A. Zhvalevsky, E. Pasternak

Time is always good

Feedback from test readers from LiveJournal

I've read it. Just super! Honestly, it was impossible to break away!

Here you know how to squeeze a tear out of the reader. I don’t understand why, but, reading the ending, I sat and squelched my nose.

Idea - class! And the absence / presence of books, and the division into a column, and the beating of the heart, and "eye to eye" - so vital. Great.

I read it in one breath. Let's drink, so to speak. Very good!!!

I was shamelessly late for training (it was impossible to break away), so I unsubscribe immediately, in hot pursuit, so to speak. Interesting and dynamic! Tears welled up not only at the end. In the place where Olya and Zhenya hold hands in the middle of the class. Well, a couple of times closer to the denouement.

Tightening became approximately closer to a third of the book and further on the rise, that is, everything is fine with dynamism. It is easy to read, and tears out where necessary, and you often giggle. I didn’t bother with the time continuum at all, even there were no questions. It's a convention, that's all. Overall, great idea and execution!

Zhenya P., Andrey Zh. How did you, adults, manage to write about us children in such a way that it was interesting for us to read it?

I woke up from a joyful “coo-ka-re-ku” and turned off the alarm clock on the comedian. I got up, wandered to the kitchen, turned on the computer on the way. There is still an hour before the first lesson, it is quite possible to see what was written on the forum overnight.

While the computer was loading, I managed to pour myself a cup of tea and listen to the standard from my mother:

Olya, where did you go, eat like a man at the table for once.

Yeah, - I muttered, pulled off a sandwich and went to the monitor.

I went to the school forum. As usual, the Internet lived a busy life at night. Big Ape had another fight with Bird. We argued for a long time, until two in the morning. Here people are lucky, no one drives them to sleep.

Olya, you're leaving in half an hour, and you're still in your pajamas!

Well right now...

I angrily looked up from the computer and went to get dressed. I really didn't want to drag myself to school, especially since the first lesson was scheduled for a math test. This test has not yet been written by any class, so the tasks did not appear on the forum, and last year's ones were too lazy to look in the archive. Then fizra, history and only one decent lesson - OKG. Yes, and what they teach us there! Print? The school curriculum has not changed for ten years! Ha! Yes, now any normal student will type the text faster than he will speak.

While I was getting dressed, I still read yesterday's forum swearing. And then the eye suddenly caught on the fact that in the box, it turns out, there is a personal message. I opened it and ... my heart began to beat often, often. From Hawk...

The message was short. "Hello! Do you have a boyfriend?" But my hands are shaking. The hawk visited the forum rarely, but aptly. Sometimes, as soon as he writes something, as he jokes, everyone runs to read. And once he even wrote his own poems. The hawk is just a dream of all girls. In PM, they often only discussed what the Hawk would write new. And most importantly, no one, no one knew who he really was.

What Hawk wrote to me, Titmouse, it was just like a bolt from the blue.

Olya, are you going to school?

Oh, and why just go somewhere, if here she is, real life. Now I would sit down, calmly come up with an answer, write. And then find out his ICQ number and chat, chat at night ... I already closed my eyes with happiness. And then she took the briefcase and sullenly trudged to the door.

The fourth quarter is the coolest. Before the summer holidays there is quite a bit, some one and a half months. And most importantly - before summing up the annual marks. I love April very much, and even more - the end of May. A couple more tests, collecting diaries ... and you open the last page, and there - solid, well-deserved fives. And a commendation sheet in the load ...

No, I'm not asking, but it's nice all the same. To be honest, when I was called to the head teacher, I had no doubt that I would hear something pleasant. And when I entered and saw the senior Pioneer leader in the office, I decided that this pleasant thing would be connected with my position in the detachment. Maybe they will introduce squads to the council? It would be great!

But I only guessed halfway.

Sit down, Vitya, - Tamara Vasilievna, our head teacher, nicknamed Vassa, said sternly, - Tanya and I are talking to you as to the chairman of the detachment council!

I sat down, automatically thinking: “There is no need for a comma before “how”, because here it means “as”.

Tanechka and Vassa looked at me sternly. Now it was clear that we were talking about some important, but not very pleasant business. Perhaps, about an unscheduled collection of scrap metal in honor of the opening of a new Komsomol construction site.

