1+1 hosts told what books they read to children

On the occasion of the World Children’s Book Day, which is celebrated on April 2, 1+1 hosts Yuriy Horbunov, Nelya Shovkoplias, Svyatoslav Hrynchuk, Valentyna Hamayko, Timur Miroshnychenko, Vira Kekelia, and Lyudmyla Barbir talk about their children’s book preferences – what books they read to them or what they choose themselves.

Yuriy Horbunov, sons Ivan (6 years old) and Danylo (1.7 years old)

We have a lot of children’s books at home, especially from the Ababagalamaga publishing house. Since childhood, Ivan has loved listening to the audio story “Kolobok”, but when he realized that it ended strangely, he stopped listening to it. He loves “Honey for Mom” by Ivan Malkovych and Sofia Us, and the first time he heard it was when I was doing fairy tale readings for our channel “Plus Plus”. When we came across it on YouTube, Ivan said: “Oh, Dad, that’s your voice! Why didn’t you tell me about it?” So my son started listening to this collection of fairy tales, and “Honey for Mom” is his favorite.

But strangely enough, Ivan enjoys the fictional stories that I always tell him at night. His friends Sasha, Paula, and Vika are in his kindergarten, and he asks me, “Dad, why don’t you tell me a story about how Sasha, Paula, and I went to the sea or somewhere else in your car (and he always drives).” And so I made up such stories for him, and they were more important to him than any fairy tale. And every day I had to use my imagination and invent something. Ivan quickly fell asleep to these stories and then asked in the morning: “Dad, how did this story end? Did we get to the sea?” I said: “Yes, but did you fall asleep?” and he said: “No, I was awake, I just forgot”(smiles). Although, when I remember myself as a child, I loved Ukrainian folk tales. I had a lot of them. And strangely enough, there were separate books called Hutsul Folk Tales, which were slightly different, more severe.

Nelya Shovkoplias, sons Matvii and Tymofii (9 years old):

One of my sons’ favorite books, The Pirate Gang by Juliette Parachini-Denis and Oliver Dupin, is about the adventures of three friends, two boys and one girl. There is a whole series of them. In general, I started reading books to my children when they were a year and a half old. So we have a tradition of reading a few pages every night before going to bed. The only thing is that now they have started sleeping in separate rooms, and it’s a little inconvenient because I have to read twice now – first to one, then to the other. Before, it was like this: I would lie down and read, and they would listen on both sides. And now I have started to teach them to read books themselves. There is a great selection of children’s books about different human qualities: humanity, politeness, greed. These short stories explain everything well and meaningfully. In general, we have a lot of different books at home, both Ukrainian and foreign authors.

Nelya Shovkoplias with her sons

Vira Kekelia, sons Ivan (3 years old) and Matvii (8 months old):

So far, our eldest son Ivan has been taught to read. We do it most often in the evening, before going to bed. This is one of the most effective ways to calm Vanya down. We don’t read to Matviy yet, because he is very young, but whether he likes it or not, he also listens with his older brother. Vanya is now very fond of any books about dinosaurs, so we have the Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and various stories about them, as well as coloring books. We have a lot of children’s books at home. When the full-scale war began, all Russian-language books disappeared from our library, because I want to raise my children in Ukrainian. So now we buy new books only in Ukrainian translation.

We have a cool book “All About Your Body” by by Pauline Aud – it explains in a light playful way how boys are different from girls, everything about human anatomy. I believe that such topics should be explained to children from an early age, so that they do not have any complexes later. There are a lot of “three-dimensional” books where something opens, hides, books with stickers, and so on – Vanya likes to look at such books as a construction set. There is an interesting selection of different topics in Little Explorers. Our library also has books in English and a collection of fairy tales, but Vanya is not interested in them yet.

