Vol. 17 No. 1 (2020)

Volume 17 is devoted to the discussion of taboos in children's literature. During the Enlightenment, authors of children's books were united in their intention to teach children virtues by showing them “good and bad examples of behavior,” and none of the authors had the idea that any inconvenient, controversial, or provocative theme should be allowed in writing for children. However, already in the second half of the XIX century, critics singled out “harmful topics” that, due to their neglect, leaked into works for children and urged to fight such topics. On the contrary, at the beginning of the 20th century, they demanded to expand the scope of children's literature and introduce “burning topics of social struggle” into it. The Archive section materials are devoted to a retrospective of notions of taboos in children's books and children's reading. XXI century became a time of rapid elimination of taboos that have accumulated over the previous century, reflected in articles included in this issue.