Do you remember, Vitya, - the head teacher continued, - Zhenya Arkhipov brought Easter cake to school on Monday?

I was surprised. Some unexpected question.

Bulka? I clarified.

Kulich! - Tanechka corrected me in such a nasty voice that it became clear that this cake was the whole point.

I nodded.

What are you nodding? Tanechka suddenly hissed. - No language?

It didn't look like a leader. Usually she spoke to me in a friendly and even respectful way. Not like with everyone else. I hastily said:

I remember how Arkhipov brought a bun ... Easter cake!

Tanechka! No need to shout at Vitya, - Vassa tried to speak softer, but she did not succeed well.

It's not his fault," she continued.

I stopped thinking at all. What is to blame? Why didn't we eat this bun ... Easter cake in the dining room?

But this is blatant ... - Tanechka began, but Vassa did not let her finish.

Victor,” she said in her usual commanding voice, “please tell us how it all happened.

I told everything honestly. How Zhenya brought a bun, how he treated everyone, how everyone ate. And even Irka Voronko treated, although they had a fight before that. And he treated me. The bun was delicious, sweet, just a little dry. All.

And what were you talking about? - the Pioneer leader asked with a threat.

I don't remember, I confessed frankly.

You were talking about Arkhipov's grandmother, Vassa told me.

Yes! Exactly! - I was glad that I remembered the right thing. - He said that she baked a bun!

Two pairs of eyes glared at me.

And why did she bake this ... this bun, do you remember? - the head teacher's voice sounded insinuating.

I remembered. I got hot. Now I understand why I was called.

Nuuuu ... - I began. “Just like that… It seems…

Here! - the senior pioneer leader raised her finger incriminatingly. - That's a pernicious influence! Vitya! You never lied! You're the chairman of the squad's council! Excellent student! Your dad is a party worker!

I got really bad. For the first time in my life, I actually lied to my senior comrades. But I didn't want to tell the truth. So I decided to keep quiet.

Eh, Victor, Victor… - Vassa shook her head. Is this what I taught you? Is this what the pioneer heroes did? Did Pavlik Morozov, whose name our team bears, act like that?

The head teacher looked sternly at the counselor, and she broke off. Apparently, now was not the time to remember past merits. I looked at the floor and felt the hot color flood my cheeks.

We were silent for a bit, and every second I was getting hotter.

So, - Vassa rasped softly, - do you remember why Grandma Arkhipova baked Easter cake?

I didn't move. It was like tetanus attacked me.

Okay, - the head teacher sighed, - I'll have to remind you. Grandmother Arkhipova baked this Easter cake ... Easter cake! .. for the religious holiday "Easter".

I listened to this steely voice and remembered the vague rumors that were circulating about Vassa. Either she personally demolished the monuments to Stalin, or she protected them from demolition ... It was not customary to talk about this now, so no one knew the details. But that she excelled at the same time - that's for sure.

Grandmother Arkhipova, - continued the head teacher, - in this way she tries ...

Vassa fell silent, choosing her words, and a pioneer leader came to her aid:

Tries to fool around! And lure in a network of religious dope.

The head teacher frowned. She, a teacher of the Russian language with great experience, did not like something in the phrase "network of religious dope." But she did not correct Tanya, on the contrary, she supported her.

That's it!

The head teacher and the Pioneer leader were solemnly silent. Probably to make it better for me.

They tried in vain - it already dawned on me that it couldn’t be better.

And what are you going to do about it? Vassa finally asked.

I was only able to extract:

We will no longer...

The leader and the head teacher rolled their eyes so that they themselves looked like religious old women from some movie. And then they explained to me what I had to do.

The day at school didn't go well from the start. The mathematician completely went berserk, the lesson began with the fact that she collected comedians from everyone. That is, I wrote the control as if without hands, no one to talk to, no spurs for you, no calculator for you. Just like in prehistoric times! Most importantly, many have second comedians, but somehow they didn’t think to take them with them. Yes, and then she did something weird, took and handed out papers to us - this, she says, is a control, decide. The class was amazing. How, he says, to solve it?

And she smiles so maliciously and says: write with a pen on a piece of paper. And a detailed solution to each problem. Horror! I have probably not held a pen in my hands for half a year. I can imagine what I did there and how I wrote it all. In short, three points, probably out of ten ...