Vira Kekelia with her sons

What books are read to children inthe 1+1 family: Svyatoslav Hrynchuk, daughter of Dzvinka (5 years old)

For a long time, Dzvinka’s favorites were the Kucheryavykh family of Ukrainian writer Mariana Prokhasko. It’s a very fun series of books, there’s no text in them, just cute illustrations, and my wife and I used to tell what was happening to the characters while our daughter looked at the pictures. Then Patson and Findus came into her life. These are the characters of the Swedish writer Sven Nordqvist – an inventor grandfather and his bully cat. We collected all the books about these two translated into Ukrainian, and my daughter enjoyed listening to them in a circle, and sometimes she liked to pick up the book and invent some more adventures of these characters that were not in the text.

This winter, she wanted her mother to read her a lot of Christmas-themed books, including The Secret of the Christmas Gift by Anna Lot. My daughter’s favorite characters are probably the sisters from the Frozen cartoon, Elsa and Anna, and there are many books about them. A call doesn’t put them off, even when they’ve already read them inside and out. And in Prague, where she now lives, she became interested in the adventures of Krotik, a very famous character in Czech fairy tales and cartoons.

Hrynchuk with her daughter

Valentina Khamayko, children Solomiya (13), Mykhailo (12), Myroslava (9), Andriy (4)

Her eldest daughter Solomiia reads a lot. She buys the books herself, then she can sell them online and buy something new. So here are her recommendations: “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, “Zoological Excursion to the Supermarket” by Leonid Gorobets, “Fruits vs. Oleksiy Kovalenko, Dead Models by Martin Jakub, 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell, Cinder. The Moon Chronicles” Marissa Meyer, “Atomic Habits” James Clear, “Don’t Look Back and Don’t Talk” Max Kidruk.

Unfortunately, Mykhailo doesn’t read much. Only what they say at school. In the summer, I made him read Axe by Gary Paulsen. Solomiia also recommended this book to us. A real-life story where the main character is a teenager. It is about the power of the human spirit, and it deals with the problems of growing up and surviving in the wild. Frankly speaking, my husband and I hoped that we could awaken Mykhailo’s interest in books in this way. “He finished The Axe, said it was a great book, but didn’t start anything new.

For a long time, Myroslava read Proverbs for Every Day. She liked it very much. And I liked the format of the parables, where you can talk after reading the story. And I read different fairy tales to the youngest Andriy. He inherited a large library from his older children.

Valentyna Khamaiko with her younger children

Timur Miroshnychenko, children Mia (5 years old), Marko (3 years old)

We read books to our children mostly before bedtime to help them fall asleep faster. They like it when I read to them by roles, with intonation – then the kids perceive it as an audio performance. We removed all the books in Russian, and now our children’s library has only Ukrainian-language books. We read fairy tales, both our own and foreign. But Mia and Mark don’t have any favorite fairy tale characters yet. There are many educational books, all kinds of children’s encyclopedias. I am glad that the Ukrainian market of children’s literature is very diverse now. 

Timur Miroshnichenko with his children

What books are read to children in thethe 1+1 food show: Lyudmila Barbir, son Taras (10 years old)

Everyone in my family reads (my mom is a teacher, so reading is one of my favorite hobbies). I read to Taras a lot since he was a little boy. And he sees that both my husband and I love to read, so he picks up a book himself. His recent favorites include The Diva’s Escape by Jennifer Bell and History of Ukraine by Svyryd’s Grandfather, which tells the story of our country from ancient times in an easy and humorous way. “The Beasties is a series of books for teenagers who love incredible adventures and transformations. Brandon Mull’s series of novels has been translated into 20 languages. “Politics for Beginners”  is a great guide for parents on how to explain things like human rights, freedom, and equality to their children. “Samiilo by Yaroslav Yarish is a book about the glorious Cossacks, about Cossack characters, about honor, victory, and readiness for self-sacrifice for a holy cause, friend, or comrade-in-arms. “Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greek Mythology” also fascinated him. There is a series of educational books with stickers – “Stories about Artists” and “Stories about Paintings”. “Magical Stories of Ukrainian Myth. Home Spirits” by Dara Korniy is an interesting and fascinating book about our mythology.

Liudmyla Barbir with her son Taras

Photo: press service