From the Publishers

This book is one in a series of Russian readers forEnglish-speaking students brought out by RusskyYazyk Publishers for foreigners learning Russian eitherin class or on their own and wishing to acquaint them­selves with works of classical Russian and Soviet lite­rature in the original.

The story Seryozha, written by the well-known Sovietauthor Vera Panova, is extremely popular with Sovietreaders, and it has come out in numerous translationsabroad. The story is notable for its author's profoundunderstanding of a child's psychology and her deepinsight into his shaping consciousness and his percep­tion of the world around him.

The language of the story, the effective colloquialRussian spoken by our contemporaries, provides excel­lent material for foreign students.

The text is unabridged. To help the readers, themore difficult turns of phrase are translated or explai­ned in the Notes (they are marked with an asteriskin the text). The book is complete with a Russian­English Vocabulary, which includes all the words oc­curring in the story, the English translations beingof a strictly contextual nature.