Excerpts from Masha's journal

Some might see the lessons in Odoyevsky's short and charming life manual for children old-fashioned and outdated. Some might even bristle at certain suggestions. However, we would like to urge our readers to look beyond the somewhat antiquated rhetoric and consider these lessons as they were intended - guidelines for bringing up intelligent, well-educated, considerate, and industrious future spouses, parents, and, most importantly, engineers of the future world.