Abstract
The article deals with the problems of childhood, reflected in modern fiction for children and about children. The study of the children's world and childhood memories in fiction reflects the spiritual mood of society as a whole and vividly characterizes the moral and ethical values of the modern world in all its complex manifestations. Modern prose is trying to rethink the theme of images of childhood and family. For several decades, the concept of family values has been lost in real life and literature. That is why the images of childhood in modern interpretation are quite different from those presented in classical literature. The author analyzes the time of childhood and its changes, research in the literature on the space of childhood and its content, myths of childhood, and the reasons for their creation. Drawing images of childhood, modern prose correlates them with those adults who emerged from those childhood memories that influenced the formation of their character and behavior in society. When writing the work, the following methods were used: the method of description, comparison, the method of analyzing the material, and synthesizing information. The article opens up a wide range of artistic scientific works from the perspective of reading to students, philologists, and teachers.