Grigory Belykh, Leonid Panteleev: The Republic of SHKID

The stories told in "The Republic of ShKID" are not fictional. ShKID – the Dostoevsky School, a boarding school for homeless children – actually existed in the 1920s. The revolution, the civil war, famine, and poverty were the realities of that time. People adapted as best they could. Some succeeded, some, alas, did not… As a result, a vast number of minors ended up on the streets. To survive, they had to beg, steal, rob, and band together. The director of the "Republic of ShKID," Viktor Nikolaevich Sorokin, whom the students nickname Vikniksor, manages to channel the wild, inventive energy of these former young bandits, thieves, and hooligans toward rehabilitation, seeing in them a desire to become productive members of society. The students cause trouble, stage uprisings against their teachers, and plot their escape from the institution, but… they stay. Because they want to learn and, as they put it themselves, "make something of themselves."

The authors of the book saw and knew the details of life at ShKID firsthand, from the inside, as they were students there themselves. That is why the plot is filled with so many interesting and plausible details—tragic and sometimes frightening, but often sparkling with humor…

Author: Grigory Belykh, Leonid Panteleev   

Pages: 544 (newsprint). Softcover

Dimensions: 120x185 mm

Series: Exclusive Classics