Sovok of the Week

This week’s "Sovoks of the Week" have committed a grave, heinous crime. They
assassinated the two greatest Sovok icons that have been warming Sovok hearts
for many years. These heroes are Cheburashka, a
cuddly beast of unknown species, and Crocodile Gena. Together they spent time
hanging out while trying to outsmart
a nasty hag Old Woman Shapoklyak. Edouard Uspensky’s book "Crocodile Gene and
His Friends" was recently reviewed in the American "School Library
Journal". The edition that was reviewed sports illustrations by a Brooklynite
Mr. Shpitalnik who was able to destroy the beloved image of Cheburashka making
him look like an idiotic munchkin. For you reading pleasure, we present you
with the review written by Jane Gardner Connor of the South Carolina State
Library in Columbia.

"Grade 3-5-This is the story of three unlikely companions who come together
to form a House of Friendship: Gene, a crocodile who works the day shift in
a zoo; Floptop, a creature "completely unknown to science" transported
from a tropical forest by mistake; and Gail, a child. Soon they are threatened
by an old woman who has a pet rat and goes around looking for evil. Why she
chooses to torment them is never clear, except for the fact that they embody
goodness and kindness. When they finally vanquish her, the scene is almost
anticlimactic. The setting is clearly urban; however, no sense of place is
established, except for one episode in which the friends encounter the Russian
bureaucracy while trying to buy bricks. The plot is unconvincing and the characters
are flat; the total effect is an overly whimsical tale that is neither amusing
nor touching but is instead rather silly and pointless." - Jane Gardner
Connor, South Carolina State Library, Columbia

For
their assault on the beloved Sovok childhood characters, we nominate Mr. Shpitalnik
and Mrs. Jane Gardner Connor the new "Official Sovoks of the Week". For some
reason, I can’t help thinking about Mrs. Gardner as as Old Woman Shapoklyak
but that’s just me.

The story was first delivered to the world (in Russian) here.