A Scouts’ story from the 1940s about a school and its students who went on to form the Czech intellectual elite, including Miloš Forman and Václav Havel.
Children’s and Young Adult
The adventure story of young Záviš, who has to move from Vinohrady in Prague to a boarding school in Poděbrady, a school which does not hesitate to instil on the children the moral values derived from the true stories of important figures from recent Czech cultural-political history. As a Scout, Záviš has to learn morality at this special school, as well as train and strengthen his body – put simply, he has to be tamed. Naturally, the dormitory is a mysterious place, the postwar 1940s are in full flow outside, during the nascent period of communism your background determines whether you complete your studies, and the wall of the dormitory washroom is hollow… The former students of this dormitory – the characters of this book – include Miloš Forman, Ivan Passer, Mario Klemens and Václav Havel or Batík as he was known… This is a story narrated as a diary which draws upon real-life events, documents and letters.
Age 10+
Read an excerpt from the book here.
About the authors:
Eva Papoušková (1969) is a writer and screenwriter. She studied Czech and English studies at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts and later film and television screenwriting and dramaturgy at the FAMU film school. Afterwards she began translating and writing. She has written several books for children including Kosprd a Telecí (Kosprd and Telecí) and Cestování s velrybou (Travels with a Whale) and the screenplays to the fairy stories Řád saténových mašlí (The Order of the Satin Bows), and the animated series O Kanafáskovi (About Kanafásek). She has also written screenplays for several television serials.
Galina Miklínová (1970) is a director and designer of animated films, illustrator, she created the short films Biograf (The Cinema), Bajky ze zahrady (Tall Stories from the Garden), Hra (The Game) and neŠťastné narozeniny Péti Fotky (Péťa Fotka’s unHappy Birthday), and the animated series O Kanafáskovi (About Kanafásek). She has illustrated numerous books for children including Veliký tůdle (The Big “No Way!”, 2003), Příšerky a příšeři (Monsters and Nightmares, 2005), Šišatý švec a myšut (The Crooked Cobbler and Mousey, 2007) as well as the popular trilogy Lichožrouti (The Oddsockeaters), the full-length animated film adaptation of which she directed herself.