The Soviets have long been devoting educational and institutional energies to the field of early childhood education. This book stresses what Russian preschool education does rather than what its theorists claim it does for children aged 2 months to 6 years who are in group care. Children, teachers and parents tell their own stories. Obviously Soviet school prepares for life in the Communist state, just as the American school tries to condition children for life in the American type of representative democracy. However, there is room for some crossbreeding of American and Russian pedagogy because, quite apart from politics, children and their basic needs are remarkably alike everywhere. (Author/WY)