Russia booklist

We started our study of Russia because we’d been studying Italy and reading about Strega Nona and my kids wanted to know how Baba Yaga would match up against her. All of the Strega Nona books we read were by Tomi DePaola and so she was fairly nice in those. Baba Yaga isn’t necessarily ever nice in the traditional tales, but I was curious to see what I would find, so I headed off to the library and put together our Russia booklist for our next geography lesson, and ended up with about 50 books.

Whoever is stocking our library’s children section is clearly a big fan of fairy tales and folk tales, because I found tons of them. They also were very interested in immigration, because half a dozen of the books were about Russian immigrants, I eventually took the ones that took place mostly in America off the list for that reason.

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Fiction Russia booklist

• The Castle on Hester Street– This story is less about Russia and more about how their family moved from Russia to the United States, and I loved it, I’m making a collection of this type of story because they fascinate me
• Pavel and the Tree Army– for now I’m leaving this book, but I would tend to put it with a list of Great Depression books, it does provide a great look at a new immigrant from Russia
• I See the Sun in Russia– Huh, it looks like this is part of a series that follows a young child in the country for that particular book. The Russia book follows a child in St. Petersburg, and afterwards there is extra information for teachers and parents (which I always love to see because it usually inspires me to find more stuff)
• The Blue Bird’s Palace– the first of several fairy tales we found, since it’s over in the fiction section, this must be a bit more of a deviation from the traditional tale than usual (most fairy tales are included in nonfiction under 398.2 section), yep just read the description, and it’s inspired by traditional Russian tales and explains how a young girl went from super selfish to giving
• The Giant Carrot– I have a fondness for this particular folk tale because I read it in one of the first classes I took towards becoming a teacher. Our library had three different retellings of this folk tale
• Babushka Baba Yaga– A different look at Baba Yaga, this time as a nice old lady who just wants a grandchild, no kid eating here…
• The Blessing Cup– I love Patricia Polacco books, and this story of a Jewish family in Russia and how they kept their family history alive through all of the troubles they had, and kept those memories alive as they moved to America
• A Symphony of Whales– based on a true story when a young girl helped save a pod of whales that were trapped in an inlet
• When the Chicken Went on Strike– A fun story of a Jewish boy who figures out why the chickens have gone on strike at Rosh Hashanah
• The Memory Coat– While I took most of the immigration books off the list, I left this one on because I loved the story so much

Nonfiction Russia booklist

Now we head over to the nonfiction section of our list, and most of these will be fairy tales, because like I said whoever is stocking our library really loves Russian fairy tales. I’m not complaining, I had quite a lot of fun reading all of these.

• Cultural Traditions in Russia– a great book for referencing and pictures to share
• Deep in the woods: a folk tale– a cumulative tale, where the animals one by one come into the cozy home in the woods
• Glass slipper, gold sandal: a worldwide Cinderella– technically, this isn’t specific to Russia because it includes Cinderella stories from all over
• Clay Boy– Russia’s take on the animal/creation that is hungry and eats everything in sight, again my kids had so many comments as we read it
• The Son of the Sun and the Daughter of the Moon– Before this book I hadn’t known of the Saami people before this book, so I went on a brief look after finding this book and discovering they’re a small people group up near the border of Russia/Norway/Sweden/Finland area
• The Tale of the Firebird– this book does a gorgeous job retelling the Russian fairy tale/ballet  (Firebird, our library had a second copy that is out of print, but also has gorgeous pictures, and yet one more, this one by Jane Yolen, I love her writing)
• At the Wish of the Fish– a young boy lets a fish go free in exchange for a wish
• The Language of Birds– Total honesty, I know we checked this out and read it, but I don’t recall a thing about it
• Grandma Chickenlegs– a somewhat nicer retelling of a Baba Yaga story with a young girl outsmarting the old witch (Baba Yaga and the Wise Doll, is the out of print same story told slightly differently)
• The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship: a Russian Tale– this is a Caldecott winner, and I love this traditional Russian tale
• The Golden Mare, the Firebird, and the Magic Ring– this follows the structure of the nice boy triumphs over the jealous czar through friendship and being kind
• The Elf’s Hat– A cumulative tale book, much like Jan Brett’s Mitten, only the animals are all climbing into the elf’s hat
• The Flying Witch– another Jane Yolen retelling, this one for Baba Yaga
• A Little Story about a Big Turnip– the second version of this story on this Russia booklist, and the pictures remind me a little bit of Pinnochio
• Vasilissa the Beautiful: a Russian folktale– this is not the version our library had, but it’s a fun story of how Vasilissa triumphed over Baba Yaga
• My First Book of Russian Words– if you want to try your hand at the language, this is a good series
• Russian Blue Cats– I’ll admit we didn’t do much with this beyond its existence, but if you have a kid who loves cats, this would be a great addition to your Russia booklist
• When Stravinsky met Nijinsky: Two Artists, Their Ballet, and One Extraordinary Riot– sadly this is out of print, but I love stories that give the tidbits making history interesting
• Silly horse– A fun book of Russian children’s poetry translated into English, also looks to be out of print, but a great resource for anyone with poetry loving children
• The Noisy Paint Box: the Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art– an interesting look into how Kandinsky became the artist he was
• Igor Stravinsky– I love this series for giving you an introduction to famous artists and composers
• Russia–  This is a great book series I just found, that gives information about the country without overwhelming with lots of information, perfect for a first introduction
• Russia– This is the usual book with lots of information that makes a great source, especially if you’re writing a report on the country, but also not one you’re going to just sit down and read out loud to kids
• A Royal Ride: Catherine the Great’s Great Invention– Catherine the Great is a fascinating woman, and this was a new bit of information for me and right in line with what I knew of her

Holiday stories (Christmas and Channukah)

A large number of the books from Russia in our library were either Christmas or Hannukah stories.

• Latkes, latkes, good to eat: a Chanukah story– a fun story that has a bit of a fairy tale feel to it with a good deed being rewarded with a magic pan
• The Miracle of the Potato Latkes: A Hannukah Tale– This story is a nice little Hannukah miracle that made me smile
• The Trees of the Dancing Goats– I love this story because it’s a Jewish family showing love to their Christian neighbors who can’t decorate for Christmas because they are sick with Scarlet Fever. Such a wonderful book
• Uncle Vova’s Tree– A story of a Russian Orthodox Christian celebrating Twelth Night (seriously, I love Patricia Polacco so much)
• Babushka: a Christmas tale– I mentioned this one in our Christmas in Russia post, I loved the illustrations (the other version our library had, Babushka: an old Russian folk tale, is out of print and insanely expensive, and yet another Baboushka)

More booklist and geography ideas

• Ultimate List of Book Lists
• Nebraska booklist
• Botany booklist
• France booklist
• Martin Luther booklist