"Spring Gift" by Tatyana Tronina, Elena Nesterina, and Svetlana Lubenets, summary

"Spring Gift" is a collection of classic young adult fiction, published in 2004. This book is a unique example of Russian young adult literature from the early 2000s, in which the authors meticulously recreate the psychological portraits of teenagers, raising themes of personal responsibility, social stratification, and the search for sincerity in relationships. The collection is part of Eksmo Publishing House’s renowned series "The Big Book of Romance Novels for Girls." This series also includes works by other authors, such as "The Big Book of First Kisses" by Anna Voronova and "Love Like in a Fairytale" by Vera Ivanova.

Tatyana Tronina’s novella "The Queen of Flowers"

The story begins in late September in Moscow. Athletic Galya Averchenko, the daughter of the Deputy Minister of Culture, is strolling along the embankment with friends. Before her eyes, five-year-old Sasha falls from a passing boat. Galya makes a daring leap from a pedestrian bridge into the cold river, saving the child. This act results in her developing severe pneumonia. After a hospital stay, Galya is sent to a country dacha to recuperate under the care of her governess, Varvara Arkadyevna, affectionately known as Vava.

At the dacha, Galya is pining for the silence. Noticing a light in an abandoned house nearby, she decides to investigate. There, she finds Danila Gromov, a fellow teenager. He’s on the run from persecution. Galya learns from the news that he’s accused of stealing half a million rubles from his guardians, the Fikusov producers. Danila is innocent: he’s the son of the singer Eliza. The young man accidentally discovered documents proving the producers are stealing from his mother. When questioned, Danila replies, "I’m not a criminal, and the Fikusovs are just trying to get rid of me."

Galya decides to save Danila. She enlists her city friends, Sonya and Vasya, to help. Sonya pretends to be the flighty "niece of David Copperfield," dreaming of a career in pop music, for the Fikusovs. The producers, tempted by the illusionist’s wealth, believe the deception. Sonya and Vasya discover that the secret accounting system is kept at the Fikusovs’ home.

Galya secretly returns to Moscow. She manages to enter the apartment disguised as a cleaning lady. The producer’s son, Boris, discovers the deception and ties Galya up with duct tape, but she frees herself when Boris slips on a banana peel. Her friends, arriving just in time, help Galya force Boris to open the safe and retrieve the incriminating evidence.

Danila’s father, sports car test driver Yuri Alekseevich, drives Galya back to the dacha. Along the way, he evades the Fikusovs’ car chase. Galya sees the sign for the "Lily" flower shop and solves the main mystery. Danila witnessed her jump from a nearby boat off a bridge, but he didn’t know her name, so in his dreams, he named his savior Lily. The charges against Danila are dropped, his parents reconcile, and Galya and Danila declare their feelings.

Elena Nesterina’s story "A Boy as a Load"

The main character, Evgeniya Kolomyia, known to everyone as Zhuzha, is passionate about design. Her parents are often away on business trips, and then Zhuzha’s childhood friend Styopka, a successful young actor, comes to her aid. The two have an agreement: Zhuzha solves Styopka’s math and physics problems for him, and he cleans her unkempt apartment and cooks dinners.

Classmate Natasha Krivtsova dreams of meeting Styopka and wants to enroll in the children’s theater at the Palace of Creativity. However, the troupe’s director, Victoria Kirillovna, refuses to accept girls without boys due to a shortage of boys. To help Natasha, Zhuzha takes a desperate step. She cuts her hair short like a boy’s, dresses in her uncle’s loose clothes, and shows up to the audition under the name "Zhenya Kolomiytsev."

Zhuzha is accepted and confirmed for the role of chief of the guard, and Natasha becomes a maid of honor. Zhuzha has to fence with swords and endure the nagging of the arrogant senior Genka. Styopka, returning from filming, immediately recognizes his friend but agrees to keep her secret. During rehearsal, Zhuzha accidentally breaks a decorative paper lantern and runs away. The silent Seryoga Mebel helps Zhuzha rectify the situation, and overnight she creates a new lantern out of gauze.

Natasha is jealous of Steve (Styopka) and Zhenya, believing the latter to be her beau. During rehearsals, Zhuzha becomes so engrossed in fencing that Victoria Kirillovna decides to swap the roles: give Zhenya the role of the Prince, and move Styopka to the role of the King. This is a career disaster for Styopka, as an important film director has been invited to the premiere. He asks Zhuzha to turn down the role.

Before leaving the theater, Zhuzha firmly tells Victoria Kirillovna, "I can’t deceive you anymore." She admits she’s a girl and leaves the troupe. The performance is a triumph, and Styopka performs brilliantly as the Prince. At the New Year’s "Ogonyok" (literally, "Ogonyok"), Zhuzha gives her friends memorable gifts. She realizes her romantic infatuation with Styopka was a mistake, and that true friendships connect her with Seryoga Mebel and her classmate Lyokha Bushuev.

Svetlana Lubenets’s novella "The Ball of My Dreams"

Dasha Kazantseva’s parents are leaving for Finland for six months. Dasha is sent to Alexandra Modestovna Bonch-Osmolovskaya’s boarding school on Vasilievsky Island. The girl is extremely dissatisfied with the strict rules, the enclosed courtyard, and the uniform with white knee-high socks. She takes a vacant bed in the eighth-grade dormitory, where Valechka Fedorova, a young girl bullied by the local "gasoline princess," Aigul Talieva, used to sleep.

Aigul and her assistant, Tanya Yevchak, nicknamed Chaka, decide to test Dasha. At night, Chaka takes the new girl to the abandoned Northern Building and locks her in a dark closet. Feeling the brick wall in the darkness, Dasha finds a secret key. Pressing it activates a hidden mechanism that slides a brick column. Dasha finds an exit to an abandoned back staircase leading outside to the Smolenka River. She breaks the rusty lock and goes outside, but decides to return to the dormitory, having memorized the secret mechanism.

On October 10th, the boarding school celebrates Girls’ Day. The students are given beautiful dresses, have their hair done, and are invited to the cadet ball from the boys’ school. Dasha meets Oleg Vikulov and falls in love with him. At the celebration, she also meets her former classmate, Sakha Kostromin, who has changed greatly for the better under the influence of school discipline.

Dasha discovers the secret of her neighbor, Lera Vedeneyeva. Her stepmother placed Lera in a boarding school to separate her from her lover, Alyosha. Lera suffers from separation and jealousy. To help her friend, Dasha makes a deal with Chaka. In exchange for a literature essay and silver earrings with chrysoprase, Chaka steals the coveted Golden Key to the Northern Building from Aigul.

That night, the girls sneak out through a secret passage. There, they are met by Sakha Kostromin, who had decided to escape from his school for Dasha’s sake while Oleg Vikulov cowardly hid in his bedroom. Sakha takes the girls to Alyosha. The lovers sort things out and make up. On the way back, Alyosha and Sakha break down the door Chaka had locked. Dasha, realizing that Sakha is a reliable and devoted man, kisses him on the cheek.

The fugitives are caught at the bedroom door by the headmistress and her husband, Mikhail Petrovich. Aigul appears in the study with her father, David Alievich, the boarding house owner. Dasha reveals the secret passage and reveals the second column. In a hidden safe, they discover an antique leather satchel containing the jewels of the Bonch-Osmolovsky princes. David Alievich nobly renounces the treasure in favor of the headmistress, who will now be able to buy the boarding house. Saying goodbye to Sasha, Dasha tenderly says, "I’ll wait for you every Sunday."