Offline Kids: 7 Best Books to Read on Vacation

1. Ulf Stark. “Summer in the Forest” (Scooter, 2016)

The rabbit family and their friends enjoyed celebrating Christmas in the winter so much that now that summer has arrived, they are again looking for something to celebrate. Why not Midsummer Day! Soon, preparations for a big celebration will begin, but for now everyone is busy with their own affairs: the rabbit grandfather equips a school for his grandchildren, Nina the rabbit gets a new friend, dad walks the top hat he is so proud of, and the mice, of course, are plotting new pranks.

But all plans are swept away by a terrible storm: the forest dwellers have to leave their homes and seek shelter from an old friend – the grumbling dwarf Buki, who lives alone in an abandoned estate. And then, too, my father’s precious top hat was lost, and Nina’s new friend disappeared with it … Isn’t there going to be a holiday now? A bewitchingly beautiful and wise story, where there is a place for love, trials, and a real miracle.

Varya: “This book is so smooth, calm, but do not think that everything in it is monotonous and boring – it has very exciting situations, real adventures and joyful moments. I reread it often and especially love the wedding chapters.”

2. Tove Jansson. “The Wizard’s Hat” and “Dangerous Summer” (ABC, 1999)

Tove Jansson unobtrusively packaged an entire guide on How to Have a Perfect Summer in The Wizard’s Hat. Here you will have picnics, and boat trips, spending the night in tents, treasure hunting, fishing, sleeping under the sound of rain on the roof, collecting herbarium, bonfires, games, meeting new people and, of course, a feast by the mountain and the fulfillment of desires in the final – such a program can make even the most notorious hemulen.

But in Dangerous Summer, you don’t have to dream of the comfort of Moomin Valley – throughout this story, stuffed to capacity with adventures and ups and downs, the heroes have to constantly leave their own comfort zone, getting into the most unimaginable situations. But how funny is that!

Varya: The Wizard’s Hat is full of magical adventures, which I love. It all starts with the fact that the heroes find a strange hat, and then it turns out that if you put something in it, it can turn into something completely different. For example, eggshells become magical clouds, the inhabitants of Moominhouse have fun riding them, and some even shout “Crow!” to Moominpappa!

I wish I could ride those clouds too! And “Dangerous Summer” is also kind and also wildly funny. I remember so many quotes from her! And I also like that it is about the theater – the characters settle in it because of the flood. They get acquainted with the theatrical rat Emma, ​​and then they put on a play themselves. From this book in general you can learn a lot about the theater. For example, there is a picture that shows in which part of the theater what is located.

3. Olga Lucas. “Cat Detective Agency” (Speech, 2019)

In gardening “Tea” the usual country life flows – beds, walks, gatherings with guests, mushroom picking and other rural joys. And only three curious cats know how many mysteries lie behind this serene facade. Four-legged summer residents become detectives involuntarily – you can’t put up with the regular loss of milk, which is left for one of them by a caring hostess.

And one has only to take up the first investigation, as secrets of all calibers begin to pour in, as if from a cornucopia. By solving them, cats make new friends, and the people around gradually also become a little friendlier. An excellent option for a soft acquaintance with the detective genre: cute main characters, plots carefully inscribed in realistic life, understandable motives, a world cozy with its logic – and no clichés.

The atmosphere is about as if Sherlock Holmes got into the valley of the Moomins: nothing frightening, but in some places not without a slight touch of sarcasm, the characters are different in character, but everyone is accepted.

Varya: “This book has such a compelling storyline that you will never leave a chapter in the middle. Here things, situations and people are sometimes not what they seem at first glance. We need to understand and learn more before drawing conclusions. The main characters are detective cats. These are the mongrel Musya, the aristocratic Eliza and the plump Plyushka of the British Bicolor breed (but the breed does not matter to cats).

They are best friends and work well together. This book is all about teamwork. She also has a very summery mood, and it seems that everything that is described there is true.

