The Underdog

«On the early morning of November second, the underdog Napoleon III ran away from the fur farm „Mshaga“», — with this phrase in the spirit of the detective genre begins the story by Yuri Koval «The Underdog». The writer admitted that he always wanted to find his reader from the very first phrase, so that whoever opened the book would immediately understand: this must be read.
«The Underdog» should be read!
The main characters of the story are an entire class of second-graders and one preschooler from the village of Kovylykino. The action takes place at the end of the first quarter of the school year and lasts four days. But how many events and adventures happen in those four days! The fox underdog runs away, and they chase him… What’s remarkable is that in this chase, the children often prove to be wiser than the adults.
«The Underdog» by Yu. Koval was originally addressed to children, the story is written simply and understandably. In the Koval manner, unhurriedly. Moderately ironic. The tone of the narrative was brilliantly picked up by artist Evgeniya Dvoskina: her illustrations (there are a lot of them!) are incredibly harmonious with the talented text.