Review of the best according to the editorial board. On the selection criteria. This material is subjective and does not constitute advertising and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.
Books by Andrey Zhvalevsky are simply striking in their diversity. The author easily and accessible writes both manuals on computer skills and funny, perky stories for children and adolescents. Zhvalevsky has a technical education – he is a physicist and, as the author himself admits, it helps him a lot in his writing.
A. Zhvalevsky lives in Belarus, but most of his books and admirers are in Russia. Most often he writes his works in co-authorship. He is also a screenwriter: in 2009 the movie 'M + Z' was released, based on the novel of the same name, written in a duet with Evgenia Pasternak. On Wikipedia, you can find a solid list of his filmography.
You can find out more information about the author on his official website az-book.info. In the meantime, we will continue our acquaintance with the books of A. Zhvalevsky, the best of which are included in our today's rating.
Rating of the best books by Andrey Zhvalevsky
| Nomination | a place | composition | rating |
| Rating of the best books by Andrey Zhvalevsky | 1 | The time is always good | 5.0 |
| 2 | Porrie Gatter and the Stone Philosopher | 4.9 | |
| 3 | You won't get any harm here | 4.8 | |
| 4 | February 52 | 4.7 | |
| 5 | I want to go to school! | 4.6 | |
| 6 | Grammar school № 13 | 4.5 | |
| 7 | Moskvest | 4.4 | |
| 8 | Open final | 4.3 | |
| 9 | M + J. And to hell with him, with this dress! | 4.2 | |
| 10 | Let's get out of here! | 4.1 |
'The time is always good'
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky
Rating: 5.0
Winner of the 'Alisa' award, laureate of the 'Kniguru' competition, finalist of the 'Yasnaya Polyana' award, participant of the 'Baby-NOS' award, winner of the 'Book of the Year' contest – 'Oscar-winning' kind and instructive book for children and their parents' Time always good 'from Andrey Zhvalevsky and Evgenia Pasternak opens our rating. Since 2007, the book has been published 11 times, with a total circulation of over 100,000 copies.
The book is written in a very simple and accessible language, exactly the way children think and speak. And two storylines develop in it at once: the narration is parallelly conducted on behalf of two heroes. The girl Olya, who is in the 6th grade and lives in 2018, and the boy Vitya, the 5th grade student, who lives in 1980 – are changing times! Moreover, not only children but also their families fall into the new 'time zone'. Readers found this moment particularly successful, many liked the fact that little characters are surprised at the actions of their parents, comparing them with real life.
Children find themselves in completely unfamiliar 'time lines', they are completely divorced from what they are used to and learn to live in a new way. Olya begins to understand how valuable it is to communicate with people live, and not only through gadgets, and Vitya realizes that every person has freedom that must be respected and protected. In the end, the authors lead to the understanding that for kind and good deeds – the time is always good, and it doesn't matter if you live in 1980 or 2018.
Yes, in the plot, some problems of the past are clearly far-fetched, and future trends are slightly exaggerated, but the book, using simple and understandable examples, teaches how to act correctly in difficult situations. And this is the main point. We advise you to definitely read this book with your children, especially 5-6 graders will like it.
Porrie Gatter and the Stone Philosopher
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky
Rating: 4.9
Porrie Gatter's book, as the title suggests, is a parody of the world famous series of novels by the English writer J.K. Rowling. In our rating, this work by A. Zhavelevoy and Igor Mytko lands on the second step. And this is not even a book, but a whole series, originally published in 4 volumes, and then combined into a thick tome called 'Porrie Gutter. All!'. The first two volumes sold over 100,000 books.
Porrie Gatter is the exact opposite of Harry Potter. Initially, the plot is built on turning the original inside out, and the similarities are quite obvious. However, this only happens in the first two volumes. Obviously, parodying the plot is not so interesting, therefore, by the middle of this book action, we already see our own, actual new work that has nothing to do with Harry.
Most of all in the book, readers are attracted by the simplicity of presentation and endless humor, as well as footnotes in the style of Terry Pratchet. All of this will definitely amuse the readers. The audience for which the book is designed is, rather, teenagers – schoolchildren who are delighted with instructive funny books with meaning. The moral of this book is this: even if you are not like everyone else and seem to be 'inferior' against the background of everyone else, you can always find an interesting job and succeed in it.
You won't get any harm here
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky
Rating: 4.8
The book from the 'scary / funny' series by Andrey Zhvalevsky and Igor Mytko is ranked third. The goal set by the authors is to disassemble children's fears and show that they are not as scary as they seem, and, of course, spice it all up with sparkling humor, a plot a la 'X-Files' and funny annotations. Perhaps it was for this explosive mixture that this work earned the national literary award 'Cherished Dream' for the funniest book in 2006.
The plot is built on the addition of supernatural and funny, scary and funny, bringing fear to a certain absurdity. There are horrors here, but without fear, there are enemies here, but they are very ridiculous and funny, there is an investigation, but it is already too funny. In general, the book “No Harm Can Be Taken Here” is a whole novel about the service of a lovely girl Marie in the paranormal department. Marie – an excellent student, a 'Komsomol member' and just a good girl – struggles to catch all the monsters, often finding herself in terribly funny situations. Her partner, on the contrary, is too serious and acts carefully, but this does not prevent him, together with Marie, to find himself under the bed or in the closet in search of another monster.
