Almost all schoolchildren of the Soviet era were familiar with his books, and having matured, they re-read it many times, experiencing a nagging sense of warmth of a bygone childhood ... He became the indisputable classic of modern Ukrainian children's literature. The hero of our article is Vsevolod Nestayko, whose books are now adored not only in Ukraine, but also far beyond its borders, despite the fact that the writer left this world in 2014.
About childhood and parents
The life of the writer began in the city of Berdichev. It was there in 1930, on January 30, that little Vsevolod was born. Together with a friend (Vitasik Dyachenko), who lived next door, they loved to read. Especially loved Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Jack London, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov and so on. They had one dream for two - to become a long-distance sailor. But Nestayko did not succeed - he did not distinguish some colors. But as for Vitasik, he later became a captain.
Vsevolod's father, Zinovy, studied at the Buchatsky city gymnasium. When the First World War began, he became the Sich Rifleman of the Ukrainian Galician Army. By the will of fate, I ended up in one of the camps in Poland. After his release, he went to work at a sugar factory in the city of Proskurov (now Khmelnitsky). In 1933, he was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, where he died the same year.
Mother Vsevolod was a teacher of Russian language and literature. Having survived the death of her husband, she moved with her son to Kiev. After the Nazis arrived in the city, she opened an underground school. When the time came, she had her son study at a Ukrainian school. And when he finished fourth grade, World War II began. For obvious reasons, he could not continue his studies at school, and his mother taught him the entire 5th grade course. After Kiev was liberated, Nestayko went to the sixth. Studying in the 8th grade, I myself mastered the program of the ninth at the same time and then, passing the material externally, moved to the tenth. On graduating from school, Nestayko received a silver medal (there was only one four in the certificate - in physics).
Student and career
Nestayko Vsevolod Zinovievich after school became a student at Taras Shevchenko Kiev State University. During his studies, he worked at the Kiev Drama Theater as an extra. Along with his studies at the University, Vsevolod Nestayko (biography has now finally turned into a creative mainstream) became an employee of the Dnipro magazine. And then for five years he worked as a literary editor and proofreader in the children's magazine Barvinok.
As Vsevolod Nestayko himself admitted (the novels of the writer quickly find the key to the heart of his reader), the main role in shaping him as a writer was played by the department head of the magazine Irina Isaevna Shkarovskaya. Also in “Barvinka” worked the daughter of another well-known Ukrainian writer - Ostap Vishny. Then followed the publishing house "Molod". Since 1956, he became head. editors at Veselka, where he worked until 1987. During this period, he enters the Communist Party, where he was thirteen years old and left it simultaneously with Oles Gonchar.
Vsevolod Nestayko: books
The future cult Ukrainian writer and storyteller began his writing career at the age of eight. The story of a brave hunter chasing a Bengal tiger in Africa greatly amused his mother. He began to publish his early stories in Periwinkle and Pioneer. And in 1956, the first book of the writer, Shurka and Shurko, was published, which immediately won the hearts of readers.
But the book “In the Country of Solar Bunnies” (1959) brought real popularity to the author. Anatoly Kostetsky, a friend of Vsevolod (also a children's writer) was very fond of recalling the birth of this tale. One clear morning Vsevolod dreamed of a sunny bunny. He sat on the tip of the writer’s nose and tickled his cheeks with his brush, carefully removing freckles there. Waking up, Nestayko felt an unusual rush of happiness and joy, and immediately set about writing a good story about these very bunnies.
In total, Vsevolod Nestayko (the biography of a writer beloved by millions of readers deserves a separately written book) during his creative career has written a huge number of children's stories, tales and even plays. The most famous are “In the Country of Sunny Bunnies”, “Toreador from Vasyukovka”, “Incredible Adventures in the Forest School”, “Five with a Tail”, “Mysterious Voice Behind”, “The Secret of the Old Clown” and others. All these stories have won the boundless love of young readers and their parents, and the author confidently takes honorable first places in the list of “Favorite children's writers of Ukraine”.
Everyone’s favorite book
Perhaps it is impossible, studying the writer's life, not to dwell on the book, or rather the trilogy, after the release of which the name Vsevolod Nestayko (the biography of the writer was now interested in fans as well as his book) has been heard by many generations to this day.
The idea of ​​writing this story came to the writer after an illustrator who designed his books told the story of how two schoolchildren got lost in the corn thickets and found a way out only thanks to the village radio. The story with some changes was played in the story, which was called "The Adventures of Robinson Cornuso."
The first part has undergone significant processing by the author. Readers of the Russian translation of the book met him only after the new edition. However, later in the novel there were references to deleted scenes (for example, a trip with a class on an excursion to Kiev, as well as the burial of the pharaoh in a pyramid of watermelons).
In 2004, the children's publishing house A-BA-BA-GA-LA-MA-GA released the latest version of the trilogy novel. On the advice of Ivan Malkovich, Vsevolod Nestayko edited some ideological moments that will not be clear to the current young generation, while adding a few funny episodes and plots.
Film adaptation
I got everyone’s favorite book and its place under the “cinematic sun”: the Kharkov television studio in 1965 released a short film based on the first chapter of the novel. The humorous television movie was incredibly popular, not only in the territory of the former USSR, but also far abroad. And even participated in international film festivals.
But as for the book itself, it is included in the modern Ukrainian school curriculum. And he continues to enjoy success with reading children, not to mention parents, grandparents ...
Return to childhood
We always want to plunge into this bright and magical, with the taste of mother's pies and grandmother's jam time. Run through the puddles again. Or, tracking down your neighbor (he’s just like a foreign spy!), Get lost in the corn ... Again, go back to where so many discoveries and adventures awaited us ... This is exactly the opportunity Vsevolod Nestayko gives us. His biography cannot be “boasted” of a cloudless and happy childhood, but each time the author gladly returns us there on the pages of his books, generously endowing with magical, funny and at the same time touching stories.