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The article considers the literary heritage of Gennady M. Tsyferov, a Soviet fairytale writer. Despite the fact that collections of his stories get published now and then, his name remains obscure to large readerships. Notwithstanding this, Tsyferov is considered to have fathered the genre of lyrical short stories. The purpose of the article is to reveal the value of his works for child development. A psychological analysis of Tsyferov’s fairy tales allows to identify a number of important features of his works: its metaphoricalness and imagery, poetry, non-standard interpretations of the surrounding world, “his childish” viewpoint, and his philosophical and parable-like nature. These works are in tune with fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen and Antoine de Saint-Exupery. His tales are of great interest to parents and professionals working in the preschool educational system. It shows that familiarity with Tsyferov’s fairy tales contributes to preschool children’s cognitive, emotional and moral development.