So compared to this control, everything else was just seeds. But the whole day the forum was buzzing. Well, we can’t even put the tasks on the grid, no one thought to steal a leaf to scan it, but you won’t remember it by heart either, and it didn’t occur to write it down. Then we didn’t go out of the network at all the lessons, so we tried to talk about comedians. Whoever you look at, everyone has comedians under their desks and only fingers flicker - messages are being typed. And there were almost two hundred people at the forum at the same time, this is the whole parallel of the fifth grades, and even the curious from the others got in. At breaks, they only had time to scroll through the topic, and answer questions. You’ll go from office to office, plop down on a desk and immediately into a comedian, read what’s new there. Cool so, you go into the classroom - silence. And everyone is sitting typing something, typing ... It's more convenient, of course, to use voice dialing, but not in the classroom! Because then everyone will immediately recognize your nickname. And this cannot be allowed. Nick is top secret information.

I knew a couple of nicknames. Beauty is Ninka, Murekha is Lisa. And I also guessed about a few people, but did not know for sure. Well, the fact that I am Titmouse - literally three also knew this. Titmouse - because my last name is Vorobyova. But if Sparrow wrote, everyone would immediately guess that I am me, Titmouse wrote. And I found such a cool avatar - a titmouse sits and shakes fat from a feeder.

Once we had a story, a girl from the seventh grade was declassified. One of the girlfriends took and wrote on the net that Violet is Kirov from the seventh "A". Horror ... So she then had to go to another school. Because you can write if everyone knows that it's you! It’s even impossible to flirt, it’s like taking it and confessing your love openly to someone! Brrr...

And only the most trusted know my nickname. We are friends with them. We even went to a cafe together once when it was my birthday. I know everything about them. And ICQ, and mail. In short, these definitely will not pass!

So, about the day that didn't work out. Our last lesson is Classroom hour. Our teacher comes and says in such an angry voice:

Well, they removed all the phones.

We just jumped. Someone even said out loud:

You made, all agreed, or something!

And the teacher, our classmate, Elena Vasilievna barks like a bark:

Phones on the table! And listen carefully, now, one might say, your fate is being decided.

We are completely quiet. And she walked through the rows and turned off the comedians. Well, it's the end of the world...

And then she went out in front of the class and read in a tragic voice:

I'll recap it briefly, in my own words.

In connection with the excessive computerization of schoolchildren and to test their knowledge, establish at the end of each school year exams. The grade is set on a ten-point system and is taken out in the certificate of maturity. This is so that, they say, we studied well all the years, and not just the last class. Yes, but the horror is not in this, but in the fact that these exams will be held not in the form of tests, but orally.

What? one of the boys asked.

I even looked around, but I didn’t understand who asked, I don’t distinguish them at all.

There are three exams, - continued Elena Vasilievna, - Russian language and literature - orally, mathematics - in writing, but not on a computer, but on paper, and history - also orally. This is done so that you, modern schoolchildren, learn to speak at least a little and write with a pen on paper. Exams in three weeks.

The class is stuck. So they dispersed in complete horror. I didn’t even turn on the comedian until I got home ...

In the evening I had to prepare for political information. There was just a broadcast about how the American imperialists are trying to disrupt the Olympics in Moscow, and people of good will do not allow them to do so. But I could not concentrate at all - I sat and thought about Zhenya. Of course, he was wrong, but it was still disgusting in his soul.

In the end, I realized that I did not understand anything from the announcer's story, and turned off the TV. Dad will come to dinner, bring Pravda and Soviet Belarus - I will copy from there. I called Zhenya, but my grandmother picked up the phone.

He's been running around for two hours now. You tell him, Vitenka, - Zhenya's grandmother's voice was creaky, but pleasant, - that he should go home! I worry! It's getting dark soon!

I hastily promised and ran into the yard. The fact that I had to talk to the culprit of this whole story upset me even more. Grandmother, of course, is old, about fifty, or even all seventy, but this does not justify her. You can't let your own grandson down like that!

I went to look for Arkhipych on our pear - the one near the transformer booth. There weren’t even leaves on it yet, but it’s so cool to sit on a tree and dangle your legs! The branches are thick, you see everyone, but no one sees you!

