Fazil Abdulovich Iskander (1929–2016) – master of prose, poet, essayist, author of witty aphorisms. “Childhood shapes a person, and many childhood impressions later become the basis of an adult’s character. In this sense, childhood is the basis of the future adult,” the writer believed. That is why Fazil Iskander wrote a lot about children. The book includes the story “The Thirteenth Labor of Hercules” and a series of stories about Chika. The fifth-grader - the hero of the story “The Thirteenth Labor of Hercules” - did not solve a difficult math problem that was assigned for home. To avoid the teacher's ridicule, he decided to deceive. The teacher called his student’s act a feat of cowardice. The hero of “Stories about Chika” is a mischievous, kind, 11-year-old boy Chichiko, interested in everything in the world. He goes to school, plays football, loves to read Pushkin, helps his aunt and grandmother, protects the weak, reflects on life and its first lessons. Illustration on the cover by N. Bugoslavskaya.