Reading is one of the best ways to improve vocabulary in any language learning endeavor, but it’s so hard to find appropriately scaffolded reading material as a beginner-ish Russian learner. This book has it all though. It pushed me to learn new words and structures but didn’t make it so overwhelming that I had to look things up in the dictionary every other word. Glossaries at the end of each section were really helpful as was the reuse of new words. I enjoyed the story and am looking forward to moving on to one written by a Russian writer!