Zhenya! I shouted as I approached. - Get down, we need to talk!

A chuckle was heard from the pear. I had to climb myself. Arkhipych sat at the very top, where I was always afraid to climb. When I was little, back in the second grade, I took a bite from the lowest branch of this pear, and since then I have been terribly afraid of heights. Now I didn’t climb up either, I settled on my favorite branch in the very center of the tree. The branch was thick, reliable and bent very comfortably - like the back of an armchair.

Why are you silent? I asked angrily. - Silent ... Giggling ...

Hello, Taras! Zhenya replied.

Only he called me Taras, by name Ukrainian writer. We haven't gone through it yet, but Zhenya has read half of the home library, including this Taras Shevchenko. Moreover, I read haphazardly, everything in a row that comes to hand. I couldn't do that, I read the books strictly in order. Tried even Big Soviet encyclopedia master, but broke on the second volume. There were too many unfamiliar words. But Pushkin read everything - from the first volume to the last. Now I started Gogol.

Usually I liked it when Zhenya called me Taras, but today for some reason I was offended.

I am not Taras! I am Victor!

Why are you so angry, Taras? Zhenya was surprised.

Nothing! I snapped. - I'm telling you: get down, we need to talk! What are you?

Come on, come to me! It's great here!

I didn't want to fly, but I had to. The conversation was such that ... In general, I didn’t want to shout about him to the whole yard.

When I cautiously sat down on the branch closest to Arkhipych, he yelled:

Pitching! All hands on deck! - and began to swing the top.

I grabbed the branch with all my might and begged:

Enough! Will break!

Won't break! - Zhenya objected, but he stopped the "rolling" anyway. - So what did you want?

I began to talk about the conversation with the leader and head teacher. The more he told, the gloomier Zhenya became. Yes, and I was more and more sick - either from the height, or from something else. When I got to the most unpleasant, I even had to shut up for a minute, otherwise I would definitely have vomited.

And what do they want? - asked Arkhipych, and at that moment his voice became as raspy as his grandmother's.

I breathed a little and answered:

To say that there is no god! Right in front of the whole class!

And that's it? - Zhenya immediately cheered up.

Not all, I admitted. - You need to ... well ... said that your grandmother did the wrong thing, that she gave us that bun. And you're ashamed that she believes in God.

I'm not ashamed of anything! Zhenya screeched again. - What's the difference, believe or not believe? She is good and kind!

It goes without saying. But she does believe! So you should be ashamed!

This is nonsense! I won't say that!

Then you know what they'll do? Get kicked out of school!

They won't get kicked out! I'm the smartest in the class! If they kick me out, then everyone else must be driven out too!

It was true. Arkhipych never really crammed, but he received only “nickles”. I also went to excellent students, but some fives were not easy for me. Especially in the Russian language - well, I couldn’t write a long word so that there were no corrections in it! And in drawing I got a B in general only out of pity. I can’t even draw a straight line even under the ruler. I try very hard, but it's all to no avail. Oh, to invent such a thing so that she draws lines herself! He pressed the button - a line, the second he pressed - a circle, the third - some tricky graph, as in the Pravda newspaper on the second page. And if the thing itself corrected errors ... But this, of course, is fantastic.

But Zhenya knows mathematics and Russian very well, and remembers all the dates from history, and draws almost like a real artist. He is right, such a good student will not be expelled. I didn't believe it myself when I said it. Yes, I wanted to intimidate.

Well, they will scold!

Let them scold! They will scold and leave!

There was nothing to object. Although I really wanted to.

I realized that I envy Zhenya. I really don't like being scolded. Not because mom and dad scold me - to be honest, they are rarely at home. I just don't like it, that's all. Then I remembered the request of Grandma Arkhipych.

And your grandmother is waiting for you at home, - I said vindictively. - Worried.

Zhenya immediately twitched to get off, but held himself back. Only girls run home at the first call. We chatted a little more, but after about five minutes Arkhipych casually said:

I got hungry for something. I'm going to eat! Bye.

For now, I replied.

Zhenya famously jumped to the ground and walked with an uneven gait - as if he really wanted to run, but he had to restrain himself.

