Tales of Priut Almus: Participant Observation in a Russian Children's Shelter

Thirteen-year-old Serogia was thrown out of his house by his drunken mother after his father died. Eleven-year-old Anya doesn't have many friends and is always sad; when she looks in the mirror she sees an ugly girl. Her ten-year-old sister Sashinka is shy, tough and fun loving. Their only living relative is their drunken father. These are just three of the children who were living at Priut Almus, a children's shelter in St. Petersburg, Russia, when author Robert Belenky began his visits in 1998. He returned many times during the next ten years. In Tales of Priut Almus he presents his interviews with children and staff as he participates in this humane and innovative shelter unusual in that it focused on preparing children to create and live in a democracy. Finally, we meet Almus' founding director, enigmatic man of the theater, Mikhail Markarievich, who provided the courageous vision. The fifth in a series of books focusing on raising children whose lives have not been easy, Tales of Priut Almus describes how this home has become a monument to the spirited and humane ways to raise children who are in need. Priut Almus is a model of what may be possible for the United States in the realm of education and child care.