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AW #15 Summary Onion Domes (Russia) Characters • Mimi, Peachtree City, GA, mystery writer, world traveler • Papa, Peachtree City, GA, modern day cowboy, pilot • Christina Yother, 10, Peachtree City, GA • Grant Yother, 7, Peachtree City, GA, Christina’s brother • Alexandra, an Olympic bobsledder • Tatiana • Dmitri, Tatiana’s brother Characters • Ivan the Terrible, Dmitri and Tatiana’s dog • “Mr. Blue Shoes” • Stranger nicknamed “Peter the Great” • Chris Sanders from the American Embassy • an old woman, or babushka Time • Winter Locations • Moscow, Russia • Sochi, Russia Places (Integral) • Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow • Red Square, Moscow • St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow • Gorky Park, Moscow Places (Mention) • Peachtree City, GA • House of Friendship, Moscow • Moskva River, Moscow • the Black Sea, Moscow Educational Items (Integral) • Matryoshka (nesting) dolls • the Kremlin • The city of Moscow • Ivan the Terrible • Moscow Dogs • the construction of St. Basil’s Cathedral • Onion domes • Sochi climate/weather • the Winter Olympic Games • bobsledding • the Tsar Bell 52 Educational Items (Brief Mention) • Ushanka hats • the Russian Federation/U.S.S.R. • the Iron Curtain • the Cold War • World War II • Saint George, a symbol of Moscow • Celsius and Fahrenheit • Arbat (street in Moscow) • Rubles • Russian food: chak-chak, borscht, blini, stroganoff, pelmeni, kulebiaka • Russian words: tsar, boolachna-ya, babushka • Cyrillic • Baroque architecture • Sputnik • Yuri Gagarin, first man in space • Laika, the first dog in space • the Russian flag • Tchaikovsky and Swan Lake • Apollo • Aleksandr Pushkin • Vladimir Lenin • the 2014 Olympic mascots • speed skating Visuals • Map of Russia • Letter and photo from Alexandra • Written clues • Illustrations: Moscow dog, the Kremlin, ballet, St. Basil’s Cathedral, Olympic Rings, Matryoshka dolls Lessons Be grateful for what you have. When Christina and Grant are being picky about what they want to eat, Tatiana gets irritated because she knows what it is like to go hungry. Be polite. Christina changes the subject when the conversation gets too tense. Siblings can be loving and supportive. Tatiana and Dmitri go through a lot of trouble to bring Mimi to the Olympics for their sister, Alexandra, because Mimi was Alexandra’s hero growing up. Be open to new experiences – you may have fun! Christina and Grant admit that they don’t get much opportunity to ice skate back home in Georgia, but they do their best to learn to skate at the park with their new friends. Features • About the Author 53 • Built-In Book Club: Talk About It • Built-In Book Club: Bring It To Life -Make your own Russian tea -Create your own matryoshka -Design a cathedral -Bobsled track -An avant-garde sculpture • Russia Trivia • Glossary (with 5 SAT Words) • Join the Carole Marsh Mysteries Fan Club Synopsis Christina is debating whether or not to accompany her grandparents and brother to Russia to see the Winter Olympics. They have all been invited by a young woman named Alexandra, who is on the Russian bobsled team. Christina has also been invited to a friend’s party, and she already has a new dress for the occasion, but the party and the Russia trip overlap, and she has to choose one. A package arrives in the mail, and it is fur coats and hats for the whole family from Alexandra. A tiny matryoschka doll falls out of one of the coats, with a tiny note inside. It is a clue, and Christina decides she will go to Russia. After a long overseas flight the kids board a train with their grandparents. On the train, Christina notices two men. One man is underdressed for the cold Moscow weather, but has on bright blue shoes. The other man reminds Christina of the Russian tsars, so in her head she nicknames him Peter the Great. The kids get off at the right stop, but turn around to see the train pulling away with Mimi and Papa, still inside, asleep! Having no idea when their grandparents will awake and realize they are lost, Christina and Grant decide to head on to Friendship House, where they had all planned to meet up with Alexandra. There they meet a girl named Tatiana and her brother Dmitri, who say they came with Alexandra, but don’t know where she went. The kids have a dog they call Ivan the Terrible. Christina is worried about