Authors long and strongly loved by everyone - adults, children, librarians, teachers and the jury literary prizes- the stories "Time is always good", "I want to go to school", "The True Story of Santa Claus" and many others have written a new book. In it, Andrei Zhvalevsky and Yevgenia Pasternak take the reader by the hand and take him away from school... Where to? What do high school students do after school? A lot of things - for example, dancing. The plot of each of the chapters rapidly revolves around one of the pupils of the studio ballroom dance. Each of them has something to worry about - from unrequited love and problems with parents to finding their place in life. But in the finale, the personal problems of the heroes recede before a common misfortune: the fate of their coach, a tough man, but wholeheartedly dedicated to his work, is under threat. Some bugs will be fixed and some won't - the open ending will not solve all the problems and will not provide ready-made answers to the main questions. But the heroes of this story will come out of it as different people - and the reader, most likely, too.

Genre: Children's adventure
Author:

In the most ordinary library, peace and quiet reign, and books live their own life, separate from people. Everything changes with the advent of a young intern Kira: she wants to return the readers to the library, and the books to the readers. At first, the library brethren - both books and people - perceive the newcomer with hostility, but soon more important problems are found. Summoned at a séance, the second volume " dead souls Gogol quickly seizes power over books and people - while his methods are diabolically effective, and his goals are vague and ominous. When the vanguard of resistance is defeated, and the library is about to be closed… Of course, salvation will come – not miraculous, but very natural and modern. But you still need to live up to it and finish reading this exciting story - and finish reading it with pleasure, and not through force. You can't read through force at all.

Genre: Novels
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak

The fourth-graders of an ordinary high school are unspeakably lucky. Or bad luck - that's how you look. Their teacher (and part-time director of the school) is a witch. No, she does not fly on a broomstick and does not brew a potion from bats, but she can visit saber-toothed tigers or trolls, bewitch the door and show what is happening inside the mobile phone. First, fourth-graders are scared, and then they are terribly interesting. Especially those of them who themselves learned to conjure.

Genre: Children's prose
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak

Yesterday, the most terrible monster was a basilisk from your favorite book, and today your closest friend dies, your boyfriend turns out to be not only yours, and the school turns into hell. More than anything, I want to forget all this like a bad dream, but I can’t. Because if not you, then no one will unravel the tangle of problems. And you have a choice - to fight to the last or ... what, give up ?!

Genre:
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak

Do you discuss “scary” topics in your family? Did mom and dad talk about how they first had "it"? And in general: do you often communicate? Not "How are you?" - "Fine" - "What's at school?" - "Normal", but heart to heart? No? This is because you have never had a February 52nd. And the heroes of the story "February 52" happened. The authors admit that they never learned to talk to their children about first love. But you might be able to.

Genre: Children's prose
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak

This is a fantasy, a fairy tale and an incredible story. In this book, you will not meet aliens, Baba Yaga or, at worst, talking animals. But get to know the amazing school, where students run in the morning with one thought: "Hurry up!". It makes the wildest dreams come true - from flying in a hot air balloon to traveling to Elbrus. There are no usual “objects” and “parallels” in it, but there are a lot of projects and a brotherhood of like-minded people. In a word, a miracle, not a school. However, like any miracle, it is very fragile. And one beautiful day, the students have to stand up to protect their dreams.

Genre: Children's prose
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak

Everything was mixed up in the seventh "A": war and love, explosions and disasters, battles and ... again love. Such is the age - a jump from childhood to youth. Going to the movies with a girl is like getting the Golden Fleece. A fight in a wasteland is as senseless as any of the world wars, and roses on the doorstep can completely change the world, even if only for a few minutes. But the surrounding adults do not understand all this. And there are so few words to explain to them. Because like… look… well, in short… Many of the stories from this book were included in the collection “Shakespeare never dreamed of”, which in 2012 became one of the winners of the All-Russian competition for the best literary work for children and youth “Kniguru”.

Genre: Modern Russian literature
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak

Who said that a cat and a dog must live ... like a cat and a dog? It really depends on the cat. And from a dog. And also - from that strange feeling that makes a yard dog protect a domestic cat from his own pack. And the cat itself - to be sad about the outbred, undersized, lop-eared beloved. And sex... What about sex? Real feeling, even sex is not a hindrance. In addition to the new story "Like a cat with a dog", the book includes two stories that are adjacent to the popular M + F tetralogy, but much less well-known. Which, in the opinion of the authors, is unfair - they themselves "I Deserve More", and especially "MopKoff-on" seem to be perhaps the best books of the "adult" series.

