Miriam Morton

I was surprised to discover that most of this book is a page by page, sentence by sentence translation or adaptation of Chat Lune by Albertine Deletaille. I rather prefer the illustrations of Chat Lune and miss that immortal line “Miaou! Badaboum!”, but I’m no doubt prejudiced because of having loved Chat Lune for sixty years. Certainly Jon Provest’s rustic woodcuts perfectly suit the scruffy little raccoon who, unlike the kitten, does not get adopted by kind children at the end of the story and turns to the moon for consolation.… (altro)

This isn't the easiest book to find, but is definitely a worthwhile find, especially for those who remember being amazed at the Soviet domination in Olympic athletics. Myself, I tracked down the book mostly to see the chapters on gymnastics, but did enjoy reading the entire book.

Be forewarned, though, that the book definitely does have the air of propaganda about it. It was written by an American author after her interviews there, and published by an American company, but some of what is presented still seems like too much whitewashed sunshine to be taken at face value. I almost had the impression reading it that the Soviets had very carefully censored what she saw and who she talked to, and that she had been gullibly taken in.

Despite that, there were some lovely tidbits - for example, a story about how overweight girls weren't turned away from rhythmic gymnastics, but instead segregated into their own classes.… (altro)