Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov is a well-known writer, on whose novels and stories many citizens of our country grew up. Indeed, who did not laugh at Mishka, who is trying to catch the escaping porridge, or at Barbos, composing fables in order to brag to Comrade Bobik. And with its inhabitants it has become a real children's world, which almost every child dreams of getting into. Films have been shot, cartoons are being released, books continue to be published. This is because the writer is interesting to children, he presents simple truths to young readers in an understandable language, gives examples that are close to them.
Nikolai Nosov - an outstanding children's writer
Like many writers, Nosov discovers his talent for writing gradually. He composes short stories to entertain his son and his friends. Later, Nikolai Nikolaevich comes to the conclusion that this is what he wants to do in life. Along with this comes an understanding of how difficult it is to write for a children's audience, because you need to be erudite in many areas, including the psychology of young readers.
And so began the professional activity of Nosov. The first stories appear before the Great War, in 1938. However, active creativity develops after the Victory, since 1945. It was then that young readers get acquainted with Mishka, Kolya Sinitsyn, Vitya Maleev (Nosov was awarded the Stalin Prize for the story about him).
His stories and novels unobtrusively educate young readers, encourage friendship, kindness, diligence, honesty and condemn laziness, lies, pretense, disrespect for parents and teachers.
Together with stories about schoolchildren, there are also fairy tales about wonderful characters - short men, inhabitants of the Flower City. Children especially like these fairy tales because they are simple, sincere and full of pure children's humor. The author of Dunno was able to subtly grasp in what language to communicate with a young audience, what images to present in order to achieve not only sustainable interest, but also pedagogical goals.
Biographical information
Nikolai Nosov, the one who wrote Dunno and many other famous books, was born near Kiev in 1908. His father is an actor by profession, however, due to circumstances, he was forced to work on the railway in addition to his specialty.
From childhood, the future writer has a love for creative activity: he is fascinated by playing the violin, he visits the theater with pleasure, loves to take pictures. Unfortunately, like all children of that time, Nosov quickly matured. The famine years that began after the First World War and the Civil War forced Nikolai to go to work so that the family would not starve to death.
After graduating from a seven-year school, Nosov was looking for himself for some time, and finally, at the age of 19, he entered the Kiev Art Institute. After studying there for two years, he transferred to the Moscow Institute of Cinematography. Nosov remains true to his beloved work: from 1938 to 1951 he was engaged in staging films for children and youth.
Shorties - heroes of Dunno books
The first work describing the adventures of Dunno was the short story "Cog, Shpuntik and the vacuum cleaner." Later, after seeing how the short characters fell in love with the readers, Nosov wrote the famous fairy-tale trilogy. He becomes the one who wrote Dunno and introduced young readers to him. 
It is noteworthy that from the trilogy Nosov devotes to his second wife, Tatyana. They had no children (son Peter was from his first marriage). At the beginning of his writing career, Nosov is not yet known as the one who wrote Dunno. His stories are about ordinary schoolchildren, just like the audience reading the works. However, even then the writer hatches a plan to write a work with a fairy tale plot.
In 1952, while in Minsk, Nosov shared an idea with Bogdan Chaly, editor of the Barvinok magazine. The latter was so inspired by the idea of the city of short men that he suggests that Nosov release the chapters from the book gradually, publishing them in a magazine. This is what the writer does: in 1953-1954, the first book of the trilogy was published in Periwinkle, describing the adventures of Dunno.
What are they, shorties? These are small men, no larger than a cucumber. There are males and females among them. They live in their cities: Flower, Sun. All shorties are busy with business: they invent, cook, treat others, draw, compose poetry or music. Among them, a peculiar leader (Znayka), erudite in everything, stands out. The little ones listen to him. The heroes of Dunno have very interesting names: according to their profession (Vintik, Shpuntik, Pilyulkin), according to their character or special physical qualities: Donut (full, eats a lot), Toropyzhka, Avoska.
From small phrases and episodes, the reader learns that shorties can die (for Dunno they were afraid that he was lying “as if dead”), there is a family relationship between them: Avoska and Neboska are siblings.
Dunno brings dissonance into the calm, measured life of the short men, as if he is opposed to everyone, because he is not busy with any particular business, he either interferes with others, or gets into ridiculous situations. The plots of all three fairy tales are built around this.
The first part of the trilogy about the adventures of Dunno
The first part tells about the unsuccessful flight of shorties in a balloon, which was designed by Znayka. So it turns out that they get into an accident. Everything happened as follows: during the flight on the ball, a malfunction occurs. Znayka decides that the shorties need to leave the ball and jump down. He sets an example, but after his jump, the ball begins to rise again. Dunno misleads everyone by saying that this is how it should be. Everyone calms down, but the situation gets out of control again and the ball still breaks. 
Slightly injured shorties end up in the Green City hospital, where they are under the strict control of Dr. Medunitsa. We can say that the heroes are kept in captivity. Everyone except the Dunno. He is found at a distance from the others. The negligent short man begins to shamelessly deceive the inhabitants of the Sunny City, telling that it was he who came up with the balloon project, convincing everyone of his enlightenment in many sciences, including artistic talent and singing.
And so life flows in the Green City, until Znayka appears. It turns out that all this time he was looking for his friends. Dunno's deceit is revealed, everyone boycotts him, but they soon forgive him and allow him to attend the general ball. Soon, the shorties of the Flower City realize that it's time to go home. Upon his return Dunno decides to change, he reconciles with his friend Gunka and begins to educate himself.
A book about the adventures of Dunno in the Sunny City
“Dunno in the Sunny City” is another part about the adventures of an unlucky little man. Here Nosov presents a completely different meaning. Through the magical adventures of the well-known Knopochka Nosov, he introduces young readers to a completely ideal city and social system. It becomes clear that the one who wrote Dunno wanted to show the guys, using a specific example, what the concept of "communism" means. The element of magic emphasizes the unattainability of such a system in reality. 
Indeed, a progressive atmosphere reigns in the Sunny City: residents do not know what money is, but everyone has a personal car, there is no division into classes - everyone is equal, everyone does what they love.
Nosov pays special attention to such a concept as conscience, he even materializes it: Dunno conducts dialogues with her every night.
Fairy tale "Dunno on the Moon"
The last part of the trilogy "Dunno on the Moon" is a kind of story about the capitalist system. It was a kind of satirical depiction of this social order. 
Dunno, together with Donut, having stolen a rocket designed by Znayka, get to the moon and plunge into the cruelty of the Lunar society, where inequality, corruption reign, everything is bought and sold, society is ruled by oligarchs. As a result, the heroes end up on the Fool's Island, from where they, half-dead, are rescued by an expedition from the Flower City.
