The best works of Tolstoy for children. Leo Tolstoy: stories for children

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is the author of works not only for adults, but also for children. Young readers like the stories, fables, and fairy tales of the famous prose writer. Tolstoy's works for children teach love, kindness, courage, justice, and resourcefulness.

Fairy tales for little ones

These works can be read to children by their parents. A 3-5 year old child will be interested in meeting the heroes of fairy tales. When kids learn to put letters together into words, they will be able to read and study Tolstoy’s works for children on their own.

The fairy tale “Three Bears” tells the story of a girl Masha who got lost in the forest. She came across a house and entered it. The table was set, there were 3 bowls of different sizes on it. Masha tasted the soup, first from two large ones, and then ate all the soup, which was poured into a small plate. Then she sat on the chair and slept on the bed, which, like the chair and the plate, belonged to Mishutka. When he returned home with his parent bears and saw all this, he wanted to catch the girl, but she jumped out the window and ran away.

Kids will also be interested in other works by Tolstoy for children, written in the form of fairy tales.

Stories-were

It is useful for older children to read Tolstoy's works for children, written in the format of short stories, for example, about a boy who really wanted to study, but his mother would not let him go.

The story "Philippok" begins with this. But the boy Philip once left for school without asking, when he was left at home alone with his grandmother. Entering the classroom, he was scared at first, but then pulled himself together and answered the teacher’s questions. The teacher promised the child that he would ask his mother to allow Filippka to go to school. This is how the boy wanted to learn. After all, learning something new is so interesting!

Tolstoy wrote about another small and good man. Works for children written by Lev Nikolaevich include the story “The Foundling.” From it we learn about the girl Masha, who discovered a baby on the threshold of her house. The girl was kind and gave the foundling milk to drink. Her mother wanted to give the baby to the boss, since their family was poor, but Masha said that the foundling did not eat much, and she herself would take care of him. The girl kept her word, she swaddled, fed, and put the baby to bed.

The next story, like the previous one, is based on real events. It's called "Cow". The work tells about the widow Marya, her six children and a cow.

Tolstoy, works for children created in an instructive form

After reading the story “The Stone,” you are once again convinced that you shouldn’t, that is, harbor a grudge against someone for a long time. After all, this is a destructive feeling.

In the story, one poor man literally carried a stone in his bosom. Once upon a time, a rich man, instead of helping, threw this cobblestone at the poor man. When the life of the rich man changed dramatically, he was taken to prison, the poor man wanted to throw a stone at him, which he had saved, but the anger had long passed and was replaced by pity.

You experience the same feeling when reading the story “Topol”. The narration is told in the first person. The author, together with his assistants, wanted to cut down young poplars. These were the shoots of an old tree. The man thought that this would make his life easier, but everything turned out differently. The poplar was drying up and therefore giving birth to new trees. The old tree died, and the workers destroyed the new shoots.

Fables

Not everyone knows that Leo Tolstoy’s works for children are not only fairy tales, short stories, but also fables that are written in prose.

For example, "The Ant and the Dove." After reading this fable, children will conclude that good deeds lead to good actions in return.

The ant fell into the water and began to drown, the dove threw him a twig there, along which the poor fellow was able to get out. Once a hunter set a net for a dove and was about to slam the trap, but then an ant came to the bird’s aid. He bit the hunter on the leg, he gasped. At this time, the dove got out of the net and flew away.

Other instructive fables that Leo Tolstoy came up with are also worthy of attention. Works for children written in this genre are:

• "Turtle and Eagle";
• "The head and tail of a snake";
• "The Lion and the Mouse";
• "Donkey and Horse";
• "Lion, Bear and Fox";
• "The Frog and the Lion";
• "The Ox and the Old Woman."

"Childhood"

Students of primary and secondary school age can be advised to read the first part of L.N. Tolstoy’s trilogy “Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth”. It will be useful for them to know how their peers, children of wealthy parents, lived in the 19th century.

The story begins with meeting Nikolenka Artenyev, who is 10 years old. The boy was instilled with good manners from childhood. And now, having woken up, he washed, got dressed, and the teacher Karl Ivanovich took him and his younger brother to say hello to his mother. She poured tea in the living room, then the family had breakfast.

This is how Leo Tolstoy described the morning scene. Works for children teach young readers kindness and love, just like this story. The author describes what feelings Nikolenka felt for his parents - pure and sincere love. This story will be useful for young readers. In high school they will study the continuation of the book - "Boyhood" and "Youth".

Tolstoy's works: list

Short stories are read very quickly. Here are the titles of some of them that Lev Nikolaevich wrote for children:

• "Eskimos";
• "Two Comrades";
• "Bulka and the Wolf";
• "How Trees Walk";
• "Girls are smarter than old men";
• "Apple trees";
• "Magnet";
• "Lozina";
• "Two merchants";
• "Bone."

• "Candle";
• "Bad Air";
• "Harmful air";
• "Hares";
• "Deer".

Stories about animals

Tolstoy has very touching stories. We learn about the brave boy from the following story, called “Kitten.” In one family there lived a cat. She suddenly disappeared for some time. When the children - brother and sister - found her, they saw that the cat had given birth to kittens. The guys took one for themselves and began to care for the little creature - feeding and watering it.

One day they went for a walk and took their pet with them. But soon the children forgot about him. They remembered only when the baby was in danger - hunting dogs rushed at him barking. The girl got scared and ran away, and the boy rushed to protect the kitten. He covered him with his body and thus saved him from the dogs, which the hunter then called away.

In the story "Elephant" we learn about a giant animal living in India. The owner treated him poorly - he barely fed him and forced him to work a lot. One day the animal could not stand such treatment and crushed the man by stepping on him with its foot. Instead of the previous one, the elephant chose a boy - his son - as its owner.

These are the instructive and interesting stories the classic wrote. These are the best works of Leo Tolstoy for children. They will help instill in children many useful and important qualities and teach them to better see and understand the world around them.

Galimova E.

The attitude of the great writer towards children

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“Novo-Aryshskaya Secondary School” of Rybno-Slobodsky Municipal District

Republic of Tatarstan

ABSTRACT

Tolstoy and children

Completed by: 8th grade student

Galimova E.I.

