I don't know how long I have owned this book, maybe 22 years, but the words and illustrations are bright and timeless. I pulled all of my old books out of storage to share with my daughter and this book was one of the special ones that I want her to cherish, too; but my copy is so well read, I'm not sure the colors are bright enough to hold the pages together. To say it is a magical book is too obvious, so, I'll tell you it is well written, has morals and the illustrator is a genius.

Alright, I had to give this book four stars despite the painfulness of reading it. In fact, the only thing keeping it from a five is the memory of that torture (if that makes any sense). I gritted my teeth for the entire first three quarters of the novel but when I finally started in and read it straight through I truly appreciated it. It is a well written novel that I am glad I was forced to read. I recommend it to anyone who wants to get inside the mind of the Soviet system. I'll never forget this book and while I don't know that I would like to read more Soviet Realism, the cinematice style of Kataev has something to be said for it.