Fun reading activities for 1st graders

First Grade Reading Comprehension Activities

First grade is an exciting time of discovery for early readers. They’re spending less time decoding and word solving and more time comprehending and making sense of the texts they’re reading. Early readers are building reading identities and reading for meaning and joy. Explicitly teaching reading comprehension strategies like making predictions, asking questions, retelling, and inferring helps young readers build the skills they need. These first grade reading comprehension activities are a good place to start.

1. String up a retelling rope

Learning how to retell a story helps young learners as readers and thinkers. It helps them organize their thoughts as they read and recognize when their thinking changes. Using these symbols representing different elements of a story, students can string up a cute retelling rope while gaining valuable comprehension skills.

Learn more: First Grade W.O.W.

2. Visualize the story with illustrations

Visualizing is an important skill for understanding what you’re reading. This blog includes two fun visualizing activities. In the first, students are given a title and are asked to draw an illustration that matches that title. In the second, students are given clues about an object and are asked to draw the object the clues are hinting at.

Learn more: You Clever Monkey

3. Make predictions with a graphic organizer

Making predictions is a just-right reading strategy for emerging readers. During a read-aloud, find a few good stopping points to ask students what they think will happen next.

Learn more: Brown Bag Teacher

4. Make a “beginning, middle, and end” flip chart

One tried-and-true way to teach summarizing to early readers is instructing them to identify the beginning, middle, and end of a story. This easy-to-make flip chart is just an 8 x 11 piece of plain paper folded vertically then divided into thirds. On the front half, students will draw a picture of what happens in the three sections of the story. Underneath each flap is a short written description.

Learn more: Bishop’s Blackboard

5. Ask questions with story sticks

Good readers ask questions before, during, and after they read. These cute story sticks make a game of first grade reading comprehension. Perfect to use with small reading groups or with partners.

Learn more: The Happy Teacher

6. Master the five-finger retell

One strategy you can teach students is the five finger retell. Each finger stands for a different part of the story. Assigning a different finger for each part gives students a kinesthetic connection and makes it easier for them to remember.

Learn more: Mrs. Wheeler’s First Grade Tidbits

7. Summarize using simple signal words

Sometimes with early readers, simpler is better. Start with these basic questions—who?, what?, when?, where?, how?, and why?—to help kids go deeper into their understanding.

Learn more: This Reading Mama

8.

There are tons of fun tools to help students build reading comprehension, and story maps are one of them. Here are 15 free downloadable story maps to help your first graders practice going beyond just the words when they read.

Learn more: Education.com

9. Figure out problem and solution with a graphic organizer

Every fiction story has, among other elements, a problem and solution. This lesson helps students understand that a story’s problem and solution fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

Learn more: My Primary Paradise

10. Retell the story using LEGO bricks

Put two things that first graders love together: reading and building. Read a story together, then allow students to use blocks to build a scene from the story. As they build, they can describe details from the story.

Learn more: The Educators’ Spin On It

11. Retell using story cubes

Retelling is a helpful comprehension skill for readers. These six cubes encourage readers to retell the story in different ways. They are prefect for reading partners and to use with small groups.

Learn more: Every educaid

 12. Play the Oh Snap! word game

Sight words (aka high-frequency words) are words readers encounter most frequently in texts. Early readers benefit from knowing a large bank of sight words, which encourages fluent reading. This fun sight word game is a great way to improve reading skills and build reading fluency.

Learn more: School Time Snippets

13. Use scooping phrases

The goal of reading fluency is better comprehension. To read with fluency or expression, readers must comprehend the story events. Teach early readers to use “Scooping Phrases” to scoop up words to form phrases within sentences. This effective strategy also works well with struggling readers.

Learn more: This Reading Mama

14. Introduce wordless picture books

As readers encounter more-difficult texts, character traits become less explicit. To determine what the character is like, the reader has to do more inferential work. Using wordless picture books is a great way to introduce early readers to making inferences.

Learn more: Ashleigh’s Education Journey

15. Inference using thought bubbles

Foundational inference activities give first graders an opportunity to practice their inferring skills. As they move into texts, first graders can infer what a character is thinking in the story and then add a thought bubble to explain it.

Learn more: The Teacher Next Door

If you like these first grade reading comprehension activities, check out our fun, printable first grade writing prompts.

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29 Fun and Easy 1st Grade Reading Comprehension Activities

First grade is such an important time for a child. They are becoming more independent in a variety of ways! One of the most important aspects of this independence is their reading. Reading will be the foundation for everything they do in the future. This is why reading comprehension comes in full force during these pivotal developmental years.

Building comprehension skills can be a daunting experience for parents, caregivers, and educators. This is most likely why you ended up here. Keep reading for a total breakdown of some of the best comprehension strategies that can be both used at home and in the classroom!

In first grade, we LOVE puzzles. This is why puzzle retelling builds such excellent comprehension skills. Using background knowledge helps kids to be confident and excited about a comprehension activity. Puzzle retelling is also super easy to set up!

Learn more: teacherspayteachers.com

Any elementary teacher will tell you how much they love the 5-finger retelling comprehension activity. This activity gives students the visual of retelling a story. It’s also, so much fun! Teachers have been known to incorporate finger puppets, a comprehension worksheet, and many different creative comprehension strategies.

Learn more: teacherspayteachers.com

Sight word practice is one of the all-important reading and comprehension skills for Grade 1. Creating active readers by building vocabulary through an active vocabulary game is one of the best ways to keep your children engaged. Here are a few great sight word comprehension activities.