Teacher Valeeva R.G.

S. Novy-Arysh

2016

Introduction

Main part

1. “Happy, happy, irrevocable time of childhood!” The story "Childhood".

2. Yasnaya Polyana. School for peasant children.

3. Stories about children and for children.

4. Stories about animals, fables, epics

5. “ABC” and “New ABC”

Conclusion, conclusion

The literary world of Leo Tolstoy was revealed to us from early childhood. In his works, every person can find something of their own, see their problems, their pain. And in his opinion, the value of a writer was measured not by what he did for literature, but by what he did for life. L. Tolstoy left a truly enormous legacy not only for adults, but also for children.

1. “Happy, happy, irrevocable time of childhood!” The story "CHILDHOOD".

“Happy, happy, irrevocable time of childhood! How not to love, not to cherish memories of him? These memories refresh, elevate my soul and serve as a source of the best pleasures for me.”

In spiritual purity, in the freshness of feelings, in the trustfulness of a child’s heart, and sincere love for loved ones, Tolstoy sees the happiness of childhood.

Childhood memories always remained the most joyful for Tolstoy: family legends, first impressions of the life of a noble estate served as rich material for his works.

The autobiographical story “Childhood” is the clearest example of a realistic story about childhood

Childhood, father's home, family are the most sacred things in every person's life. This is a spiritual cell where deviation from moral norms will certainly affect, first of all, children: their development, upbringing, and knowledge. It is very important to instill morality and responsibility in children. The main thing is the development of the child through self-education and self-improvement.

In the implementation of this task, the role of the story “Childhood” by the great Russian writer-humanist L.N. Tolstoy is enormous, its role in making children aware of their moral duty to their parents, in instilling love for loved ones.

In it, Lev Nikolaevich spoke about the life of his family. The story begins with an introduction to the main character, Nikolenka Irteniev, who is 10 years old. The boy was instilled with good manners from childhood. And now, having woken up, he washed, got dressed, and the teacher Karl Ivanovich took him and his younger brother to say hello to his mother. She poured tea in the living room, then the family had breakfast. This is how Leo Tolstoy described the morning scene. The author describes what feelings Nikolenka felt for his parents - pure and sincere love. Nikolenka Irtenyev, an impressionable and sensitive boy, in many ways resembles Leo Tolstoy himself. In Nikolenka’s thoughts, feelings and actions, the writer always separated the truly human from everything imaginary, inhuman.

In “Childhood,” Tolstoy’s views on raising children received artistic embodiment. The writer categorically rejects violence as a means of education. The best is homely, maternal.

Having lived to a ripe old age, Tolstoy never ceased to love his first work. “When I wrote “Childhood,” he said in 1908, “it seemed to me that no one before me had ever felt or depicted all the charm and poetry of childhood.”

2. Yasnaya Polyana. School for peasant children.

Yasnaya Polyana peasants once asked the writer:

Lev Nikolaevich, you have been abroad. Is it better there?

No,” he answered, “there is nowhere better than your homeland.” For me the best is Yasnaya Polyana

Here, in Yasnaya Polyana, he was visited by “the purest joy - the joy of nature. Here, in Yasnaya Polyana, in the early autumn of 1859, he opened a school for peasant children and taught history there, taught reading, drawing and singing lessons, and ordered the making of abacus for arithmetic classes. He completely immersed himself in the life of the school and became so carried away that he even thought about leaving his literary activity. In small pink and blue rooms, he quietly, pleasantly and simply told the children how the Russian people defended Sevastopol from the French.

“Wait,” a certain Petka interrupted the teacher’s story, shaking his fists, “let me grow up, I’ll give them a hard time!”

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy emphasized that children from the people should receive the same knowledge as children from the upper class. In his opinion, peasant children should be introduced to the world of art and nobility. He helped establish more than 20 schools in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana. These schools existed on funds contributed by parents, who paid from 50 to 80 kopecks in silver per month for the education of each child. Lev Nikolaevich invited teachers, helped them in drawing up curriculums, and tried to improve their material conditions. And this activity fascinated Tolstoy so much that in 1860 he went abroad for the second time to get acquainted with the schools of Europe. Tolstoy traveled a lot, spent a month and a half in London, and was in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Belgium. Tolstoy outlined his ideas in articles, arguing that the basis of education should be the freedom of the student and the rejection of violence in teaching. “I could write whole books about the ignorance that I saw in the schools of France, Switzerland and Germany,” he makes unflattering reviews after his trips, condemning, first of all, officialdom and formalism.

From February 4, 1862 to March 1863, Lev Nikolaevich published the monthly pedagogical magazine “Yasnaya Polyana” with books for reading as an appendix and essays by children. The writer formed the conclusions from his teaching experience in an essay with a provocative title: “Who should learn to write from whom: the peasant children from us or from the peasant children?” According to Tolstoy, peasant children preserve spiritual purity and naturalness, lost in the educated classes. Teaching them the values ​​of high culture is hardly necessary. On the contrary, the writer himself, while studying with them, found himself in the role not of a teacher, but of a student

3.Stories about children and for children.

Leo Tolstoy is rightly called “The Great Writer of the Russian Land.” Of course, adult works brought the writer worldwide fame, but there was also Leo Tolstoy for children.

In his work there are two main directions of the children's theme. The first direction is Tolstoy's works about children. These include, first of all, the stories “Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth”, the second direction is a cycle of works for children, which include “ABC”, “New ABC”, “Books to Read”, and the story “Prisoner of the Caucasus”.

Dedicating his works to children, the writer tested almost every one of them with their perception, often making his little readers co-authors. This fact is instructive in all respects: the manifestation of the deepest trust in children, and the decision to awaken their creative powers, and the desire not only to teach, but also to learn from them the language and attitude towards the world around them.

Considering childhood an important period in life, L. Tolstoy pays a lot of attention to the images of children, especially peasant ones. He notes their impressionability, curiosity, and responsiveness. Leo Tolstoy's stories are imbued with love for children, they are ingenuous and simple, the morality in them is on the surface, but at the same time they are devoid of deep moral teachings.

