The Boy Who Became a Bird

One day at breakfast Pavlik announced to his parents: "You know, Mom and Dad, I'm not a boy anymore. I'm a bird!" The parents were surprised, of course, but they didn't show it. Dad helped Pavlik build a house in an apple tree, and the boy moved in there to live, like in a nest. Soon Pavlik met a bird family living in a neighboring tree. And here's what's interesting: it turned out that their chick decided that he wasn't a chick at all, but a human boy!

Two families, a bird family and a human family, became very close friends and came to an agreement: the bird parents would look after Pavlik and teach him to sing, fly and catch insects, and the human parents would take the chick so that he would grow up as a human boy. They even gave the chick a name - Pashka.

The children were absolutely delighted. Pavlik liked to live like a bird, and Pashka – like a boy. But autumn was approaching. And that meant that the flock of birds together with Pavlik would have to fly south, and the chick Pashka would go to first grade at school.

Will Pavlik be able to fly to Africa? Will Pashka be able to find a common language with his classmates? Amazing adventures await both of them. Looking ahead, we will say that both Pavlik and Pashka will succeed. After all, their mothers and fathers believed in them, never doubted their children's abilities and helped them always and in everything.

The manuscript of the story "The Boy Who Became a Bird" became the winner of the first authors' competition "Oh, these kids!", announced by the Melik-Pashayev publishing house in 2022. The jury's decision was unanimous - this story captivated everyone. As it turned out later, its author, Tatyana Gorodentseva, is not only a talented writer, but also a wonderful artist, and she herself drew the illustrations for this book - as heartfelt as the text.

We are glad that thanks to the competition we were able to discover a new author and artist for ourselves and for our readers – after all, Tatyana Gorodentseva’s works had not been published before.