The Noisy Paintbox: Colors and Sounds of Kadinsky’s Abstract Art
Author: Barb Rosenstock
Grade Level: TK-3
Topic: fiction
Summary: Vasya opens his painbox and he hears a strange sound.
Resources: Noisy Paintbox support materials
Enough
Author: Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Grade Level: 1-3
Topic: fiction
Summary: A Ukranian folktale set in the 1930s about a girl’s attempts to save her village from starvation.
Resources: Enough Teacher Resources
Luba and the Wren
Author: Patricia Polacco
Grade Level: 1-4
Topic: fiction
Summary: Luba helps a frightened bird who promises anything she wishes.
Resources: Luba and the Wren resources
I Hate Borsch!
Author: Yevgenia Nayberg
Grade Level: TK-2
Topic: fiction
Summary: All Ukranians are supposed to love borsch, but what if you hate the red stuff?
Resources: Classic borscht recipe
Babushka’s Mother Goose
Author: Patricia Polacco
Grade Level: 1-3
Topic: fiction
Summary: Rhymes, riddles, and tales
Resources:
The Cat & the Rooster
Author: Ivan Malkovych
Grade Level: 1-2
Topic: fiction
Summary: A clever cat comes up with ideas to save his friend the rooster.
Resources: Punctuation worksheet
Clever Katya
Author: Mary Hoffman
Grade Level: TK-3
Topic: fiction
Summary: A fairy tale from Russia.
Resources:
Rechenka’s Eggs
Author: Patricia Polacco
Grade Level: TK-3
Topic: fiction
Summary: Old babushka takes in an injured goose. The next morning she has a surprise in her basket.
Resources: Rechenka’s Eggs Unit Study
Philipok
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Grade Level: TK-1
Topic: fiction
Summary: Philipok was told he is too young for school. One day he sets out to surprise his brother.
Resources: Philipok teaching guide
A Symphony of Whales
Author: Steve Schuch
Grade Level: TK-3
Topic: fiction
Summary: Picture book based on a real story. When whales are trapped in a freezing inlet, a young girl rallies her community to save them.
Resources: Symphony of Whales lesson plan
Starring Mirette & Bellini
Author: Emily Arnold McCully
Grade Level: TK-2
Topic: fiction
Summary: They sweep all of Europe with their wire act.
Resources:
Lingo Dingo and the Polish Chef
Author: Mark Pallis
Grade Level: 1-3
Topic: fiction
Summary: Learning Polish for children.
Resources:
Memories of Babi
Author: Aranka Siegal
Grade Level: 3-5
Topic: fiction
Summary: Piri loves the country life of her Babi on her farm in a Ukranian village.
Resources:
Out of Line: Growing Up Soviet
Author: Tina Grimberg
Grade Level: 5-7
Topic: non-fiction
Summary: A collection of memories behind the iron curtain.
Resources:
Saving Zasha
Author: Randi Barrow
Grade Level: 5-7
Topic: fiction
Summary: Mikhail finds a German dog and needs to keep it a secret.
Resources: lesson plan
Radiant Girl
Author: Andrea White
Grade Level: 3-5
Topic: fiction
Summary: A Ukrainian girl’s life is turned upside down.
Resources:
The Tale of Tsar Saltan
Author: Alexander Pushkin
Grade Level: 3-12
Topic: fiction
Summary: A Russian fairy tale
Resources: lesson plan
The Month Brothers: A Slavic Tale
Author: Samuil Marshak
Grade Level: 3-5
Topic: fiction
Summary: A young girl is ordered to find flowers in the middle of winter. Twelve magical brothers make the impossible happen.
Resources: lesson plan
The Trumpeter of Krakow
Author: Eric P. Kelly
Grade Level: 3-6
Topic: fiction
Summary: When Joseph and his family seek refugee in medieval Krakow, they are caught up in an adventurous plot.
Resources: study guide
Igor: The Courage of Chernobyl’s Child
Author: Jane Warren
Grade Level: 5-8
Topic: nonfiction
Summary: The life of a young boy.
Resources:
Breaking Stalin’s Nose
Author: Eugene Yelchin
Grade Level: 6-8
Topic: fiction
Summary: A ten-year-old who would like to be a pioneer in Stalin’s communist party.
Resources: literature unit
Out of Line: Growing Up Soviet
Author: Tina Grimberg
Grade Level: 5-7
Topic: non-fiction
Summary: A collection of memories behind the iron curtain.
Resources:
Saving Zasha
Author: Randi Barrow
Grade Level: 5-7
Topic: fiction
Summary: Mikhail finds a German dog and needs to keep it a secret.
Resources: lesson plan
Girl at War: A Novel
Author: Sara Novic
Grade Level: 6-8
Topic: fiction
Summary: Civil war breaks out in Yugoslavia changing a girls childhood.
Resources: Readers Guide
Running Away to Home
Author: Jennifer Wilson
Grade Level: 6-8
Topic: non-fiction
Summary: A Midwestern family moves to their ancestral home in the Croatian mountains
Resources:
Stitched: A Slavic Urban Fantasy Series
Author: Elena Sobol
Grade Level: 5-8
Topic: fiction
Summary: Folklore meets humor in this action-packed urban fantasy with Dmitry, a demigod of the harvest and his adventure.
Resources:
Blackbird Girls
Author: Anne Blankman
Grade Level: 4-8
Topic: fiction
Summary: Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to discover a reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work – Chernobyl – has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who’ve always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad to stay with Valentina’s estranged grandmother. In their new lives in Leningrad, they begin to learn what it means to trust another person.
Resources: Blackbird Girls resources
Alias Anna
Author: Susan Hood
Grade Level: 4-8
Topic: non-fiction
Summary: Written in verse, this biography chronicles the life of Zhanna Arshanskaya, a young Ukrainian Jewish girl using the alias Anna, whose phenomenal piano-playing skills saved her life and the life of her sister, Frina, during the Holocaust.
Resources: Alias Anna resources
Slavic Soul Myths and Legends
Author: J.L. Jaroslavs
Grade Level: 9-12
Topic: fiction
Summary: Legends, myths, and fairy tales from Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.
Resources:
Czech and Slavic Epic History
Author: G.M. Barlean
Grade Level: 9-12
Topic: nonfiction
Summary: Slavic history as seen through various works of the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha.
Resources: