Ukrainian books for A1
At A1 you are just starting to read Ukrainian: short sentences, the present tense, everyday words. No complete Ukrainian classic is that simple, so this shelf holds seven MovaReader adaptations retold in very simple Ukrainian: three books of folk tales that every Ukrainian child knows (The Mitten, The Little Lame Duck, Kotyhoroshko), Leonid Hlibov’s fables in The Grasshopper and Other Fables, Franko’s animal tales in The Painted Fox and Other Tales, and literary fairy tales by Lesya Ukrainka (Trouble Teaches) and Stepan Vasylchenko (The Magic Goat). They are not the original texts.
A1
7 books
- The Grasshopper and Other Fables Коник-стрибунець та інші байки Leonid Hlibov Ten Hlibov fables retold for A1 3 338 words 1 hour
- The Mitten and Other Tales Рукавичка та інші казки Ukrainian folk tales Five folk tales retold for A1 3 397 words 1 hour
- The Little Lame Duck and Other Tales Кривенька качечка та інші казки Ukrainian folk tales Four folk tales retold for A1 3 409 words 1 hour
- The Painted Fox and Other Tales Фарбований Лис та інші казки Ivan Franko Six of Franko’s animal tales for A1 3 711 words 1 hour
- Trouble Teaches and Other Tales Біда навчить та інші казки Lesya Ukrainka Three tales for children, retold for A1 3 929 words 1 hour
- The Magic Goat and Other Tales Чарівна Коза та інші казки Stepan Vasylchenko Ossetian tales and childhood scenes, for A1 3 966 words 1 hour
- Kotyhoroshko and Other Tales Котигорошко та інші казки Ukrainian folk tales Three hero tales retold for A1 3 974 words 1 hour
The level's books side by side
The catalog measures two things: the average sentence length and the share of long words, 9 letters or more. All seven books average 5-6 words per sentence, and a long word comes up from once in 60 words in the fables to once in 26 in Lesya Ukrainka’s tales, many of them the heroes’ names, such as Котигорошко, or рукавичка (mitten) itself. A large part of each book is dialogue, and the tales repeat their questions and rhymes, so each new word comes back several times.
- The Grasshopper and Other Fables Leonid Hlibov Words per sentence 5Length 3 338 words
- The Mitten and Other Tales Ukrainian folk tales Words per sentence 5Length 3 397 words
- The Little Lame Duck and Other Tales Ukrainian folk tales Words per sentence 5Length 3 409 words
- The Painted Fox and Other Tales Ivan Franko Words per sentence 5Length 3 711 words
- Trouble Teaches and Other Tales Lesya Ukrainka Words per sentence 6Length 3 929 words
- The Magic Goat and Other Tales Stepan Vasylchenko Words per sentence 6Length 3 966 words
- Kotyhoroshko and Other Tales Ukrainian folk tales Words per sentence 5Length 3 974 words
How these books read in MovaReader
Tap an unfamiliar word and its translation appears right there, with no dictionary in another tab. The reader remembers your place and the words you opened. Signing up is free.
Before you read
Are these the original texts?
No. All seven books are MovaReader adaptations in very simple modern Ukrainian: folk tales, most of them following Ivan Rudchenko’s collection of 1869-1870, ten verse fables by Leonid Hlibov retold in prose, Ivan Franko’s animal tales, and children’s tales by Lesya Ukrainka and Stepan Vasylchenko. The complete classics in the catalog start at B2.
How is A1 different from A2 in this catalog?
In tense and sentence length. The A1 books are told in the present tense, with 5-6 words per sentence on average; the A2 books, from Lys Mykyta to Shevchenko’s Kateryna, are told in the past tense, with 9-10.
How long does a book take?
About an hour each: from about 3,300 words (The Grasshopper and Other Fables) to about 4,000 (Kotyhoroshko and Other Tales), in 7-10 short chapters.
What should I read after A1?
The A2 shelf: Franko’s fox tale Lys Mykyta is the easiest start; then Shevchenko’s Kateryna and The Servant Girl, the comedy Natalka Poltavka and simple retellings of classics such as Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. All are told in the past tense.