When Dmitry Sergeevich left earthly life, someone wrote in one of the newspapers: “The Conscience of Russia has died.” The book, or rather the small book that you open, not only appeals to conscience, but in very simple and intelligible words explains to us still living on earth, in Rus', what culture can give a person, what is hidden behind the concepts of patriotism and nationalism. D. S. Likhachev, who has known everything in his life, nevertheless notes that “a person’s life is not individual events connected in an irregular sequence, but a kind of organism, a biographical whole.” It is no coincidence that the book was published precisely by the publishing house “Children's Literature”, because its content is addressed to those who are still taking uncertain steps on the path of a long life.