Polansky the Traveler’s Herbarium
978-5-6050961-4-6
Dinka loves her little town of Kuritsyn and runs a video blog about its secrets. On camera, she recounts urban legends — about the crowing of roosters that cuts off the Wi-Fi throughout the town, about why all the houses are painted in different colours, and about who sings in the drains when it rains. One morning, Dinka and her friend Lerka find an old oval coin…
A hundred years before Dinka, in the vicinity of Razenburg — which would later become Kuritsyn — little Kolya lives at the Polyansky estate. He dreams of travel and adventure, but for now his whole world consists of his ailing mother, his treasured herbarium and his ghostly friends, the guardians of these places. One of the ghosts gave him a strangely shaped coin, and this talisman is meant to protect Kolya from all harm. The observant and kind-hearted boy believes in the magic all around him, but sometimes that faith is not enough.
The story weaves together two time periods: the stories of Kolya and Dinka. The heroine of our time and the future great traveler must each, in their own way, uncover the secret of the oval coin and bring hope to themselves and to the town on the edge of the steppe.
Age rating: 12+
♦ “Image of the Book” International Book Illustration and Design Competition (2020)
♦ Shortlisted for the “Book of the Year” competition (2025)
♦ 100 Best New Books for Children and Young People catalogue (2025)
A hundred years before Dinka, in the vicinity of Razenburg — which would later become Kuritsyn — little Kolya lives at the Polyansky estate. He dreams of travel and adventure, but for now his whole world consists of his ailing mother, his treasured herbarium and his ghostly friends, the guardians of these places. One of the ghosts gave him a strangely shaped coin, and this talisman is meant to protect Kolya from all harm. The observant and kind-hearted boy believes in the magic all around him, but sometimes that faith is not enough.
The story weaves together two time periods: the stories of Kolya and Dinka. The heroine of our time and the future great traveler must each, in their own way, uncover the secret of the oval coin and bring hope to themselves and to the town on the edge of the steppe.
Age rating: 12+
♦ “Image of the Book” International Book Illustration and Design Competition (2020)
♦ Shortlisted for the “Book of the Year” competition (2025)
♦ 100 Best New Books for Children and Young People catalogue (2025)
