Shurka’s and Tanya’s childhood fell on a harsh period: Stalinist terror, the war, and the postwar years. The novel-fairy tale Children of the Raven by Yulia Yakovleva—the first book in the Leningrad Tales series—tells of the dark pages in our country’s history. One of the most important and widely discussed books for children born in Russia in recent years, it speaks about fear and courage, and about the fact that even in childhood, when you depend on adults, you can and must remain free despite difficult times.