Genre: Historical fiction
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak

History is a capricious lady. It was worth one careless teenager to scold her at the walls of the Kremlin, and he, along with his interlocutor, was thrown so far away that he would have to get out a whole book. “Where did we get to? How can we get out of here? How to survive? the characters in the book ask. I really want to help them, because we have the Internet at hand, and they remember little even from the school course! And the school course does not always coincide with what happens before the astonished gaze of involuntary time travelers. Especially when you have to face Dolgoruky's warriors, give advice to Kalita, defend Moscow from Tokhtamysh, or work as an interpreter for the British ambassador. Also, it's a love story...

Genre: Children's fantasy
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak

You shouldn't have touched the oak! Then nothing bad would have happened. And when they touched, then it began. From all the cracks climbed evil spirits. Brownies and cabinets are for our high school students, evil spirits are against it. Perun throws lightning on the roof, Koschei tries to break the vicious circle, the talking cat feeds the mermaid with stolen sausage, Newton's second law temporarily does not work, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" appears before my eyes, as if in 3D, but in reality, a magic solvent helped … Want to go further? Read it yourself.

Genre: Children's prose
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak

... Travel engineer Sergei Ivanovich Morozov, walking on Christmas Day before the New Year 1912 with his wife Masha along Kosoy Lane in St. Petersburg, falls under magical snow, which, it turns out, falls here once every fifty years. Without knowing it, the spouses become for the next half century the executors of New Year's children's dreams - Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden. They are shocked by the new possibilities and for a long time consider all the miracles they work as coincidences. But the eyes of the heroes of the novel are opened by ptёrks and ohly - representatives of the magical people, who become their constant assistants on New Year's Eve days and nights ... "The True Story of Santa Claus" combines fairy tale and a story about real history Russia in the XX century. It is addressed to children aged 8-12, those who have not yet parted completely with faith in the New Year's miracle, but are already ready to learn the truth about the life and history of their country.

Genre: Contemporary romance novels
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky, Evgenia Pasternak

The first domestic "book series" written in the genre of the "ironic love story", which is extremely popular in the West (the most famous representative of the genre is "Bridget Jones's Diary"). The main characters (Muscovite Sergei and Minsker Katya) fall into a series of random events that completely change their lives. If only they could read each other's minds... But readers have such an opportunity (since each episode of the novel is described by both Katya and Sergey) - and they discover that men and women not only feel, but also see, hear, and think in completely different ways. . "M + F" will allow each reader to try on these romantic adventures: strange, funny and unexpected. The book series by Andrei Zhvalevsky and Evgenia Pasternak "M + F" was called by critics "the funniest and most touching love duet recent years". Of course, the cinema could not pass by such a gift - and now the roles of Katya and Sergey in the film "M + F" were played by the heroes of the popularly beloved television series "Don't Be Born Beautiful" Nelly Uvarova and Grigory Antipenko. Watch the movie and read the book M+F.

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2016 knigi-tut.net - Here you can read and download books. -

May 29 from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm, spacious halls of the "Social Structures"(St. Baltiyskaya, 5, m.Sokol) invite teenagers and parents to the festival Teens Out Day. You can read the detailed program of the entire event.

As part of this get-together, we invite you to a meeting with the writer duet A. Zhvalevsky and E. Pasternak.

You can ask your questions, get answers, just chat with interesting people. Buy new books by authors or replenish your library with missing ones. Get an autograph and, of course, take pictures with live writers.

Biography of Zhvalevsky / Pasternak

Andrei Zhvalevsky and Evgenia Pasternak is a creative union of Belarusian writers that has existed for ten years. Both co-authors are physicists by education and live and work in Minsk.

The co-creation of Andrei Zhvalevsky and Evgenia Pasternak began in 2004 with a cycle of ironic romance novels"M + F", which were repeatedly reprinted, and also became the basis for the film of the same name, shot by "Central Partnership" (starring Nelly Uvarova and Grigory Antipenko). Other stories of this genre also found their reader: “I deserve more”, “About carrot off / on”, “Like a cat with a dog”.

