Strange people are authors writing for children. Anyway, unusual. Recall the great Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. A native of a poor family, he always claimed to be a personal friend of the Danish king Frederick. You never know what fairy tales could be expected from this amazing storyteller! However, the words of the great Dane were subsequently confirmed.
However, this article is not about him. In the family of the Soviet children's poet Andrei Alekseevich Usachev, there was a legend that his grandfather was familiar with Nadezhda Krupskaya and once, by the will of fate, met Hitler, who was still aspiring to power. Does grandfather Usacheva also be an unusual person?
The magic of children's poems
Children's poems ... Everyone remembers them. They leave a lasting imprint in memory. Among them is the "Clubfoot Bear" composed by Andrei Alekseevich. Amazingly harmonious, kind and bright poetry. Easy to read and very well remembered. Even if you read them for the first time, you are still in a state of deja vu: it seems that you have already seen them, read them. Moreover, it creates a lasting impression that these verses are familiar from childhood. However, this is a hoax of memory. According to Usachev, who was born in 1958, he began to write for children in 1985 (again: a game of numbers: 58 - 85). Accordingly, the "Clubfoot Bear" was written in the 80s of the XX century.
Is the secret in rhythm?
What is the secret of children's poetry? Why are these verses so easily and freely accepted by children under three years of age, and by adults, causing the latter to smile and nostalgia for childhood rushing off into the distance? Of course, the whole thing is in the author, in that spiritual world in which he dips his reader. Andrei Alekseevich turned to children's subjects under the influence of the works of Daniil Kharms, who found the thaw springs in the era of stagnation ... Usachev, as he himself admitted in an interview given to the magazine “Reading Together”, easily finds poetry. They intuitively direct his thought, thanks to their rhythm. (As an example, the latter is felt in the poem "The Toed Bear".)
About the "creative kitchen" Usachev
Usachev himself calls the inventor more often than the writer. Let's try to figure out the secrets of his "creative cuisine". He has one secret: he always feels a child in himself, while not differentiating this part of himself with the “matured” one. That is, the poet, taking up a pen, does not write specifically for any abstract, invented children. He always writes for himself - a tangible, tangible, understandable, within which a child lives, setting criteria for creativity.
From ancient times in Russia, the clumsy bear was and is the hero of fairy tales ; it is still one of the favorite toys for the smallest children. In fairy tales, this forest beast invariably acts as a sanguine and a strong man, an exemplary family man, and his cubs - cubs - are cheerful, mobile and comical. According to popular tradition, the bear dad is called Mikhail Potapych, mother - Nastasya Petrovna (in a female manner), and son - Mishutka. This is exactly the teddy bear in the work of Usachev.
Sometimes, to create a special, "fairy-tale" atmosphere in the house, we recommend that you, tired of a busy day, no, no, yes, and refresh the memory of the full poem "Bear-toed". Remember your childhood. Smile Sometimes, for the mood to rise, it’s enough to even read at least the first verse.
Miracle as a property of classical literature
The uncomplicated rhythm of the verse makes even adults forget about their “neglect” and “stamping” (we say the words of Andrei Alekseevich himself) and join in a good children's game, far from the “Chernukha” life. The poem is inherent in the elements of the classic work. Outset: walk of a club-toed bear in the forest. Climax: The mental suffering of the protagonist, ridiculed for clumsiness by forest mockingbirds. Denouement: gaining self-confidence from the good advice of parents. By the way, such a view of the world is inherent in classical literature. I recall the words of the American writer Louise May Elcott that events in the adult gray and boring world sometimes happen, like a delightful fairy tale, bringing comfort. Of course, one of these things is both classical and children's literature, and, in particular, such poems. “Bear-toed” and others are those works that help children to be kinder, happier, more joyful.
Usachev on the problems of contemporary children's literature
Usachev believes that currently there are problems with the literature offered to children. Not always texts falling into the hands of children really correspond to their age. In particular, in the segment of books for the smallest. In the last century, Sergei Mikhalkov, Korney Chukovsky, Agniya Barto, Boris Zakhoder wrote wonderful poems for them. This galaxy of pen masters has presented many happy hours to children who have touched good, educating, exciting works. And now, children are addressed their kind and bright works by Marina Moskvina, Tim Sobakin, Ksenia Dragunskaya. (Listing the names of his contemporaries, Andrei Alekseyevich, out of modesty, forgot to mention himself, the poet, who wrote: “A little toed bear is walking through the woods ...”)
However, according to authoritative children's writers, modern Russian children's publications “Hammer”, “Cool”, “Hooligan” often lower the bar of magic and kindness that should be present in children's literature, especially for the smallest. Often, modern authors, creating works for children "about real life," bring their goodies with drug addicts and drug dealers. In such works reality is simulated, falsity is clearly felt in it, the heroes of such books do not want to believe. Whether it’s the case - “Bear-toed”! The author “caught” catchy characters, “grabbed” folk folk thread, managed to tell a simple story about a bear brightly, interestingly.
Conclusion
We recommend that adult readers periodically refresh children's memory, at least in order to get a charge of kindness. Good children's literature helps to better understand children, because the world of childhood is not something fancy and far-fetched, the world of childhood is our real world, only seen from a different “non-adult” point of view.