Released this summer, Picturing the Page: Illustrated Children’s Literature and Reading under Lenin and Stalin offers a vivid exploration of illustrated children’s literature and reading under Lenin and Stalin – a period when mass publishing for children and universal public education became available for the first time in Russia. In this post, author Megan Swift talks about how her book came to life and explores the vital and multifaceted function illustrated children’s literature plays in repurposing the past.

Karl D. Qualls's discusses his new book, Stalin's Ninos, and the research that went into the project, revealing the Soviet transformation of children into future builders of communism and highlighting the educational techniques shared with other modern states.