In one of his articles, L. Tolstoy wrote that children love morality, but only smart, and not “stupid” ones.

“I have enormous demands on children’s literature,” said Tolstoy. - Oh, how difficult it is! It's so easy to get sentimental here. Robinson is an exemplary book.

Stories for children can be divided into two types: stories for kids andstories for older children

Stories and fairy tales for little ones are dedicated to children from three to five years old.

The fairy tale “Three Bears” tells the story of a girl Masha who got lost in the forest. She came across a house and entered it. The table was set and there were three bowls of different sizes on it. Masha tasted the soup, first from two large ones, and then ate all the soup, which was poured into a small plate. Then she sat on the chair and slept on the bed, which, like the chair and the plate, belonged to Mishutka. When he returned home with his parent bears and saw all this, he wanted to catch girl, but she jumped out the window and ran away.

In stories for older children, peasant children are shown in their native environment, against the backdrop of village life and peasant life. Peasant children are smart, resourceful, and hardworking. The writer reveals these qualities of children in their actions, in their actions, in their relationships with others..

One of the attractive images is the inquisitive, persistent boy Filipok (the story “Filipok”). This tiny boy really wanted to study, but his mother would not let him go. The boy Philip, wearing his father’s hat and long coat, once left for school without asking, when he was left at home alone with his grandmother. Entering the classroom, he was scared at first, but then pulled himself together and answered the teacher’s questions. The teacher promised the child that he would ask his mother to allow Filippka to go to school. The kid overcomes all difficulties and achieves his goal - he is accepted into school.

Works for children include the story “The Foundling.” From it we learn about the girl Masha, who discovered a baby on the threshold of her house. The girl was kind and gave the foundling milk to drink. Her mother wanted to give the baby to the boss, since their family was poor, but Masha said that the foundling did not eat much, and she herself would take care of him. The girl kept her word, she swaddled, fed, and put the baby to bed.

The next story, like the previous one, is based on real events. It's called "Cow". The work tells about the widow Marya, her six children and a cow. One day Misha threw fragments of a broken glass into the cow's slop. Misha understands that he needs to confess to adults, but fear constrains him and he remains silent

Tolstoy does not forgive a person for such shortcomings as laziness and deception. In the story “Liar,” he punishes a liar who destroyed an entire flock of sheep with his lies. In the story “The Sparrow and the Swallows,” the sparrow who captured the swallow’s nest remains punished. A flock of swallows, supporting their native bird, immures a sparrow in a nest

The story “The Pit” psychologically convincingly shows the painful hesitations of little Vanya, who saw plums for the first time: he “never ate plums and kept smelling them. And he really liked them. I really wanted to eat it. He kept walking past them. The temptation was so strong that the boy ate the plum. The father found out the truth in a simple way: “Vanya turned pale and said: “No, I threw the bone out the window.” And everyone laughed, and Vanya began to cry.

Works by L.N. Tolstoy, dedicated to children, aptly exposes the bad and clearly shows every good movement of the child’s soul.

4. Stories about animals, fables, epics

L. Tolstoy's stories about animals are especially poetic. They are full of drama, emotion, imagery.

One of the first stories was about the dog Bulka, about her devotion to her owner. In the series of stories about Bulka and Milton: “Bulka”, “Bulka and the Boar”, “Turtle”, “What Happened to Bulka in Pyatigorsk” - the author not only provides a lot of interesting information about the habits and properties of dogs, pheasants, wolves, wild boars , but also draws children’s attention to the animal’s devotion to man, strives to instill in them a love for all living things.

A very touching story “The Lion and the Dog”. A small dog was thrown to be eaten by a lion, but he did not tear her to pieces, but also fell in love with her. When the owner threw him a piece of meat, the lion gave the piece to the dog. And when the dog got sick and died, he hugged her with his paws and lay next to her for five days, and died on the sixth

In his stories, Tolstoy introduces children to the habits of animals and birds, humanizes them, and endows them with individual character traits: The jackdaw wanted to drink. There was a jug of water in the yard, and the jug only had water at the bottom. Jackdaw was out of reach. She began throwing pebbles into the jug and added so many that the water became higher and could be drunk.

The intelligence and resourcefulness of the jackdaw are easily remembered by young children.

Not everyone knows that Leo Tolstoy’s works for children are not only fairy tales, short stories, but also fables written in prose. For example, "The Ant and the Dove." The ant fell into the water and began to drown, the dove threw him a twig there, along which the poor fellow was able to get out. Once a hunter set a net for a dove and was about to slam the trap, but then an ant came to the bird’s aid. He bit the hunter on the leg, he gasped. At this time, the dove got out of the net and flew away.

Other instructive fables that Leo Tolstoy came up with are also worthy of attention. In fables for children: "The Turtle and the Eagle", "The Lion and the Mouse"; "Lion, Wolf and Fox"; "The Frog and the Lion"; "The Ox and the Old Woman" - morality is offered in a more open form. For example: - So brother; It is necessary to lead gentlemen not to evil, but to good” (“The Lion, the Wolf and the Fox”); “Some good comes from a mouse” (“The Lion and the Mouse”). In many fables, the moral conclusion is based on the living experience of peasant life (“The Horse and the Mare,” “The Deer and the Horse”). Tolstoy sought to consolidate in the child’s mind the centuries-old experience of the people, suggesting to him the correct decision in various cases of life. Therefore, no aspect of people's life is left without attention. Tolstoy's fables deserve a definition like: “an encyclopedia of folk morality and wisdom.”

Tolstoy often turned to Russian epic epic. Maintaining the rhythm of the epic, he retold for children several epics of heroic content, reflecting the power, strength, and patriotic feelings of a man from the people: “Sukhman,” “Svyatogor the Bogatyr,” “Volga the Bogatyr,” Mikulushka Selyaninovich.”

5. “ABC” and “New ABC”

Tolstoy began writing educational books for children at the Yasnaya Polyana school, which he created himself. In 1872, “ABC” was published in 4 books - the result of 14 years of work - a unique set of educational books for the initial teaching of children reading, writing, grammar, Slavic language and arithmetic. However, the first reviewers noted the outstanding merits of stories for children, but condemned the method of teaching literacy proposed by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, and noted that the arithmetic section was written unsatisfactorily.

