В книгу включены повести "Военная тайна", "Судьба барабанщика", "Тимур и его команда". Писатель наделил своего любимого героя, Тимура, лучшими чертами: добротой, честностью, верностью дружбе и желанием принести пользу Родине. Но в то же время Тимур Гараев - это собирательный образ.
Arkadi Petrovich Golikov, better known as Arkadiy Gaidar (Аркадий Гайдар), was a Soviet writer, whose stories were very popular among Soviet children. His story "Timur and his squad" (1940) made Gaidar famous. The character Timur was named after and partially based on Gaidar's son. A captivating account of an altruistic pioneer youth gave birth to the mass Timur movement among Young Pioneers and other child organizations all over the Soviet Union.