Russians named their favorite fairy tales and admitted that they believe in miracles

On the eve of the New Year holidays, the book service Litres, VTB and the federal chain of bookstores “Read-Gorod” conducted a study and found out how Russians feel about fairy tales.

The majority of respondents (83%) believe in miracles. My favorite Russian fairy tale was “The Scarlet Flower,” and my favorite foreign fairy tale was “The Snow Queen.” The most popular fairy tale character is the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

According to the survey results, 83% noted that they believe in miracles, while 68% read and listen to fairy tales as adults. As children, they were most often told fairy tales by their mother or grandmother (77%). Russians read children's fairy tales to emotionally release and relieve stress (27%), to feel nostalgia and a connection with childhood (23%) or to fill the need for positive emotions (18%).

Parents consider the main advantages of reading fairy tales to children to be the development of imagination (16%), the formation of innovative thinking and the ability to find a way out of difficult situations (14%), as well as the formation of stable moral values ​​(12%).

Among Russian fairy tales, the most beloved among Russians is “The Scarlet Flower” by Sergei Aksakov. The top 5 also included “Twelve Months” by Samuil Marshak, Russian folklore “Morozko” and the works “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” and “The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights” by Alexander Pushkin.

Among foreign fairy tales, the palm belongs to “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen. In second place is “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll. On the third is the work “Cinderella” by Charles Perrault. Next came “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen and the British story “Winnie the Pooh” by Alan Milne.

A favorite among the characters was the Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Next was Gerda, the central character of the fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. The third line is from Alice, another heroine from the already mentioned “Alice in Wonderland.” The top five also included Vasilisa the Wise and Winnie the Pooh.

Themes of home theater and reimagining fairy tales have become the central elements of a new campaign by VTB, which on the eve of the New Year launched the “New Year’s Eve with Home Theater” project. Together with famous directors and playwrights, the bank adapted favorite stories from children's fairy tales, turning them into plays for home performances – with family, loved ones or friends. The project offers five stories for different audiences.

*The study was conducted by VTB and Litres as part of a joint project of the companies – supporting the VIII season of the literary award “Electronic Letter – 2025”, where the bank acts as the general sponsor and will award the winners in two categories: the main one – “Book of the Year” – and a new special nomination for readers – “Voice of the Classics”.

The survey was conducted in December 2025 among 600+ Russians aged 18–65 in cities with a population of 100 thousand or more. Respondents were asked to answer questions via an online form, and the results were then analyzed. When calculating, all respondents were taken as 100%, and the remaining data were calculated based on this number. Users were offered both ready-made answer options and an “Other” column. They could choose not only one, but also several answer options.

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