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by Catherine Fet (Author), Scott Shuster (Editor)
This "heritage history" book follows the history of Russia through the stories of its rulers, rebels, and saints - from the birth of the Russians as an ethnic group in the Viking Age to the collapse of the Russian Empire and the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
Our book begins with the Russians - a mix of Vikings and Slavs - taking over Slavic city-states and trade along the great rivers of Eastern Europe - in a love-hate relationship with Byzantium and always at war with the Khazars and the nomads in the steppes north of the Black Sea. We'll follow the Russians through the Middle Ages as over 50 Russian princedoms - often at odds with each other - embarked on a rollercoaster of fighting the Mongol invasions in the East and the Northern Crusades in the West. We'll see them finally unite - around Moscow - repel the invaders, and become Russia, which would eventually burst onto the scene of European imperial power games in the 18th century, during the momentous reign of Peter the Great.
Some chapters of Russian history sound like they can't be true... but they are! 10th-century Russian ruler Princess Olga launches a mysterious revenge against the tribe that killed her husband, by demanding that every family of that tribe pay her a tribute of 3 pigeons and 3 sparrows... Can you guess why?... Tsar Ivan the Terrible punishes a church bell... Three "pretenders" claim the Russian throne, all posing as Ivan's son Dmitry! One of them is exposed as a Polish spy, because he eats with a fork, which Russians believe is 'of the Devil'! Empress Anna builds a palace made of ice blocks, complete with chandeliers, knives and forks carved out of ice... Empress Elizabeth has 15,000 dresses in her wardrobe, changes her dress every hour, but is too afraid to go to bed and so spends all night, every night, at the theater!!
To engage our young readers even more, we've sprinkled the narrative with funny historical anecdotes and fascinating trivia, such as the meanings of Russian names, the origins of Russian words (Why is there a 'cow' in Moscow? Why isn't Red Square red?), facts about Russian landmarks, currency, state emblems and flags... Want to hear a Russian joke about the Tatars and a Tatar joke about the Russians?... Or an 18th century joke about the weather in St.Petersburg? Want to learn a few words in Russian? It's all here! "Russia for Kids" also offers paragraph-long definitions of ideas and historical phenomena useful in understanding Russian history and culture. Readers will learn about the Cyrillic alphabet, the "Third Rome," the Cossacks, the Crimean slave trade, the Bolsheviks, and more.
As with all books in this series, "Russia for Kids" presents only historical facts and reports. No embellishment, no fiction, no opinions. This book stays firmly on track with kid-appropriate, family-friendly content.
