This manual is addressed to foreign students mastering the Russian language in the Second Certification Level (B2) program. The purpose of the manual is to develop reading skills, expand vocabulary, and improve oral speech. The manual presents the stories of contemporary Russian writers, minimally adapted and shortened for educational purposes. The manual consists of two parts and is built on...

Once the walls come down, all sorts of problems start to crop up. Rotten wood, toxic mold, unwelcome critters, and something even more sinister all make Greg and his family wonder if the renovations are worth the trouble. When the dust finally settles, will the Heffleys be able to stay . . . or will they need to get out of town?

'Gods of Mango' is the fifth part of 'Beastly Detective'. The Badgers of the Far Forest Police are sent on a business trip to the African savannah to investigate the case of the kidnapping of the cub of the Exquisite Giraffes, the newborn giraffe Rafik. Mortal danger accompanies the Badgers of the Police constantly. After all, the Far Woodland does not spare anyone: neither strangers nor its...

'There was a hole in the ground, and a hobbit lived in the hole.' These words were written by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien on the back of a school exam paper he was checking one hot summer day. And who would have thought that it was from them, like from a magic seed, that one of the most famous works of world literature would grow. This is a fairy tale that captivated both children and adults,...

An audacious revision of the stories of Faust and Pontius Pilate, The Master and Margarita is recognized as one of the essential classics of modern Russian literature. The novel’s vision of Soviet life in the 1930s is so ferociously accurate that it could not be published during its author’s lifetime and appeared only in a censored edition in the 1960s. Its truths are so enduring that its...

Life in the Far Forest cannot be called calm: not a day without crimes, chases, suspicions and brutal intrigues. Finally, all the books of the 'Beastly Detective' by Anna Starobinets: 'Lair of the Wolf', 'Right of the Predator', 'Claws of Wrath' and 'Pincher' are published under one cover, and 'Pincher' is published for the first time. Each book is a separate detective story in which the...

'Stories about the Motherland' is a bold, almost impudent book. Perhaps the first attempt to give a new - honest, accurate - description of our country in a long time. Real and false patriotism, living Russia and TV-screen Russia, power and people... Dmitry Glukhovsky takes up the most important, most sensitive topics of our life today and speaks about them in the tone in which political jokes...

Set against the doomed splendour of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, The Radetzky March tells the story of the celebrated Trotta family, tracing their rise and fall over three generations. Theirs is a sweeping history of heroism and duty, desire and compromise, tragedy and heartbreak, a story that lasts until the darkening eve of World War One, when all is set to fall apart. Rich, epic and...

When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school's senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too. Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone...

The new novel by Vladimir Sorokin is a look at the future of Europe, which, despite the dramatic changes in the world and human structure, seems very understandable and real. The recognizable and the unrecognizable coexist peacefully on the bright tapestry of the New Middle Ages, populated by dog-heads and centaurs, small people and giants, crusaders and Orthodox communists. Infinitely...

Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930) is one of the most important poets of the 20th century. His works, addressed to the adult reader, have become classics of Soviet literature. But Mayakovsky is no less famous as the author of poems for children. Cheerful, mischievous, playful, in an entertaining way they teach children to distinguish good from bad, to be kind and honest, not to be lazy, to strive...

To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up...