The Pedagogy of Images: Depicting Communism for Children

"One reason this book makes a significant contribution to studies on children’s literature and culture is its remarkable interdisciplinary approach. A persuasive picture of the complicated conditions in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s and their influence on children’s literature can only be conveyed if the political, social, historical, and cultural circumstances are considered and related to one another –which this collection has succeeded in doing to a convincing degree."

Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer, University of Tübingen, International Research in Children's Literature

"This magnificent, beautifully produced volume contains over 250 period illustrations, bringing the object of its important and innovative scholarship to life… The enduring value of this edited volume will be both its scholarship and its stunning visuality and ‘gaze-appeal’"

Megan Swift, University of Victoria, The Russian Review

"For decades to come, The Pedagogy of Images will remain a go-to resource on the early Soviet picture books for literature scholars, historians of public education, researchers of totalitarian art, librarians, and graphic artists."

Olga Voronina, Bard College, Slavic Review

"This is an outstanding collection of essays by a group of leading scholars, tightly conceived by the editors. Conceptually ambitious and richly illustrated, it unlocks the extraordinary intersections between children's education and Soviet propaganda."

Emma Widdis, Professor, Centre for Film and Screen, University of Cambridge

"Finally, a thorough and insightful study of the development of children's literature in communist Russia during the 1920s and 1930s! Leading scholars of illustrated Soviet children's literature demonstrate how writers and illustrators contributed to mass literacy, and how this literature became a dynamic laboratory for experiments, revealing how artistic innovation and state propaganda formed the basic tenets of the institutionalized children's literature established during this period."

Jack Zipes, Professor Emeritus, Department of German, Scandinavian, and Dutch, University of Minnesota

"This smartly organized collection guides scholars of history, visual culture, and children’s studies into a deeper understanding of how the stories and images of the 1920s and 1930s sought to inscribe in their young readers a new sense of identity dedicated to the creation of a modern, industrialized, and harmonious Soviet state. This volume offers a wealth of inspiration and exemplary models for researchers seeking to understand the ways a social imagination develops in and through illustrated children’s texts."

Karen Coats, Director, Centre for Research in Children's Literature, University of Cambridge

"Soviet children’s literature of the 1920s and 1930s is a fascinating topic, and The Pedagogy of Images does it justice. A detailed introduction by editors Balina and Oushakine provides both history and critical foundation, showing how early Soviet children’s books were embedded in institutional practices. The book is theoretically sophisticated, flexible in its variety of scholarly approaches, and as fun to read as it is informative."

Sibelan Forrester, Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, Swarthmore College