However, the real success came to the co-authors when they started writing books for children and teenagers: “The True Story of Santa Claus”, “Time is always good”, “Gymnasium No. 13”, “Moskvest”, “Shakespeare never dreamed”, “I want to school", "Death to Dead Souls", "February 52", "Hunting for a basilisk", "Let's run away from here". All these books are of constant interest to readers and publishers, and have been awarded numerous awards. The rights to translate "Time is always good" were bought by the Italian publishing house "Giunti", negotiations are underway on the film adaptation of this story.

In the Universal Library of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. DI. Blokhintsev met with the authors of popular books for children and teenagers Andrei Zhvalevsky and Evgenia Pasternak. This event was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Institute and Children's Book Week. The authors from Belarus, who visited Dubna for the first time, were happy to talk with young readers, their parents and teachers - fans of books that have become real bestsellers.

The day when the meeting with the writers was scheduled in the library was full of important city events. It was all the more pleasant to see how the children flocked to Blokhinka in flocks, carrying with them whole bags of books in the hope of getting autographs from the authors.

Long way to literature

The creative union of Andrei Zhvalevsky and Evgenia Pasternak was born in 2004, although the history of their acquaintance is more than a quarter of a century. They both studied at the physics department of the Belarusian State University in Minsk, Andrei is three years older. We met at the student theater: both were members of the organizing committee for the preparation of the Days of Physics, and then played together in KVN.

Andrey, after graduating from the university in 1992, managed to work for a year and a half in his profession: he studied scientific work, actively published, began to write a dissertation. With great regret, I had to part with science: a daughter was born, I had to feed my family. He went a long way to literature - at first he was engaged in the design of security papers, journalism, then he worked in a publishing house. Getting acquainted with the works of young authors, I realized that I myself could write no worse. The first book written jointly with Igor Mytko was a parody of Harry Potter - "Porry Gutter and the Stone Philosopher", then the ironic horror novel "No Harm Will Be Done Here", which won the national children's award. Since 2005, Zhvalevsky has been a member of a group of screenwriters who writes scripts for television series, including "Soldiers", "Cop in Law" and others.

Creative union of A. Zhvalevsky and E. Pasternak

After parting with the co-author, Andrei decided to involve Evgenia in literature, with whom they continued to be friends with their families. Her computer tutorial, Computer for Women, became an instant hit. The joint work of the authors began with a cycle of ironic love stories "M + F", which became the basis of the famous film of the same name. The text for the man was written by Andrey, for the woman - Evgenia. Then there was female romance"About carrotoff/on". But books written for children and teenagers gained real fame: “Time is always good”, “Gymnasium No. 13”, “The True Story of Santa Claus”, “I want to go to school”, “Moskvest”, “February 52”, Basilisk", "Death dead souls”, “Shakespeare never dreamed of” and others. Their works have repeatedly become winners of reader competitions, laureates and finalists of the Cherished Dream, Kniguru, Scarlet Sails”,“ Alice ”, awards to them. Krapivin, Start Up and many others.

Inspiration from your own children

Andrei jokes that his main contribution to literature is Yevgeny Pasternak! They draw inspiration primarily from their own children, of whom there are five in two families: the eldest is 25 years old, the youngest is 4 years old. Books that children literally read are no less interesting for adults, moreover, they become a kind of “bridge of understanding” between children and parents. And no wonder: many plots were born on the basis of everyday stories, and children, their friends and acquaintances, school teachers, pets and even those people who met during creative meetings became bright and recognizable characters. Each book reveals actual problems, exciting modern teenagers, which they do not always dare to discuss not only with adults, but sometimes with their peers: first love, relationships with friends, drugs, adaptation in a team, learning difficulties.

