to sarcastic, disappointment, hope replace each other, coexist, conveying the bittersweet taste of true existence.
The writer's sympathies are always on the side of simple people, with noble hearts and pure impulses. This is how the narrator appears in fairy tales. He is in no hurry to show emotions, he is not in a hurry to make assessments, but behind the outwardly calm narration one can feel unshakable firmness moral principles, which nothing can force either the beloved characters or the narrator to abandon.
Some of his tales contained indirect assessments of specific contradictions of the era (“The Princess and the Pea,” “The King’s New Clothes,” “The Swineherd”). But over time, their actual political significance faded away, while the moral and ethical potential did not become less: “The gilding will all be erased - the pigskin remains.” The heroes of his fairy tales are not only “come to life” toys (“The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep”), humanized animals (“The Ugly Duckling”, “Thumbelina”), plants (“Chamomile”, “Spruce”), but also the most common household items: darning needle, bottle shard, collar, old Street light, drop of water, matches, an old house. Having defended the right to life and love in serious trials, the storyteller’s favorite heroes turn out to be especially happy (“ The Snow Queen", "Thumbelina", "Wild Swans").
Original reasons prompted Selma Ottilie Lagerlöf (1858-1940) to create the book “The Wonderful Journey of Nils Holgerson with Wild Geese in Sweden.” She received an order for a book for children about Sweden, but unexpectedly she developed a fairy-tale plot, characters appeared that were interesting and without connection with the historical, ethnographic, regional studies aspect of the book.
Fascinating art worlds and memorable characters were also created by Tove Janson in books about life in Troll Valley, Astrid Lindgren in the fairy tale “Pippi Longstocking”, in the trilogy about the Kid and Carlson, who lives on the roof.

We all read mostly children's books when we were children. domestic writers. However there is great amount famous literature for children from foreign authors. However, such books differ in that they different countries their traditions and their favorite main characters, who are unusual and curious for the children of our country.

You can download foreign children's books for free and without registration on our literary website in formats suitable for any electronic devices for reading literature: pdf, rtf, epub, fb2, txt. We have huge collection books from modern writers and authors of yesteryear. With us you can also read any work online.

There were fairy tales in the lives of each of us. After fascinating story about the adventures of different animals, children and adults, about their travels to distant countries, one can sleep much more sweetly and soundly. It is from this moment that we begin to love books, study pictures, learn to read.

Foreign children's literature is intended for of different ages. Books for little ones contain bright and large illustrations. Literature for older children contains more scientific information, educational and educational.

Any book for children has a very deep meaning, which embeds in the child’s subconscious views about what good and evil are, how to choose friends, how to correctly understand the world and what life is in general. A child, coming into this world, begins to learn to live here, and books are excellent teachers in this difficult task.

Many writers from other countries create works that children in our country really like. Foreign children's literature is known by such authors as the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Astrid Lindgren, and Charles Perrault. This eternal stories about Pippi Long Stocking, Bremen Town Musicians, The Princess and the Pea. We all love these fairy tales and read them to our children. Moreover, in each story, the main characters find themselves in amazing situations, find new friends, and meet enemies. The moral is always the same - good triumphs over evil. At the same time, negative characters are given a chance to reform. This the best way show children that the world is complicated, but at the same time you need to be a good person.

On our website you will find and be able to download free famous foreign children's books in different formats for reading on any electronic device. You can also read online. We have selected the ratings best books, which are most loved by readers from all over the world.