Ukrainian Children’s Books: What to Read

Books are one of the most natural ways to keep a child’s Ukrainian alive. Below are reading ideas, from folk tales for little ones to novels for schoolchildren, and tips on making reading together a habit.

Folk Tales for the Youngest

• Rukavychka (The Mitten): an old man loses his mitten in winter, and one by one animals move in, a mouse, a frog, a bunny, a fox and a wolf, until a bear wants to join them too. Each newcomer asks permission from those already inside. The tale teaches children to share and get along, even in hard times.
• Kotyhoroshko: the story of a boy of extraordinary strength who was born from a pea and rescued his brothers and sister from a dragon.

Ivan Franko’s Tales of Fox Mykyta

Ivan Franko wrote the tales Lys Mykyta (Fox Mykyta) and The Painted Fox, the latter from his collection Koly shche zviri hovoryly (When Animals Could Still Talk). Mykyta is cunning, sensible and brave, likes to mock his enemies and adores his family. The artist Teofil Kopystynsky first illustrated Fox Mykyta in 1890, and Ukrainian animated films based on it came out in 1958 and 2007.

Vsevolod Nestaiko: Toreadors from Vasyukivka

Vsevolod Nestaiko (1930–2014) is regarded in Ukraine as its most famous and most beloved children’s author. His trilogy Toreadors from Vasyukivka (1963–1970) follows the adventures of two schoolboys, Yava and Pavlusha. It is part of the school curriculum and has been translated into more than 20 languages, and in 1979 it was placed on the Special Hans Christian Andersen Honor List as one of the outstanding works of modern children’s literature.

Books from A-ba-ba-ha-la-ma-ha

Ivan Malkovych’s publishing house A-ba-ba-ha-la-ma-ha, founded in Kyiv in 1992, was the first private children’s publisher in independent Ukraine. It started with a children’s alphabet book and publishes for readers “from 2 to 102.” In 1995, the American publisher Alfred A. Knopf bought the rights to its book Kotyk ta pivnyk (The Kitten and the Rooster), the first time a major Western company had licensed a book from a Ukrainian publisher. The house also publishes the Harry Potter novels in Viktor Morozov’s translation.

For Older Students

Teenagers can turn to Lesya Ukrainka, whose play Forest Song (1911) is among her best-known works. Her mother, the writer Olena Pchilka, also wrote poems and stories for children in Ukrainian.

How to Read Together

• Read aloud and talk about the story: who the hero is, what happened and how it ended.
• Little ones enjoy picture-book tales, while schoolchildren are ready for novels like Toreadors from Vasyukivka.
• Watch cartoons based on the tales you have read, such as the Fox Mykyta films.
• Ask your child to retell the story in their own words, which helps new vocabulary find its way into speech.

How to keep Ukrainian going for a child living abroad is covered in Ukrainian for Children Abroad: Learning the Family Language, and which movies and series help with learning the language in Ukrainian Films and TV Shows for Language Learning.

Our Ukrainian Course

In our Ukrainian course, students study grammar, learn to hold a conversation and understand spoken language, build their vocabulary and write messages, letters and essays. The teacher assesses each student’s level and builds an individual program. Lessons are open to students from age 5. A trial lesson costs $8: it is individual and lasts 45 minutes. More about the course is on the Ukrainian page.