In principle, many readers believe that the plot in the style of a parody of Stephen King, interspersed with wordplay and inversion of phrases, turned out to be quite successful. Others hint at some level of presentation. Well, to each his own, but to those who want to laugh at their childhood fears to their fullest, we definitely recommend the book “No harm will be done to you here” by Andrey Zhvalevsky for reading.
February 52
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky
Rating: 4.7
The book '52 February ', also written by Andrey Zhvalevsky in a duet with Evgenia Pasternak, is in the fourth position in the ranking. In fact, this is a kind of diary written by two characters at once – an eighth-grader Tema and his peer, Dinka.
The book itself is not that big, because the story covers only a day. In early March, a lot of snow suddenly falls, which fills the entire city and causes a real traffic collapse. As a result, many residents find themselves in difficult situations: cars get stuck in snowdrifts, trolleybuses and buses do not run, even cellular communication refuses to work.
The story is told on behalf of two teenagers who do not know each other. Also, from time to time, the story is supplemented by the memories of their parents about what they were like in their teens. At first, everything is too ideologically correct, as in “Soviet times”, but suddenly the conversation turns to frank topics. Father and son, left without electricity in the office and mother and daughter, waiting at home – they were finally left alone to talk to each other 'heart to heart'.
The book clearly shows the situation when children gradually become adults, but parents do not notice this, continuing to consider them children. It shows how you can talk in a relaxed way on seemingly difficult topics with teenagers. And all this is presented in a light, uncomplicated form. Therefore, this book will be useful not only for children, but also for their parents.
In addition, the authors also touch upon topics such as mutual assistance and mutual assistance. The plot vividly depicts how people help each other free cars from snowdrifts, how they warm them up with tea and clear the driveways of snow.
And yet, what is this book about? About love. And only about love, and in its most diverse manifestations. This short book contains a lot of smart, correct and useful thoughts. In short, we liked it!
I want to go to school!
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky
Rating: 4.6
A book about a school, but about a difficult one, but about a real and interesting one, to which children want to go on weekends and holidays, and even on holidays. We liked the story of an unusual school, so we put it in fifth place in the ranking.
From the first pages it begins to seem that we are talking about an unusual school like Hogwarts, in which real wizards study and work. It's no joke – children, if they want, can go on a trip to Elbrus or fly in a hot air balloon. But this magic for children is not done by magic wands, but by the teachers themselves, who simply love their job.
And due to this approach and ample opportunities for independent work, students gain deeper knowledge. Homework is not assigned, and teachers are allowed to be called by name and even by nickname.
But the system interferes with this, which is always afraid of such things and free thinking. As a result, the school is closed. And unusual children find themselves in the most ordinary school. It is very difficult for them to get used to the new order and teachers, who seem to have absolutely no love for their profession; to classmates who live by completely different values. But guys from 34 don't give up. In the new school, they begin to come up with various fun activities, simultaneously involving their new friends. And really a lot of interesting things happen, gradually everything and everyone changes.
Some call the novel a utopia, others firmly believe that this is possible. Anyway, the book shows an example of how it can be, how it should be. By the way, the authors argue that what they write about in their books often comes true. What if something comes out of this?
The main thing is that after reading the book, children begin to understand that first of all they need to learn, and teachers and parents remember that children need to be loved and the conditions for their development should be created. Just to be there, to help and suggest, but not to hinder the little geniuses from realizing their many talents. We recommend reading in a warm family circle.
Grammar school № 13
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky
Rating: 4.5
The story 'Gymnasium No. 13' was traditionally written by Zhalevsky together with Pasternak. This work evokes mixed reviews from readers – some are just delighted with it, others write disappointed reviews. The more interesting it will be to read and understand – who is really right? We, in turn, have already read the book, rated it and gave it sixth place in the rating. It is interesting that in 2011 the work 'Gymnasium No. 13' won first place in the DAR festival in 2011, and also became a finalist of the international children's award named after Vladislav Krapivin.
The events described in the book take place in the most ordinary and traditional Minsk gymnasium, which, by the way, really exists and is located not far from the house of one of the authors and where the daughter of the second author studies there. In short, in the courtyard of the 'book' gymnasium there was a hundred-year-old oak tree, which was not particularly remarkable. But for some reason this tree disturbed everyone, so they decided to cut it down. However, two friends – seventh graders Antokha Volkov and Sevka had their own plan: the guys decided to blow up an oak tree. But at the time of the explosion, something happened – a portal opened, which transported the heroes into a fairy tale, where they encountered goblin, mermaids, brownies, a learned cat, and also Perun, Yarila, Koschei … Yes, by the way, the story covers the historical events of Belarus and Slavic myths , as well as the Great Patriotic War. In a word, the guys must go through a kind of quest and find the runes that will help them return home. And during the adventures, friends still learned to help each other, support, respect folklore and history.
