The Road to Life

Frida Vigdorova, a journalist and writer, began her path as a teacher, and therefore it is not surprising that in her articles and books one of the main themes became childhood, upbringing, and pedagogical work. "The Road to Life" is a novella that opens a trilogy ("The Road to Life", "This is My Home", "Chernigovka") about the work in a children's home by Semyon Karabanov and his wife Gala. These books are not documentary, but they are based on real material - the pedagogical activity of the Kalabalins. Kalabalin is a student of A. S. Makarenko, the prototype of Karabanov from his book "Pedagogical Poem". Vigdorova retained her hero's "literary" name. The novella "The Road to Life" tells about the beginning of Karabanov's independent work in Berezovaya Polyana - a children's home for difficult children near Leningrad. "Difficult" means children who have tasted the streets, former homeless children - distrustful, stubborn, and hurt by life. They require attention and love. Most of the children depicted in the novella are not based on real people, but are "imagined" by the writer, yet they are perceived as alive.