The book "The Siege of Leningrad through the eyes of a child"  is the result of work carried out by the pupils of Calday Grammar School and the schools of Primorgski District in St Petersburg. They were united by the idea of creating a lasting testimony to the children who survived the Siege of Leningrad. The book has been very kindly dedicated to Chris as he was involved with the research and it contains some of his work. This includes a copy of his poem "The Siege of Ghosts". During a school visit to St Petersburg in 2008 Chris's poem was read out and it particularly moved one of the eye witnesses of the siege. As a result she wrote to Chris and a copy of her moving letter follows his poem in the book.

 

In February 2011 Julie and Rich Salmon joined Chris's Russian teacher Ekaterina Hughes , some of Chris's fellow pupils and his close friends on a school trip to Moscow and St Petersburg. They had an emotional meeting with Larissa Vasliena the lady who wrote to Chris and she spoke to the pupils about what Chris's poem had meant to her. A photo of her can be seen at the top of the website. Also whilst they were there copies of the book were formally presented to schools in Moscow and St Petersburg and to The Siege of Leningrad Museum in St Petersburg. The proceedings were covered by a local TV station and by journalists from the English language newspaper The St Petersburg Times. A copy of the report can be seen on the following page.

Copies of the book are available from the Foundation for £4, with all proceeds going to the Foundation. You can preview the whole book below.Click inside the viewer to see the controls for changing the page and zooming in and out.


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