Our project studies the role that fiction and non-fiction for the young audience play in present-day Russia and, more specifically, in the conceptualization of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In four critical essays, we explore the representations of the military/war-time experience in four editions for children, two of which are created and disseminated with the assistance of the state (Azbuka o Vazhnom, Zhit – Rodine sluzhit), and two others are published by independent publishing houses (Zver 44, Voina vs Detstvo). Our goal is to compare attitudes towards the war and broader, general ethical systems, communicated through these texts, and artistic devices, used to achieve these goals. We demonstrate that there is an ongoing ideological battle between the official political and liberal narratives in the children 's literature in Russia.