4. Julia Kuznetsova. “Holidays in Riga” (Compass Guide, 2018)

Yulia Kuznetsova is the winner of almost all major Russian awards in the field of children’s and adolescent literature. She knows how to create deep images in simple words, discover vivid stories behind seemingly unremarkable details, see reflections of the miraculous in everyday life and live every day in such a way that there will be something to remember and tell readers about. This book is completely autobiographical, grown out of sketches made during the trip, and its characters are the children of the writer Masha and Grisha (even the names have not been changed).

Varya: “The heroes of the book are a brother, a sister and their mother. They flew to Riga, and their dad left immediately for Moscow, because he has a job there. Masha and Grisha explore different places, buy souvenirs and enjoy life in every possible way, and their pet toys, Grishin the rat Risik and the Goat Machine, have fun with them. This is a book about real life.

It can also be used as a guide. I have already dreamed of someday riding large and small slides in the Livu water park and getting into the chocolate museum at the Laima chocolate factory. I love learning about different places and reading about travel because it’s like you’re traveling at the moment.”

5. Stefan Casta. “Sophie in the Berry World” (White Crow, 2020)

The hallmark of the Swedish writer Stefan Casta is non-fiction books for children about the diversity of flora and fauna, a special place among which is occupied by a series about the inquisitive ant Sophie. These are stunningly beautiful illustrated editions, where the information is presented in such a fascinating way that if you want it or not, you will be carried away by botany.

Varya: “This book has a lot of information about different edible berries, but it’s not an encyclopedia because it has a plot and characters. Sophie is an ant, she has a birthday, and she wants to call her friends for a berry feast, but there are no berries anywhere. Sophie goes looking.

A bush with berries is drawn on each page, it is written where they grow, how best to collect them, and an insect is hidden in each picture – Sophie’s friend, but we, the readers, must find it. And at the end – a berry feast! And there are even recipes for various dishes with berries.”

6. Ekaterina Kalikinskaya. “Escape from Caesar’s Triumph” (Walk into History, 2015)

Historical tales about the friendly and brave mice Timka and Tinka are a real journey through time in the form of a book. Together with the characters, readers are transported to different eras (in the “Escape from the Triumph of Caesar” – to the 46th century BC) and learn a lot about them. Moreover, the life and atmosphere of these distant times are captured with the highest possible degree of reliability (the scientific consultant of this book was Viktor Sonkin, a journalist, Doctor of Philology and a UN simultaneous interpreter).

Varya: “The mice Timka and Tinka live in the Historical Museum and are able to move into the past. They just need to touch an object from the past and flick their tail – and they find themselves in those times where this object came from. This time, the mice go to Rome, and from there they get to Ancient Rome and get acquainted with a slave boy from Greece.

They help him escape from slavery. This story is quite scary in places, but it’s terribly interesting to find out what happened in ancient Rome. Life there was very different from ours. They rarely even got cats there! But there were snakes.”

7. Alex Milway. Flamingo Hotel. Penguins demand ice” (CompassGuide, 2020)

The rating of this summer book about a hospitable hotel for animals in the Labyrinth store is a fantastic 9,96 out of 10. And this is actually an absolute hit! British writer and artist Alex Milway admits that he himself would have dreamed of living in the Flamingo Hotel. After all, everyone is welcome there and there is always something interesting going on.

This time, Anna and her team, the owner of the hotel, will again have a difficult job, because very important guests are going to stay at the Flamingo. Only now their requirements are excessively high, the deadlines for preparation are completely running out, and here also the competitors seem to be playing a dishonest game.

Varya: “A real summer story – it’s so hot there! Hotel Flamingo is a hotel for animals, and its owner is a girl Anna. The hotel has new guests – the king and queen of Penguin! But competitors want the penguin king and queen to not like it there and move to another hotel. To do this, the owner of the hotel “Blesk” (the most luxurious on Zverobulvar) sent someone to spoil everything.

Anna and her assistants urgently need to find the pest. A funny, kind, not at all scary, but terribly fascinating book, in which there are many moments when you also begin to worry and worry along with the characters and also try to find a spy.