Soon Leo Tolstoy rewrote the ABC, calling it the New ABC, and allocated the materials included in the reading sections to Russian Books for Reading. He pinned his brightest hopes on the “ABC”, believing that several generations of Russian children, from the peasants and the tsars, would learn from it and receive their first poetic impressions from it. “Having written this ABC, I can die in peace,” he shared his thoughts with A.A. Tolstoy. The work was completed in 1875.

The composition of “The New Alphabet” was carefully thought out by Tolstoy. Miniature stories, simple in content, a few lines, gave the child a real picture. The author intended such stories as “Var had a Chizh”, “Spring Came”, “Grandma Had a Granddaughter”. Therefore, the stories contain only the most necessary details, designed for children's perception.
The action at the beginning of the fairy tale “The Three Bears” takes place as in real life: “One girl left home for the forest...” But soon the author introduces the reader to completely fairy-tale circumstances and introduces characters close to the folk tale. Fairytale talking bears: father Mikhail Ivanovich, bear Nastasya Petrovna and bear cub Mishutka. Who drank from the cup? sat on a chair? Who lay in my bed and crushed it? - the bears growled.
But the girl turned out to be nimble and avoids retribution: opening her eyes and seeing bears, she jumps out the window. It was important for Tolstoy to show that a peasant child in an extreme situation was brave, dexterous, and decisive.

6. The attitude of the great writer towards children

L.N. Tolstoy treated children humanely and trustingly. Humanity, empathy, and love for children are rooted in the general properties of his personality and worldview. Tolstoy communicated with children on “equal rights” and immediately created friendly, comradely relationships, loved to joke with children

This is what the wife of his Georgian friend Ilya Petrovich Nakashidze writes about Tolstoy about the meeting of Lev Nikolaevich in 1903 in Yasnaya Polyana with Nakashidze’s little granddaughter, Maka.

“Maka and her mother, having arrived in Yasnaya Polyana, were late for lunch. They were served lunch separately. Admiring the girl, Tolstoy sat down next to her and made her laugh all the time. When the compote was served, he bombarded Maka with questions:

Maka, do you like compote? Fine? Tasty? Or a bad, bad compote?

Maka didn’t have time to answer and just babbled:

Yes... no... yes... no...

No, Sonya,” Lev Nikolayevich turned to his wife as he entered, “Maka doesn’t like your compote!”

No, no, I like it,” the girl exclaimed vividly.

You see, I like it,” said Sofya Andreevna, sitting down at the table.

When the guests were leaving, Lev Nikolaevich said:

I will definitely, definitely visit your sunny Georgia someday!

He leaned over to Maka, kissed her and asked:

Maka, do you want me to stay with you in Tiflis? A? Yes? Then I’ll get on my bike and - chick, chick, chick - and I’ll arrive!”

The very old man, the brilliant writer, treated Maka as an equal. He was just as sweet and spontaneous in his interactions with other children.

And the author of the memoirs “Children of Tula workers visiting L.N. Tolstoy”, “How L.N. Tolstoy told a fairy tale about cucumbers” P.A. Sergeenko writes that “Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy loved children very much all his life: both the youngest and the older ones, he always spent a lot of time with them: in the winter he skated or sledged down the mountains, went skiing, and in the summer he walked through the fields, forests, collected flowers, berries, and mushrooms with them. And he always told them something. And what didn’t he say! And about himself, how small he was, and how he lived in the Caucasus in his youth, and about his parents and friends, and all kinds of stories, fables, and fairy tales. And the children could listen to him as much as they wanted; they would listen and listen, because he talked about everything very interestingly and amusingly.”

The children loved one of his special fairy tales - about cucumbers. He told it both when he was young and when he was old. The last time was when he was eighty-two years old. The children really liked this fairy tale, and throughout the day they talked only about it, and tried to imitate Tolstoy in their voice.

A boy was walking and found a cucumber... like this...

Lev Nikolaevich shows, raising the index fingers of both hands, how big the cucumber was.

He is a boor! - and ate it! - Grandfather adds.

And Tolstoy showed how the boy destroyed cucumbers. The children were completely delighted with this simple fairy tale, complemented by the acting skills of the eighty-year-old grandfather

Yasnaya Polyana attracted people of different ages, views, professions, and nationalities. Everyone wanted to see Tolstoy, talk, or rather, listen to him, see with their own eyes where and how the great writer of the Russian land lives and works.

In the summer of 1907, 900 children from Tula schools visited Tolstoy. The old park rang with children's voices. The children spent the whole day in Yasnaya Polyana communicating with the writer. Leo Tolstoy asked them about everything, talked to them, took them to the river. By evening the kids were already his friends. This meeting left an indelible impression on their souls. The guys remembered Lev Nikolaevich for the rest of their lives. Many years passed, the children grew up, but everyone remembered “grandfather”The writer P.A. Sergeenko, who was visiting the Tolstoys at that time, talks about this interestingly:

"Girls. .. treated Lev Nikolaevich somewhat differently than the boys... and did not take their eyes off him, sparkling with tenderness.
A small girl, about nine years old, with a pretty face followed Lev Nikolaevich for a long time. Finally, she could not stand it and... asked, drawing out the words:
- Lev Ni-ko-la-e-vich, please tell me, what year are you?
- An awful lot: seventy-nine!
- And I thought, Lev Nikolaevich, that you were ninety-seven years old.
- You mixed up the numbers, put “nine” instead of “seven”, and “seven” instead of “nine”.
- I saw you, Lev Nikolaevich, in the picture - you are younger and better there...
The surrounding girls glanced reproachfully at Lev Nikolaevich’s interlocutor. But he laughed so cheerfully, as if he had heard the most flattering compliment.
The heat was getting worse. The boys began improvising showers and spraying themselves with water from rain tubs. Lev Nikolaevich admired their invention with a smile and suddenly said invitingly:
- Children, do you want to swim? The boys were delighted.
- We want it, Lev Nikolaevich! We want!

