The Black Hen

What adults do to make children learn is astonishing!
Thus, the 19th-century writer Anton Pavlovich Pogorelsky wrote a tale about a ten-year-old boy Alyosha, who let down an entire nation because of his laziness and cowardice.
But is Alyosha really that guilty?... When he was still little, his parents brought him to a boys' boarding school in Petersburg, where he felt very homesick and lonely when his classmates went on vacation while he remained alone.
Is it surprising that he became attached to a funny, smart little black hen that seemed better than a dog? And is it not forgivable that the boy succumbed to the temptation to be the best among his classmates?..

The artist Tatyana Safonova is the winner of the XV International "Image of the Book" competition in 2022 for her illustrations for this book.