History of book creation

At a meeting in Blokhinka, the authors shared several stories of writing books. For example, “Time is always good” is a story about how a boy and a girl from 1980 and 2018 changed times. The idea for the book came up one evening when Evgenia's eldest daughter Sasha, looking into the refrigerator and not finding yogurt there, announced that there was nothing to eat! At the same time, I was incredibly surprised to learn that my mother first tried yogurt in her first year at university. The conversation dragged on: the daughter listened with pleasure to her memories of her childhood, in which there were not many things familiar to today's teenagers - computers, gadgets, mobile phones. But in the yards everyone enjoyed playing various outdoor games. Convinced that children are really interested in hearing how they used to live in the Soviet Union, the co-authors decided to write a book in the science fiction genre. Given that this was in 2008, they managed to guess a lot by looking into the future.

The book "I want to go to school" was born from the title. The authors wanted to come up with such a wonderful school, to which children run in the mornings with one thought: “Hurry up!” There are no usual “objects” and “parallels” in it, but there are many projects implemented by like-minded people, the most cherished dreams come true in it - from flying in a hot air balloon to traveling to Elbrus. After the release of the book, the authors were flooded with questions: where is this school? Moreover, the book turned out to be not quite a fantasy: it turned out that there are few such schools, but they do exist.

Andrei and Evgenia admit that they remember themselves well in school age, understand what the teenager is offended by, what is interesting to him, and what is boring. These things are universal for different times. Zhenya, for example, developed very difficult relationships in the classroom: in a teenage environment, those who differ from the general mass are not accepted. However, this only strengthened her character. And when she moved to another - physics and mathematics class, she realized that studying is a real drive!

Plots of books gives birth to life

Just as themes could grow out of anything, so the plots of the books gave birth to life itself. To stimulate interest in learning, they wrote a quest book, the answers to which could be found within the framework of the school curriculum. There were also completely detective stories. And once the authors held a competition among schoolchildren, inviting them to write a continuation of the famous literary work. More than 1000 exciting stories came in, from which it was difficult to select the best ones for printing.

How to write a book together

To the question “How can you write a book together?” the authors said that they practice in several ways. Sometimes this is a "ping-pong" method: one writes a part of the text, sends it to the second by mail, he continues and returns to the first, and so on. Sometimes they work this way, sitting next to each other and discussing the development of the plot - for example, on a train: the first three parts of the recently published book "Open Ending" are written in this way. It also works well together in a cafe, where they are waiting for the youngest daughter, Evgenia, while she is engaged in figure skating. The second method is when everyone writes the role of their hero, and then they compose a single text. So “Time is always good”, “M + F”, some stories are written.

“Women usually think much more actively: even when they get to know each other in their thoughts, they manage to get married, give birth to children, get divorced in a few seconds, giving the best years of their lives. During this time, a man sometimes does not even have time to evaluate his appearance, ”Andrey jokes. And Evgenia notes: “A man should always remain a man, and a woman - a woman. The initiative belongs to the man. It's like dancing. For a couple, everything works out only when the partner leads, but does it in a way that is convenient for the woman.

The authors always draw up a plan for writing a book, determine the characters, outline the development of the plot, it is constantly being corrected and finalized. At the end of the work, the authors post the manuscript in the Vkontakte group for “test reading”, carefully listening to the opinions of their readers, they finalize the images, make corrections, only after that the final version of the book is born.

Meetings with readers

Meetings with the reading public are always held in one breath, fun and interesting. Writers consider themselves in a certain sense conversational artists. Sometimes you have to literally wake up children's interest in books. In one of the St. Petersburg gymnasiums, as it turned out, the children, apart from textbooks, did not even open other books. I just had to read them excerpts from my works - they came to life, became interested. And across the road is another gymnasium, where the meeting went off with a bang. It all depends on the teachers, the authors believe: in a regular school in provincial town there may be much more enthusiastic children than in the most "cool" private school or gymnasium.

Andrei admitted that, according to his personal impressions, schoolchildren still read more, especially at a younger age. It is felt that parents have become more involved in their children. And recently, after studying publishing programs, I found that children's books are published four times more than adults. Andrei also said that there is no competition among children's writers, relations are very warm and friendly.

After meeting with young readers, there was a conversation with adults - parents and teachers - about modern children's and teenage literature, how to captivate children with reading, about time and about themselves, and many more issues that concern every person. But it is not customary for writers to talk about a book that is being written at the moment, so fans of the work of Andrei Zhvalevsky and Evgenia Pasternak can only look forward to meeting with new books that will soon come out from under their pen.

Evgenia STEIN

Photo from the personal archive of the writers