Then let's go! Who wants to swim? Let's go to the river. And Lev Nikolaevich, immediately rejuvenated, walked with a youthfully lively gait with the children to the Voronka River...

Lev Nikolaevich knew the poverty of the village children and their almost complete lack of any toys or entertainment, and therefore, at 82 years old, he tried to please them with at least a trifle: he collected letters addressed to him with pictures and distributed them to the children.

Such a trifle! And how he touched! Lev Nikolaevich knew that such a picture was rare for a village boy or girl and that it would probably amuse them.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy made a huge contribution to the development of humanity and left a huge legacy for children. The legacy of Leo Tolstoy is a school of conscience, nobility, loyalty, philanthropy and kindness. The writer’s works teach courage, justice, resourcefulness, and hard work. And Tolstoy believed that children, having grown up, would continue the work of adults and achieve universal happiness on earth

Yes, it all begins with childhood, the charm and poetry of which was superbly revealed to us by the great Tolstoy

List of used literature

1. L.N. Tolstoy for children. M., Children's Literature Publishing House, 1961
2. 2.P.A.Sergeenko. Children of Tula workers visiting Leo Tolstoy. M. Detgiz, 1961
3. K.L. Lomunov. Tolstoy and children. Appendix to the book “L.N. Tolstoy. Childhood. Adolescence. Youth". M. "Enlightenment", 1988
4. Goretsky V. The ABC of L.N. Tolstoy. Preschool education. 1978, No. 10
5. L.N. Tolstoy. Fables, fairy tales, stories.M. "Children's Literature", 1987

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a little over twenty years old when he began teaching literacy to peasant children on his estate. He continued to work at the Yasnaya Polyana school intermittently until the end of his life; he worked long and enthusiastically on compiling educational books. In 1872, “Azbuka” was published - a book set containing the alphabet itself, texts for initial Russian and Church Slavonic reading, arithmetic and a teacher’s manual. Three years later, Tolstoy published The New ABC. When teaching, he used proverbs, sayings, and riddles. He composed many “proverb stories”: in each, the proverb unfolded into a short story with a moral. The “New Alphabet” was supplemented by “Russian Books for Reading” - several hundred works: short stories, retellings of folk tales and classical fables, natural history descriptions and reasoning.

Tolstoy strove for extremely simple and precise language. But it is difficult for a modern child to understand even the simplest texts about ancient peasant life.

So what? Are Leo Tolstoy’s works for children becoming a literary monument and disappearing from Russian children’s reading, of which they were the basis for a whole century?

There is no shortage of modern publications. Publishers are trying to make books interesting and understandable to today's children.

1. Tolstoy, L. N. Stories for children / Leo Tolstoy; [preface V. Tolstoy; comp. Yu. Kublanovsky] ; drawings by Natalia Parent-Chelpanova. - [Yasnaya Polyana]: L.N. Tolstoy Museum-Estate “Yasnaya Polyana”, 2012. - 47 p. : ill.

Illustrated by the Russian artist in exile Natalya Parent-Chelpanova, Leo Tolstoy's children's stories, translated into French, were published in Paris by the Gallimard publishing house in 1936. In the Yasnaya Polyana booklet they are, of course, printed in Russian. Here there are both stories that are usually included in modern collections and undisputed in children's reading (“Fire Dogs,” “Kitten,” “Filipok”), as well as rare, even surprising ones. For example, the fable “The Owl and the Hare” - how a arrogant young owl wanted to catch a huge hare, grabbed his back with one paw, the other into a tree, and he “rushed and tore the owl apart”. Read on?

What is true is true: Tolstoy’s literary means are strong; The impressions after reading will remain deep.

Natalia Parent’s illustrations brought the texts closer to the little readers of her time: the characters in the stories were drawn as if they were the artist’s contemporaries. There are French inscriptions: for example, “Pinson” on the grave of a sparrow (for the story “How my aunt talked about how she had a pet sparrow - Zhiwchik”).

2. Tolstoy, L. N. Three Bears / Leo Tolstoy; artist Yuri Vasnetsov. - Moscow: Melik-Pashaev, 2013. - 17 p. : ill.

In the same 1936, Yuri Vasnetsov illustrated an English fairy tale retold in Russian by Leo Tolstoy. At first the illustrations were in black and white, but the later colorful version is reproduced here. The fairy-tale bears of Yu. Vasnetsov, although Mikhail Ivanovich and Mishutka are in vests, and Nastasya Petrovna with a lace umbrella, are quite scary. The child understands why “one girl” was so afraid of them; but she managed to escape!

Illustrations have been color corrected for the new edition. You can see the first edition, as well as reprints that differ from one another, in the National Electronic Children's Library (books are protected by copyright, registration is required to view).

3. Tolstoy, L. N. Lipunyushka: stories and fairy tales / Leo Tolstoy; illustrations by A. F. Pakhomov. - St. Petersburg: Amphora, 2011. - 47 p. : ill.- (Library of a junior school student).

Many adults have retained in their memory “The ABC” by Leo Tolstoy with illustrations by Alexei Fedorovich Pakhomov. The artist knew the peasant way of life very well (he himself was born in a pre-revolutionary village). He painted peasants with great sympathy, children - sentimentally, but always with a firm, confident hand.

The St. Petersburg "Amphora" more than once published small collections of stories from L. N. Tolstoy's "ABC" with illustrations by A. F. Pakhomov. This book contains several stories from which peasant children learned to read. Then the fairy tales - “How a man divided the geese” (about a cunning man) and “Lipunyushka” (about a resourceful son who "came out in cotton").

4. Tolstoy, L. N. About animals and birds / L. N. Tolstoy; artist Andrey Brey. - Saint Petersburg; Moscow: Rech, 2015. - 19 p. : ill. - (Mom’s favorite book).

Stories “Eagle”, “Sparrow and Swallows”, “How Wolves Teach Their Children”, “What Mice Are for”, “Elephant”, “Ostrich”, “Swans”. Tolstoy is not sentimental at all. Animals in his stories are predators and prey. But, of course, a moral must be read in a basic story; Not every story is straightforward.

Here is “Swans” - a genuine prose poem.

