Distant Lands facts for kids

Distant Lands (Dalniye Strany, Дальние страны) is a book written in 1932 by the Soviet children's author Arkady Gaidar. It tells an exciting story about two young boys and their adventures.

About the Book's Creation

Arkady Gaidar started writing Distant Lands in the summer of 1931. He was staying at a special place called Artek, which was a camp for young pioneers. His son, Timur, was with him at the time.

Gaidar finished the book on August 3rd. A friend of the writer, Ruvim Frayerman, shared that the story was inspired by Gaidar's own childhood. He remembered standing on a barn roof with his sister, Natasha, watching trains go by. This memory likely helped him create the quiet railway station and the passing trains in the book.

What Happens in Distant Lands?

The story takes place at a small railway station. We see everything through the eyes of two 8-year-old boys, Vasya and Petya. Their peaceful life becomes very busy!

An important group arrives from a nearby city. They want to see if they can build a new factory that makes aluminum close to the station. This would bring big changes to the area.

At the same time, most of the local people decide to start a kolkhoz. A kolkhoz was a type of shared farm in the Soviet Union where people worked together. However, a character named Danila and two of his friends are strongly against this idea.

Then, something puzzling happens. Yegor, who is the local leader (a Selsoviet chairman, meaning a head of a village council), disappears. He was in charge of a large amount of money that people had collected. This money was for buying machines for their new shared farm. Everyone is very worried because Yegor was a trusted person and a hero from the Russian Civil War. They fear their project might fail.

Soon, one of the boys, Petya, starts acting strangely. It becomes clear that he knows something important about Yegor's disappearance. He found a clue in the forest.

Eventually, the mystery is solved. The people who caused Yegor's disappearance are identified. Yegor is found, and the community can finally move forward. The shared farm project gets back on track. And for Vasya and Petya, their dreams of exploring "distant lands" and finding happiness for everyone seem closer than ever.