Before you is a modern urban fairy tale for teenagers.
Have you ever tried to mail a live bat? No? And you haven't received a package with reviving powder? And you've never encountered huge transparent owls in the park? Well, it’s all ahead of you. As one of the characters in this fairy tale novella says, "our country doesn't have a clear divide between the magical and non-magical worlds." And in our ordinary lives, there are still places where only those who need to and are allowed to can find themselves.
That is how twelve-year-old Nikita ends up at an extraordinary post office, where he becomes a courier flying on a metal Swan-Goose. There, he strikes up a friendship with a girl named Yanika and a boy named Marat. Along the way, he learns how to use living and dead water and meets a small flock of huts on chicken legs... And then he is amazed: wow — what a normal job at the post office! And all this a week before New Year's.
After reading this story, you will definitely be looking forward to a sequel. Many know Darya Gerasimova as a children's writer and poet and a recipient of literary awards, while others know her primarily as an artist with a very recognizable style. But in this book, she is the author of the text, and this "urban fairy tale" was illustrated by her daughter, the artist Maria Oranovskaya. And that is why the illustrations are as unusual as the events in the text.
Author: Darya Gerasimova
Illustrations: Maria Oranovskaya
Pages: 168 (offset). Hardcover
Dimensions: 140x210 mm