It must be said about the artist that he painted animals expressively; among his teachers was V. A. Vatagin. “Stories about Animals” with illustrations by Andrei Andreevich Brey, published by Detgiz in 1945, are digitized and available in the National Electronic Children's Library (registration is also required to view).

5. Tolstoy, L. N. Kostochka: stories for children / Leo Tolstoy; drawings by Vladimir Galdyaev. - Saint Petersburg; Moscow: Rech, 2015. - 79 p. : ill.

The book contains mainly the most frequently published and read children's stories by L. N. Tolstoy: “Fire”, “Fire Dogs”, “Filipok”, “Kitten”...

“The Bone” is also a widely known story, but few are ready to agree with the radical educational method shown in it.

The contents of the book and layout are the same as in the collection “Stories and Were”, published in 1977. More texts and drawings by Vladimir Galdyaev were in L. N. Tolstoy’s “Book for Children,” published by the Moskovsky Rabochiy publishing house in the same 1977 (the publications, of course, were preparing for the writer’s 150th anniversary). The rigor of the drawing and the specific character of the characters correspond well to Tolstoy's literary style.

6. Tolstoy, L. N. Children: stories / L. Tolstoy; drawings by P. Repkin. - Moscow: Nigma, 2015. - 16 p. : ill.

Four stories: “The Lion and the Dog”, “Elephant”, “Eagle”, “Kitten”. They are illustrated by Peter Repkin, a graphic artist and animator. It is interesting that the lion, eagle, elephant and his little owner depicted by the artist obviously resemble the characters of the cartoon “Mowgli”, the production designer of which was Repkin (together with A. Vinokurov). This cannot harm either Kipling or Tolstoy, but it does make one think about the differences and similarities in the views and talents of the two great writers.

7. Tolstoy, L. N. The Lion and the Dog: a true story / L. N. Tolstoy; drawings by G. A. V. Traugot. - St. Petersburg: Rech, 2014. - 23 p. : ill.

On the flyleaf there is a drawing depicting Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy in London in 1861 and as if confirming: this story is true. The story itself is given in the form of captions to the illustrations.

First line: “Wild animals were shown in London...” An ancient multi-colored, almost fairy-tale Western European city, townspeople and townswomen, curly-haired children - all in a manner that has long been characteristic of the artists “G. A. V. Traugot." Meat thrown into a lion's cage does not look naturalistic (like Repkin's). A lion yearning for a dead dog (Tolstoy honestly writes that she “died”) is drawn very expressively.

I told you more about the book “Biblioguide”.

8. Tolstoy, L. N. Filipok / L. N. Tolstoy; artist Gennady Spirin. - Moscow: RIPOL classic, 2012. -: ill. - (Masterpieces of book illustration).

“Filipok” from “The New ABC” is one of the most famous stories by Leo Tolstoy and all Russian children's literature. The figurative meaning of the word “textbook” here coincides with the direct one.

The RIPOL Classic publishing house has already republished the book with illustrations by Gennady Spirin several times and included it in the New Year's gift collection. This “Filipok” was previously published in English (see on the artist’s website: http://gennadyspirin.com/books/). In the drawings of Gennady Konstantinovich there is a lot of affection for the ancient peasant life and winter Russian nature.

It is noteworthy that in “The New Alphabet” behind this story (at the end of which Filipok “he began to speak to the Mother of God; but every word he spoke was wrong") followed by “Slavic letters”, “Slavic words under titles” and prayers.

9. Tolstoy, L. N. My first Russian book for reading / Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. - Moscow: White City, . - 79 s. : ill. - (Russian books for reading).

"White City" has undertaken a complete publication of "Russian books for reading". The second, third and fourth books were published in the same way. There are no abbreviations here. Stories, fairy tales, fables, descriptions and reasoning are given in the order in which Lev Nikolaevich arranged them. There are no comments on the texts. Illustrations are used instead of verbal explanations. Basically, these are reproductions of paintings, famous and not so famous. For example, to the description of “The Sea” - “The Ninth Wave” by Ivan Aivazovsky. To the discussion “Why does the wind happen?” - “Children running from a thunderstorm” by Konstantin Makovsky. To the story “Fire” - “Fire in the Village” by Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky. For the story “Prisoner of the Caucasus” - landscapes by Lev Lagorio and Mikhail Lermontov.

The range of ages and interests of readers of this book can be very wide.

10. Tolstoy, L. N. Sea: description / Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy; artist Mikhail Bychkov. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2014. - p. : ill. - (Good and eternal).

Of the books listed, this one seems to belong most to our time. Artist Mikhail Bychkov says: “A few lines by L. N. Tolstoy gave me a wonderful opportunity to draw the sea”. On large-format spreads, the artist depicted the southern and northern sea, calm and stormy, day and night. To Tolstoy's short text he made a drawn appendix about all kinds of sea vessels.

The work fascinated Mikhail Bychkov, and he illustrated three stories from Tolstoy’s ABC, uniting them with a fictional trip around the world on a sailing warship. In the story "The Jump" such a journey is mentioned. The story "Shark" begins with the words: "Our ship was anchored off the coast of Africa." The story “Fire Dogs” takes place in London - and the artist painted a Russian corvette flying the St. Andrew’s flag against the backdrop of the construction of the Tower Bridge (built from 1886 to 1894; “ABC” was compiled earlier, but in the same era, especially if viewed from our time) .

The book “Were” was published by the Rech publishing house in 2015. In the spring of 2016, the State Museum of Leo Tolstoy on Prechistenka hosted an exhibition of Mikhail Bychkov’s illustrations for these two children’s books.

“The sea is wide and deep; there is no end in sight to the sea. The sun rises at sea and sets at sea. No one has reached or knows the bottom of the sea. When there is no wind, the sea is blue and smooth; when the wind blows, the sea will stir up and become uneven..."

"Sea. Description"

“...Water from the sea rises in fog; the fog rises higher, and clouds become from the fog. The clouds are driven by the wind and spread across the ground. Water falls from the clouds to the ground. It flows from the ground into swamps and streams. From streams it flows into rivers; from rivers to sea. From the sea again the water rises into the clouds, and the clouds spread across the earth...”

