У лукоморья

In 2018 we began a Russian literature club for heritage Russian-speaking children (ages 10 to 13). We meet once a month in Arlington Heights, IL. Our reading list so far includes Pushkin’s Dubrovsky, Gogol’s early tales, and Belkin’s Tales and fairy tales. During our conversations, we discuss art, film adaptations, folk tales, poetry, and even lubki. The kids have started their own website. Please visit us here.

The purpose of the group is to stimulate the kids’ intellectual curiosity in a variety of things connected to Russian culture. The students make their own illustrations, write letters in the persona of the characters, and come up with their own endings and interpretations. Although I provide some scholarly background information on the works we read, it is the freedom of analysis and the variety of their own perspectives that excite the kids and make the group successful.