Vovka, Who Rode the Bomb

What, you don’t remember Vovka? The very one who rode the bomb? He was shouting then, saying it’s not a bomb, it’s a shell: "And since it went thud and didn’t explode, then it definitely won’t explode now!" In general, they had a hard time pulling Vovka away from that shell - it was never boring with him!
Vovka and his best friend Vlad don’t even know the word "boredom": these restless dreamers are constantly up to something. One time, while playing "war games," Vovka accidentally gave Vlad a black eye - and then he was green with envy: after all, being wounded is honorable! And another time, the boys organized an uninterrupted supply of canaries to a pet store - just take care of the birds properly, and they multiply themselves. But then the store closed down: a shell hit it, another one, not the one Vovka rode.
The story by Yuri Nikitinsky, continuing the instructive and entertaining tradition of Nosov, pulls many important themes to itself - primarily war. Regular artillery shelling, of course, changes the boys' lives, but it seems to remain as background, something that does not directly affect their lives for the time being. Such is the saving property of a child’s psyche, which the author masterfully reveals.
The book "Vovka, Who Rode the Bomb" was awarded the Kornejchuk Prize in 2015, as well as the literary contest "New Children’s Book" in 2016. Yuri Nikitinsky (born 1970) has become the author of more than twenty children’s books over a quarter of a century in children’s literature. The illustrations by Ksenia Dereka enhance this poignant story about Vovka.
For younger and middle school age.