“Where does the water go from the sea? Reasoning"

Leo Tolstoy's stories from "ABC" and "Russian Books for Reading" are laconic, even lapidary. In many ways, they are archaic, in today's opinion. But this is what is essential about them: a now rare, non-playful, serious attitude to words, a simple, but not simplified attitude towards everything around them.

Svetlana Malaya

Perhaps such a headline will confuse some parents, wondering if she has gone crazy, stuffing a small child with such complex works, even by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy. But no, I didn’t :) More than a century ago, the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy wrote stories for peasant children, whom he taught to read and write in his Yasnaya Polyana estate. In those days, there were practically no children's books, so Tolstoy himself wrote many simple and understandable stories for children, which to this day have not lost their relevance and significance. From a young age, they develop a sense of goodness and justice, and learn to treat the world around them with love and respect. Therefore, I simply could not help but purchase at least a couple of books by this wonderful writer for my three-year-old son.

I adore Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, not only his works, but also his entire philosophy and views on life. He was incredibly wise and highly moral. His views and attitude towards life resonate very much with how I understand our existence. Of course, I am far from such awareness, but Lev Nikolaevich inspires me! And his works breathe an incredible live atmosphere, they are simply magnificent!

That is why I decided to start introducing Tolstoy’s books from childhood. Moreover, Lev Nikolaevich wrote quite a few children's stories, fables and fairy tales, the adapted texts of which will also help to successfully introduce a child to the magical world of Russian classical literature.

"Little Stories"

The first thing I did was buy this wonderful book.

It's called "Little Stories". The name speaks for itself. The bulk of the book consists of short stories. About goodness, about justice, about honesty, about work, about friendship, about love, and other qualities that characterize a person’s high personality. By reading stories like this to a small child, you are teaching him the right things. What qualities in life are respected and valued, and which only disfigure a person. Here, for example, is one such short story.

Most of the stories are even shorter, just a couple of sentences, but they contain great wisdom! Leo Tolstoy's talent for putting deep meaning into simple words is priceless and unique. And his books can undoubtedly be introduced to children from a very young age. In our case it is three years.

But this book is also suitable for older children. It has 183 pages and 65 works. There are also longer ones, like Filipok, for example, which can be read from the age of five.

So, the book “Little Stories” will not be at all superfluous in a children's library. Of course, it is better to read such stories with your mother, so that she comments and discusses with the child what the author wanted to say. Moreover, this book has a convenient format, good quality thick sheets and hard cover, and very sincere pictures, real, conveying the atmosphere of that time. I'm really glad I bought this book :)

"The Lion and the Dog"

I am fully aware that this is a simple but wildly dramatic work, a bit early for three years. But I just really wanted it to be in our home library. I myself read “The Lion and the Dog” before school, I just had this book in the house, and I picked it up and read it. Words cannot express the pain and compassion this story caused in my little heart. I was very worried. I believe that this book will not leave anyone indifferent. It awakens compassion, teaches empathy and sympathy for the pain of others.

There are cheaper versions of this book, but I chose this one - from the Rech publishing house. I really like illustrations in this style. It was as if the artist was making strokes with his brush right in the book.

The drawings are very laconic, they contain only basic sketches, but this makes them clearer to the child, and most importantly, they surprisingly allow you to feel literally every page more deeply.

The book brought by courier simply amazed me! It turned out to be larger than I imagined: the format is larger than A4; The quality is simply excellent, in general, a real decoration for a children's library! Well, I think we’ll try to read the story itself when we’re 4.5 years old. I’ll see if my son is ready to perceive this work, if not, then we’ll wait, but sooner or later the time for this book will undoubtedly come to us =)

Leo Tolstoy was not only a great writer known throughout the world, but also an outstanding teacher and philosopher. His books will allow us to get acquainted with his works of fiction, written for the enlightenment, education and upbringing of children. They contain works for elementary reading, mainly from two large cycles of Tolstoy - “Russian Books for Reading” and “Folk Stories”.

The books are ideal for family reading, since the great Russian writer and thinker addressed his fairy tales, fables and parables not only to children, but also to a wide range of readers of different ages, teaching moral lessons of kindness, hard work and spirituality.

Download books by Leo Tolstoy for children

Below, using the links, you can download several children's collections, authored by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Among them there are fairy tales, fables and epics, in general, several dozen of the most famous and best works of Leo Tolstoy for children.

A selection of other children's books by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

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Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Stories about children

The boy was guarding the sheep and, as if seeing a wolf, began to call:

Help, wolf! Wolf!

The men came running and saw: it’s not true. As he did this two and three times, it happened that a wolf actually came running.

The boy began to shout:

Come here, come quickly, wolf!

The men thought that he was deceiving again as always - they did not listen to him.

The wolf sees that there is nothing to be afraid of: he has slaughtered the entire herd in the open.

HOW AUNT TALKED ABOUT HOW SHE LEARNED TO SEW

When I was six years old, I asked my mother to let me sew. She said: “You’re still young, you’ll only prick your fingers,” and I kept pestering her.

Mother took a red piece of paper from the chest and gave it to me; then she threaded a red thread into the needle and showed me how to hold it.

I began to sew, but could not make even stitches; one stitch came out large, and the other hit the very edge and broke through. Then I pricked my finger and tried not to cry, but my mother asked me: “What are you doing?” - I couldn’t resist and cried. Then my mother told me to go play.

When I went to bed, I kept imagining stitches; I kept thinking about how I could quickly learn to sew, and it seemed so difficult to me that I would never learn.

And now I’ve grown up and don’t remember how I learned to sew; and when I teach my girl to sew, I’m surprised how she can’t hold a needle.