Alexandra, and goes with the rest of the kids to the Arbat, a famous street, to look for her and get some tea. As they leave a bakery to return to the House of Friendship to look for Mimi and Papa, they see a creepy old woman out the window. Dmitri says not to worry, it is just a babushka. Christina sees Ivan drop another matryoshka doll from his mouth right before a group of men in dark uniforms start running toward the kids. The men are police, and they put the kids un a car sand drive them to a building Dmitri identifies as the Kremlin. The kids try to sneak away inside the building, but run into a man who introduces himself as Chris Sanders from the American Embassy, who takes them to Mimi and Papa, who have been worried and looking for them. The kids introduce Tatiana and Dmitri and explain their situation. The whole group then heads over to their hotel and eat dinner together. The next day, they all go ice skating and Christina sees a pair of bright blue shoes in a cubby, as well as the man she nicknamed Peter the Great the day before. A woman yells at him from the bushes. They change back into their regular shoes after skating and find another doll with another note. They attend the ballet, and visit Red Square, which, Tatiana points out, is “the heart of Mother Russia.” There they see St. Basil’s Cathedral and its beautiful Onion Domes. Mimi and Papa visit Lenin’s Mausoleum. While the kids wait for them, Christina thinks she sees the babushka from the bakery again, but no one else notices her. Then a man’s voice warns them, “He knows you’re here. You’d better hide!” Scared, the kids run and hide in the cathedral, where they find another doll, this one with a blank face. Christina and Grant manage to fall behind a wall trying to retrieve it, and find their way out when they hear Mimi on the other side. Tatiana and Dmitri are worried because Ivan has run off. The group flies to Sochi, where the weather is much warmer. There are even palm trees. They look for Alexandra at the Olympic Park, where Christina finds the mysterious bright blue shoes under a bench near the skating rink. The group takes a train into the mountains to see the bobsledders, and the kids go looking for Alexandra. Peter the Great shows up and tries to catch the kids, so they run and jump into a bobsled to get away. Peter the Great follows them, along with two very surprised security guards. The kids try to stop at the end of the track, but everyone ends up crashing into each other. Alexandra and a man in bright blue shoes rush to help. Alexandra is seems shocked to see Tatiana and Dmitri, and Peter the Great growls that they won’t be there for long. The man in the blue shoes stops him. Mimi and Papa show up, and Christina introduces them to Alexandra. Mimi thanks Alexandra for inviting them, and Alexandra is surprised and says she did not invite them! Christina, however, has it all figured out. Tatiana and Dmitri are Alexandra’s little brother and sister. They invited Mimi and her family, without Alexandra’s knowledge. They invited her because she was Alexandra’s hero and they wanted her to be there to see her race. The three of them are orphans, and Tatiana and Dmitri live in an orphanage. They were also the ones who had been leaving the doll-clues. Each of the dolls represented a member of their family. Their mother had left them in the cathedral long ago, so her doll had a blank face because they didn’t know her. The man with the blue shoes is Nikolay, Alexandra’s fiancé and an Olympic speed skater. He had showed up at the places that they had been because he was looking out for Tatiana and Dmitri. Peter the Great, on the other hand, was trying to catch Tatiana and Dmitri to take them back to the orphanage. Nikolay announces that he and Alexandra are getting married after the Olympics, and the kids are coming to live with them. Back in Moscow after Alexandra’s team wins gold, everyone gets ready for a special ball for the athletes. Papa has one more surprise; he brings in Ivan, who had been lost, followed by the old woman who had been following them before. Ivan the Terrible had been a gift to the children from the babushka. She was just watching out for them. She had been the one who had found them when they were left in the church. Mimi is so happy about the reunion that she cries tears of joy. 54.

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