Judging by the reviews, in the book, many are most attracted by the exciting plot and accessibility of the presentation – the text contains both teenage slang and word-for-word quotes from their favorite films. This makes the book “Gymnasium No. 13” interesting for a teenage audience. Although some adults also do not hurt to read this book, at least to refresh the memory of the history of Ancient Russia.
Moskvest
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky
Rating: 4.4
A new game action story from the already beloved duet of authors – Zhalevsky + Pasternak, we have placed in seventh place in our rating. This story is about how two teenagers end up in the distant past, during the founding of Moscow and the ancient Russian princes. And they must go back to the future, using all their knowledge gained from the lessons of history.
In the epigraph, the authors immediately warn readers that the book does not carry any historical accuracy and much of it is fiction. Therefore, this work should be treated as a light adventure story in a historical genre. The narrative and adventures of the heroes are interspersed with brief historical references, which, as if just in case, are given in the form of excerpts from Wikipedia.
This time, the authors sent the heroes 1000 years ago, and every time they guess a historical event, they are transported several centuries ahead. How many historical quests will teenagers have to endure before they can return home?
You should not look for especially deep meanings in the book – the task of such works is to interest, induce further independent research. The work is written for adolescents, and it is more entertaining than educational, so to some this book may seem too childish, however, it is so. And children who love adventure read with pleasure!
Open final
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky
Rating: 4.3
As you might have guessed – this book is again about teenagers, and Zhvalevsky, traditionally, wrote it in collaboration with Pasternak. And, by the way, not only about teenagers, but also about dancing, life and love, as well as about the difficult choice that everyone will have to make in the open final. In our ranking, the book 'Open Finals' is ranked eighth.
The 'Open End' has an unusual plot structure: it is 5 chapters with completely different teenage characters and storylines, but at the end they still meet and merge. At first, it seems that the characters are not connected in any way. The only thing they have in common is that they all attend one of Yegorov's dance studio. At the same time, everyone lives with their own problems – someone has their first love, someone solves conflicts with their parents, someone is looking for their place in life. But closer to the end, the threads of the plots begin to intertwine. In the final chapter of the 'open ending', the guys get together. And the first four chapters look like preparation for the story itself: in the face of a difficult choice, each of the teenagers must decide for themselves who he really is and what to do next. The final, of course, really turned out to be open, but we still see a happy end here.
By the way, unlike the previous one, this book will be useful for both children and parents. Here the motives of the actions of adults, their characters and types are shown very well and clearly. For example, some do not take seriously the hobbies of their children, others miss the fact that their children have grown up, and still others force children to do what they do not like. Some readers don't like the fact that the book literally discredits the image of the mother. Well, maybe it is. But here are examples of real fathers. And this, as it seems to us, is a big plus! So the book definitely deserves to be read.
M + J. And to hell with him, with this dress!
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky
Rating: 4.2
Book 'M + J. And to hell with him, with this dress! ' Zhvalevsky and Pasternak is not a book for teenagers, but for adults. She provides a different perspective on the same problems from the female and male sides, has unsurpassed humor and bright sentimental moments. In our rating, this work took the ninth position.
In the center of the story are two heroes – Katya and Sergei. They work in the book or 'near-book' industry and meet by chance on the subway. In fact, throughout the book, we see a series of such 'accidental encounters' of these two characters and observe how they react to each other, what they think at these moments, what they are experiencing. The story is told in the first person of both characters. The difference between masculine and feminine thinking is shown simply and kindly. In this regard, the duet of Zhvalevsky and Pasternak worked especially well.
Overall, M + F is not a bad book for easy reading: romantic, cute and tasteful. In fact, the ordinary life story is presented in the most unusual form. But still, we still have a very interesting question – where did the third hero disappear – the very dress that is stated in the title? In theory, it was supposed to play a key role in the book … Or not? Although, however, and really, to hell with him, with this dress!
Let's get out of here!
Author: Andrey Zhvalevsky
Rating: 4.1
On September 1, the students of the 4th grade were again left without a teacher – none of the teachers invited to them could cope with these guys. But when Valeria Kirillovna, the director of the school and a sorceress in combination, took the training into her own hands, everything changed very quickly. The story of Zhvalevsky and Pasternak 'Let's run away from here!' solemnly closes our rating.
The plot is quite simple: a modern class of 4-graders, capable of shining madness on any teacher, does not want to learn in any way. And only the sorceress-headmistress was able to calm the naughty children using not quite ordinary, and sometimes completely unusual methods – she reads her thoughts from a distance, and can send her to saber-toothed tigers, and wherever you want! Thanks to her, the children were able to visit the Emerald Land, make a trip inside the calculator, take part in the war of blondes and brunettes … It cannot be said that all adventures went smoothly, but everyone learned their lesson from what was happening. And most importantly, the children learned to be friends, think and not be afraid of innovations.
Perhaps the book will seem too childish. In principle, this is not surprising, because the main characters in it are fourth-graders. And, most likely, it was written for this audience. Therefore, it is recommended to read the book according to the stated age!
Attention! This rating is subjective and does not constitute an advertisement and does not serve as a purchase guide. Before buying, you need to consult with a specialist.