HOW THE BOY TALKED ABOUT HOW A STORM CAUGHT HIM IN THE FOREST

When I was little, I was sent to the forest to pick mushrooms. I reached the forest, picked mushrooms and wanted to go home. Suddenly it became dark, it began to rain and there was thunder. I got scared and sat down under a large oak tree. Lightning flashed, so bright that it hurt my eyes, and I closed my eyes. Something crackled and rattled above my head; then something hit me in the head. I fell and lay there until the rain stopped. When I woke up, trees were dripping all over the forest, birds were singing and the sun was playing. A large oak tree broke and smoke came out of the stump. There were oak scraps lying around me. The dress I was wearing was all wet and sticking to my body; there was a bump on my head and it hurt a little. I found my hat, took the mushrooms and ran home. There was no one at home; I got some bread from the table and climbed onto the stove. When I woke up, I saw from the stove that my mushrooms had been fried, put on the table and were already ready to eat. I shouted: “What are you eating without me?” They say: “Why are you sleeping? Go quickly and eat.”

BONE

The mother bought plums and wanted to give them to the children after lunch. They were still on the plate. Vanya never ate plums and kept smelling them. And he really liked them. I really wanted to eat it. He kept walking past the plums. When there was no one in the upper room, he could not resist, grabbed one plum and ate it. Before dinner, the mother counted the plums and saw that one was missing. She told her father.

At dinner my father says:

Well, children, did anyone eat one plum?

Everyone said:

Vanya blushed like a lobster and said too:

No, I didn't eat.

Then the father said:

What any of you has eaten is not good; but that’s not the problem. The trouble is that plums have seeds, and if someone doesn’t know how to eat them and swallows a seed, he will die within a day. I'm afraid of this.

Vanya turned pale and said:

No, I threw the bone out the window.

And everyone laughed, and Vanya began to cry.

GIRL AND MUSHROOMS

Two girls were walking home with mushrooms.

They had to cross the railway.

They thought the car was far away, so they climbed up the embankment and walked across the rails.

Suddenly a car made noise. The older girl ran back, and the smaller one ran across the road.

The older girl shouted to her sister:

"Don't go back!"

But the car was so close and made such a loud noise that the smaller girl did not hear; she thought that she was being told to run back. She ran back across the rails, tripped, dropped the mushrooms and began to pick them up.

The car was already close, and the driver whistled as hard as he could.

The older girl shouted:

“Throw the mushrooms!”, and the little girl thought that she was being told to pick mushrooms, and crawled along the road.

The driver could not hold the cars. She whistled as hard as she could and ran into the girl.

The older girl screamed and cried. All the passengers looked from the windows of the cars, and the conductor ran to the end of the train to see what had happened to the girl.

When the train passed, everyone saw that the girl was lying head down between the rails and not moving.

Then, when the train had already moved far, the girl raised her head, jumped on her knees, picked mushrooms and ran to her sister.

HOW A BOY TELLED ABOUT HOW HE FOUND QUEEN BEES TO GRANDFATHER

My grandfather lived in a bee yard in the summer. When I visited him, he gave me honey.

One day I came to the beekeeping area and began walking between the hives. I wasn’t afraid of bees, because my grandfather taught me to walk quietly through the fire pit.

And the bees got used to me and didn’t bite me. In one hive I heard something clucking.

I came to my grandfather’s hut and told him.

He went with me, listened for himself and said:

One swarm has already flown out of this hive, the first one, with an old queen; and now the young queens have hatched. They are the ones screaming. They will fly out tomorrow with another swarm.

I asked my grandfather:

What kind of uterus are there?

He said:

Come tomorrow; God willing, it will be restored, I will show you and give you honey.

When I came to my grandfather the next day, he had two closed swarms with bees hanging in his entryway. Grandfather told me to put on a net and tied a scarf around my neck; then he took one closed hive with bees and carried it to the beeyard. The bees were buzzing in it. I was afraid of them and hid my hands in my trousers; but I wanted to see the uterus, and I followed my grandfather.

At the fire pit, the grandfather went up to the empty log, adjusted the trough, opened the sieve and shook the bees out of it onto the trough. The bees crawled along the trough into the log and kept trumpeting, and the grandfather moved them with a broom.

And here is the uterus! - Grandfather pointed to me with a broom, and I saw a long bee with short wings. She crawled with the others and disappeared.

Then my grandfather took off the net from me and went into the hut. There he gave me a large piece of honey, I ate it and smeared it on my cheeks and hands.

When I came home, my mother said:

Again, spoiled man, your grandfather fed you honey.

And I said:

He gave me honey because yesterday I found him a hive with young queens, and today we planted a swarm.

In the harvest, men and women went to work. Only the old and the young remained in the village. A grandmother and three grandchildren remained in one hut. Grandma turned off the stove and lay down to rest. Flies landed on her and bit her. She covered her head with a towel and fell asleep.

One of the granddaughters, Masha (she was three years old), opened the stove, heaped coals into a crock and went into the hallway. And in the entryway lay sheaves. The women prepared these sheaves for svyasla. Masha brought coals, put them under the sheaves and began to blow. When the straw began to catch fire, she was delighted, went into the hut and brought her brother, Kiryushka, by the hand (he was one and a half years old, he had just learned to walk), and said:

Look, Kilyuska, what a furnace I blew up.

The sheaves were already burning and crackling. When the entryway was filled with smoke, Masha got scared and ran back to the hut. Kiryushka fell on the threshold, hurt his nose and cried. Masha dragged him into the hut, and they both hid under a bench. Grandmother heard nothing and slept.

The eldest boy, Vanya (he was eight years old), was on the street. When he saw smoke coming from the hallway, he ran through the door, jumped through the smoke into the hut and began to wake up his grandmother; but the grandmother, dazed from sleep, forgot about the children, jumped out and ran through the courtyards after the people. Masha, meanwhile, sat under the bench and was silent; only the little boy screamed because he had broken his nose painfully. Vanya heard his cry, looked under the bench and shouted to Masha:

Run, you'll burn!

Masha ran into the hallway, but it was impossible to get past the smoke and fire. She came back. Then Vanya raised the window and told her to climb in.

When she climbed through, Vanya grabbed his brother and dragged him. But the boy was heavy and did not give in to his brother. He cried and pushed Vanya. Vanya fell twice while he was dragging him to the window: the door to the hut was already on fire. Vanya stuck the boy’s head through the window and wanted to push him through; but the boy (he was very frightened) grabbed hold of it with his little hands and did not let them go. Then Vanya shouted to Masha:

Pull him by the head! - and he pushed from behind.