The participants in the Word Environment session are working on recording an audiobook with short stories. They have chosen “The Adventures of Dennis” by Viktor Dragunsky, a classic of children’s literature, for the first Artek audiobook. These short stories about Dennis and his friends will become part of the media library as well as several morning issues of the Kiparisny camp’s radio newspaper.

The morning radio newspaper at the Kiparisny camp is one of the main news sources at Artek. The children speak about upcoming events, important dates and Artek traditions on air. The participants in the Word Environment session decided to add a new format to the media resource. The multi-cast short stories have become another way to learn more about the world of language and literature.

“We have had the idea to record an audiobook for a long time, and we have everything we need to do this: our radio station can serve as a sound recording studio,” says Nadezhda Udeneyeva, senior team leader at the Kiparisny camp. “We thought: when can we implement this project if not now, during the session dedicated to language and literature? We have chosen the author and series together with the children and now we are recording one story per day. Certain stories will become part of the radio newspapers for the next sessions. The book will be added to our media library. We also want to present it to children from the Artek kindergarten.”

There is still a lot of work to do, so there are many people at the Kiparisny camp’s radio station every day. While the sound engineer is tuning the microphones and the mixing desk, the children rehearse their texts. “Every story from ‘The Adventures of Dennis’ is interesting, so our team has tried to figure out how they would affect the reader,” says Maria Dontsova from Voronezh. “In the end, we chose the story ‘The Secret is Out.’ It is about the importance of words and deeds; it teaches the reader to be honest and admit his or her mistakes. This is what we want to share with other Artek kids.”

“Today was my first day as a narrator, and I liked it a lot,” says Georgy Kalinichenko from the Stavropol Territory. “This is a new experience for me, and I am really happy that the children who will come to Artek for the next session will hear me. It is very cool to leave something (my voice, to be exact) in the history of Artek!”

However, for Inna Ryabko from Yessentuki this is not the first time at the sound recording studio. “There is a studio at our school where we record radio programs. I recorded my recital for the reading competition there, so I have something to compare this with,” she says. “The equipment at the Artek studio was a pleasant surprise: the sound is deep and has good quality, you can feel it immediately when you start listening. In general, I like the literature theme of this session. I have already submitted my composition for the ‘View From the Window’ contest and I hope it will get into the Artek Book.”

During the session, each team at the Kiparisny camp will record a story for the audiobook. If this experience becomes popular, the recording may become a new tradition at the International Children’s Center.