Sasha Sivtsova / Awakening the Spark, or a Journey into the Vdokhnoles / A story about how friendship and talents unfold
Vdokhnoles (the magical Forest of Inspiration) is a place where special children fall into. And sometimes adults, too!
Gifted people discover their talents here. Then they return to our world to give us art, science, music, and important discoveries.
But then something terrible happened! The spirit of Vdokhnoles became very angry and cursed his own home… The forest dwellers were so frightened that they buried the spirit underground.
Ever since then, the forest has been losing its magic.
Meanwhile, in the ordinary world, there live two children — Petya and Lena.
Petya is physically weak and has a stutter. He dreams of being strong and singing well.
Lena is a strong girl. She is an excellent swimmer and saves Petya from bullies.
The children become friends. They both want to surprise each other and happily rush to meet. But suddenly, they find themselves in Vdokhnoles.
To return home, Petya and Lena will have to set out on a journey and discover their talents in the forest.
Here, they will learn to understand their emotions.
To listen to their own voice…
To face their fears…
The friends will also help lift the spirit’s curse from Vdokhnoles. To do this, they will help its inhabitants learn to accept both their weaknesses and their strength.
Format: Chapter Book for ages 7-9, for readers who enjoy stories about friendship, magical worlds, and the first steps toward self-confidence. / Length: 2.9 author’s sheets / Series potential: A standalone story with the potential to become a series about new characters who find themselves in Vdokhnoles and discover their own “sparks.”
References: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett / Adventures with Waffles by Maria Parr
Setting: A modern dacha settlement and Vdokhnoles — a magical forest where children experiencing strong emotions and searching for their talents find themselves.
Logline: Nine-year-old Lena, angry with her parents, and shy seven-year-old Petya find themselves in Vdokhnoles — a place where children discover their talents. To return home, the friends will have to do more than discover their own talents: they must also free an ancient spirit and restore the magical forest’s right to complex feelings and emotions.
Themes: The right to complex emotions; empathy; friendship; self-acceptance; discovering one’s talents; overcoming fear; honesty in relationships with those close to us. Structure: The story alternates chapter by chapter between Lena and Petya. The two characters go through different trials in Vdokhnoles before their storylines come together at the climax.
Short synopsis (1/4): Nine-year-old Lena and seven-year-old Petya are friends at the dacha. Lena is strong and has learned to swim using her grandfather’s “method” so she can go to the seaside. Her parents have been promising her this trip for three years, but they keep breaking their promise. Lena is angry with them and spends her time at the dacha. Petya is new to the dacha community: thin, shy, with a stutter, and dreaming of being like everyone else. When Petya comes to the local pond for the first time, the local bullies push him into the water. Lena saves him. From that day on, the children become friends, and Lena teaches Petya how to swim.
(2/4) One day, the friends agree to meet, and each of them prepares a surprise for the other. But their meeting falls through. They both find themselves in Vdokhnoles — a magical forest where children discover their talents. For almost half a century, Vdokhnoles has been under a “curse of joy”: the people who live there are only allowed to feel happy, because otherwise their difficult feelings and emotions will make the forest disappear.
(3/4) Petya and Lena each follow their own path through Vdokhnoles. During their journeys, they discover their hidden abilities. Petya learns to trust his own voice and to be brave, while Lena realizes that she has a gift for making other people stronger. But along with discovering their talents, the children also help the inhabitants of Vdokhnoles lift the “curse of joy” from the forest and awaken the spirit who was unjustly imprisoned underground.
(4/4) After that, Lena and Petya return home. The inhabitants of Vdokhnoles are left to rebuild the forest and learn not to be afraid of difficult emotions, so that more children will be able to come here in the future.
