Volkov and the Wizard of OZ

[Justin Langseth]

A sidenote to the Volkov discussion:

Two summers ago I worked at a summer camp outside of Nizhny
Novgorod (in the city where they make the Khoklahma (lacquer
boxes, etc -- the town's name escapes me.)

The goal of the camp was to act out the 4 Volkov fairy tales.
We had activities based on the fairy tales, etc.  The
children were quite interested to hear about the American
version of the Wizard of Oz, and I taught them some songs
from the movie in our english classes.

As was pointed out a few moments ago, yes, the book does
have the note about how Volkov adaped them from the American
version, so there was no confusion about that.  (Who invented
the airplane and telephone is another matter :).

I didn't meet anyone involved who had actually seen the
Wizard movie -- I wish I had brought a copy along with me --
the kids would have loved it.

Also, as far as I can tell the other stories in the series,
such as Orphan Juice and the Wooden Soldiers, etc. are not
based on any American tales.

Well thanks all for the opportunity to remember the fun time
I had at the Volkov camp!  If anyone has any adventurous
students of Russian who would like to work in a Russian
summer camp, I can definately provide advice and leads.

                                        - Justin Langseth
                                          MIT Sloan