Ukrainian Folktales​
About
The series of Ukrainian folktales retold and illustrated by Olha Tkachenko includes five books: "Kolobok", "The Ear of Wheat", "The Turnip", "The Mitten", and "Sirko". The books were created under the support of the Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation. All books are bilingual: they include the text in English and Ukrainian language. The stories are accompanied by sparkling modern illustrations and have many funny dialogues, so many kids love them already!
The books can be a great gift to children or those who learn the Ukrainian language and culture!
References
The books are of high quality, both in the artwork and the translations, and are appealing to today’s young readers. Olha’s idea of presenting side-by-side English and Ukrainian versions of the story is very useful for families in the Ukrainian diaspora, especially those with a mixed heritage or where only one parent is fluent in Ukrainian. This way, both parents can read to the children from the same book. And the children can also simultaneously learn both languages. These books can also encourage young readers to know our national folklore and feel these old stories in a new and fun way. They can also be very helpful to anyone who is interested in being introduced to the Ukrainian language and culture...
Yuriy Diakunchak
Director of Marketing Ukrainian Credit Union Limited
Her proposed project to create and produce a line of colorful, playful bilingual books has a great potential for the Ukrainian community in Canada and for the Canadian educators and families in general.
Natalia Khanenko Friesen
Professor, Cultural Anthropology
St. Thomas More College // University of Saskatchewan
Olha’s series of children’s books is filled with color and Ukrainian themes drawn from her imagination and experiences. They capture the eyes of young and old. The bilingual text retains the originality of the traditional Ukrainian folktale while providing an equally entertaining and educational text for the bilingual or English only reader. When reading the books in this series to my grandchildren, we have fun exploring illustrations for the story and acting out scenes in exaggerated tones.
Sylvia A. Baran,
Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Saskatoon