Russia’s Investigative Committee opens review of children’s author Grigory Oster’s books after lawmaker’s complaint

Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a review of books by children’s author Grigory Oster after a State Duma deputy singled them out for criticism, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported on April 22.

On April 21, Deputy Maria Butina appeared before a meeting at the Investigative Committee and presented a report titled “Destructive content in children’s literature as a risk factor for unlawful behavior among minors,” Kommersant said. The report noted, among other things, that Oster had allegedly criticized the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine.

Kommersant published three slides from Butina’s report claiming that Oster’s books ‘destroy the moral foundation of a child’

• The first slide reads “A threat on the shelves of our schools” and ”‘Literature’ — under the guise of humor and education, destroys the moral foundation of a child.”
• The second slide describes Oster’s books as a “systemic problem” because they are printed in large runs, widely available, and, in Butina’s view, violate the law. The slide features the covers of four of his books: Vrednyye sovety (“Bad Advice”), Shkola uzhasov (“School of Horrors”), Fizika (“Physics”), and Zadachnik (“Math Problems”).
• The third slide includes a section titled “A time bomb in children’s souls,” under which three points are listed: “Normalization of death,” “Violence against parents,” and “Cruelty to animals.”

Butina objected to a math problem about drowned children and a ‘strangulation table’

At the meeting, Butina quoted a problem from the book Zadachnik: “Fourteen children were learning to swim. Three of them still can’t swim, and two have already drowned. How many children have already learned to swim and haven’t drowned yet?”

Butina also raised objections to the fairy tale Kniga o vkusnoy i zdorovoy pishche lyudoyeda (“A Book of Tasty and Wholesome Cannibal Food”) and the short story collection Shkola uzhasov. In the latter case, she took issue with the story Tablitsa udusheniya (“The Strangulation Table”), in which “the strangled are multiplied by the strangled.”

Butina also addressed Oster’s most famous book, Vrednyye sovety — a collection of ironic poems offering deliberately wrong advice. She called it a “legitimization of cruelty” and cited one example:

• Beat frogs with sticks. It’s very interesting.
• Tear the wings off flies, let them run around on foot.
• Practice every day, and a happy day will come
• When some kingdom takes you on as its Chief Executioner.

Closing her remarks, Butina proposed conducting an unscheduled review, removing the books from public circulation, and forwarding the results to the Education Ministry and Roskomnadzor. Investigative Committee head Alexander Bastrykin, a member of the Russian Writers’ Union, backed her proposal, according to participants in the meeting.

Investigators from the Investigative Committee’s headquarters will examine Vrednyye sovety and Shkola uzhasov

Staff at the Investigative Committee’s headquarters will carry out the review on Bastrykin’s orders, Kommersant’s sources said. They will examine, in particular, the short story collection Shkola uzhasov and the fairy tale Kniga o vkusnoy i zdorovoy pishche lyudoyeda. Bastrykin also ordered a review of Vrednyye sovety, the Russian state news agency TASS previously reported.

Such reviews typically involve various forms of analysis, including psychological and linguistic expert analysis. Depending on the outcome, the Investigative Committee could open a criminal case or refer materials to Roskomnadzor and the prosecutor’s office, which in turn could ban or restrict the distribution of the works.

Oster has not commented on the decision to review his books. His publisher, AST, and the Russian Book Union have not yet received any inquiries from investigators regarding his books.

This is not the first attempt to ban Oster’s books in Russia. In 2024, the prosecutor’s office of Krasnoyarsk Krai sought to have his Vrednyye sovety removed from sale and destroyed. Prosecutors argued that the book depicted cruelty, physical and psychological violence, and antisocial behavior that could cause children to experience fear, horror, or panic, presented in a manner that degrades human dignity.

The prosecutor’s office later announced it would not pursue a lawsuit over Vrednyye sovety. “Speculation on this topic has no real basis,” the office said at the time.