Russia’s Investigative Committee orders review of children’s author Grigory Oster’s poetry collection

Source: Investigative Committee of Russia

Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, has ordered a review of books by children’s author Grigory Oster over content that raises “pedagogical concerns,” the agency’s press service said on April 21.

A spokesperson for the agency told the Russian state news agency TASS that Bastrykin specifically ordered a review of Oster’s poetry collection.

Oster’s books came up at a meeting of the Investigative Committee’s coordinating council on assistance to children affected by humanitarian disasters, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and armed conflicts, the agency said.

Vrednyye sovety (“Bad Advice”) is a collection of ironic poems by Grigory Oster in which children are instructed to do the opposite of what they should.

In 2024, the Krasnoyarsk Krai prosecutor’s office sought to have the book pulled from sale and destroyed, arguing that it depicted “cruelty, physical and psychological violence, and antisocial behavior capable of causing fear, horror, or panic in children.” After the case drew public attention, the prosecutor’s office announced it would no longer seek to destroy the print run.

Oster is the author of the first Russian children’s hypertext novel and the screenwriter behind the animated films “38 Parrots,” “Caught You, You Biter!” and “A Kitten Called Woof.” He is also known as the author of content on the “President of Russia for School-Age Citizens” website, located at kids.kremlin.ru.

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Russia’s Investigative Committee orders review of children’s author Grigory Oster’s poetry collection

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