Cute story sticks are always a great way to teach sight words! This is something you can easily make for your classroom and at home!

Bingo is always a favorite! It is great and always a highly rated vocabulary game. Here you'll find a FREE resource that allows you to generate a bingo card based on the sight words students are learning and the basis of their background knowledge.

There are so many colorful reading comprehension reading worksheets that go along with sight word vocabulary. There are tons of these worksheets throughout the web, here is a FREE resource to see how your students and children will respond.

First grade is a time of discovery for children. Visualizing and making mental images is an exciting time for young learners. Providing them with the comprehension skills they need for a love of reading. Mental images can be a great way to incorporate writing prompts into your child’s reading comprehension activities.

Mrs. Jump’s class has some great comprehension activities. Here are some mental image comprehension activities!

Comprehension checks may not sound that exciting BUT they can always be fun! Your children will love all of the colorful reading comprehension worksheets that come with comprehension checks. You can make them yourself quite easily, which makes them perfect for at home or in the classroom. Here are some resources for your classroom!

Brain Movies are a great way to build student comprehension skills. Making a Brain Movie is easy for you and for your students. Here is a great way to incorporate it into your classroom.

During a read-aloud, pause when you come across a descriptive passage. Have students close their eyes and picture what is happening, while you are reading! This blog gives a great breakdown of how to incorporate this in your classroom and the importance of Brain Movies incorporation.

Printable story mats are easy to make and great for comprehension! You can make them any size that fits your needs. You can find a free download online here.

Puppets are a great way to get your students engaged, active, and laughing. Puppets can be used for a variety of comprehension activities. Here is a blog that gives an amazing breakdown for using puppets to build comprehension skills.

Modeling active reading with your students is extremely important when reading anything. It is important to discuss what is happening in the story as you read. This will help your child to understand and empathize with the characters.

Make sure to ask questions that the child can relate to - Have you ever felt this way? What do you think happened? How do you think he/she/it feels? - Provoking and furthering a child’s thinking process will most definitely help their comprehension skills.

Here is a great blog post to help you practice active reading in the classroom and at home.

Think-alouds are one of the most amazing comprehension tactics! Think-alouds give students the space to make connections in their lives. When practicing the think-aloud comprehension strategy you should always connect a book back to a time that the child can relate to.

By connecting the book to other book’s the child has read, the child’s life experiences, and the ideas and lessons in the book you are helping to build a relationship with books. Here is a great blog that will help you use this comprehension strategy.

Incorporating media into the classroom has long been a part of the newest curriculum. It can sometimes be difficult to use media effectively in your ELA curriculum. This video can be used as an entire class, or in small groups. Either way, it will help you to assess students on their knowledge of reading aloud or in their heads and answering questions.

Learn more: North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

This is another video that will be perfect for your kiddos to complete on their own or in small groups. Listening to others read is very important for first grade, language development. In this video, students will listen to the story and answer the questions that follow.

Learn more: Hand 2 Mind

Wordwall provides some of the most entertaining lessons on the web! These lessons are created and shared by other teachers. The activity below can be used in both small groups or as a whole group lesson to assess where your students are in their level of comprehension!

Learn more: Worldwall

The random wheel is such a fun classroom integration. Project this wheel on a smartboard and have students spin on their turn. Whether students answer these questions in small groups or individually, they will love to play. The best part about this random wheel is that it can be used with any story.

Learn more: Worldwall

Another amazing activity offered by Word Wall is "Open the Box". This activity resembles a bit like the random wheel, but students are asked to click on a box instead of spinning the wheel. Put a twist on this game and use the questions to make your very own classroom board!

Learn more: Worldwall

Giving even our youngest learners a clear understanding of exactly what is expected from a lesson is vital to their success. This video provides students and teachers with a better understanding of what it means to visualize. Understanding vocabulary can make explanations and student understanding that much stronger at the end of the day.

Learn more: Shannon McGilloway

It's important to note that most stories that are aimed at younger students have some sort of connection to their feelings. Therefore, using a visualization strategy that connects the story to different feelings a child might have, could be vital to helping them better understand and comprehend the story.

Learn more: Toni Allen

Any teacher knows that songs help students to remember and understand different strategies and lessons. Just like with anything else, making a song for visualizing a story will help students refer back to their understanding. This song is great for exactly that and it's definitely one to get stuck in your head!

Learn more: Teacher Friend

Being able to retell the story is part of the common core curriculum in first grade. It's important to provide students with a variety of different stories throughout your lessons. With some being ones they know by heart and others being totally new. Use this short Tortoise and the Hare read aloud and have students reenact it!

Learn more: Get Set Parents

Well, just like with visualizing, it's pretty evident that teachers know how important songs are to students' understanding and comprehension. This song is perfect for being able to retell the story. Students will have a better understanding of the different parts of the story, making it easier for them to understand and retell the story.

Learn more: Jack Hartmann Kids Music Channel

In a world that is centralized around distance learning and working from home, it's important to have materials ready to go in an event that students won't be in school. This video does just that and provides details for both students, teachers, and even parents to have a full grasp of the learning objective.

Learn more: Mandy Yates

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Another very fun activity for reading comprehension is understanding different character traits! A simple and fun way to do this in first grade is to make a poster together about one of the student's favorite stories. First, read the story together and then create a poster that can be displayed in the classroom.

Learn more: Life Between Summers

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This is a pre-reading comprehension strategy that can really be tailored for any grade, age, or story! This dot to dot activity with help to activate prior knowledge and build vocabulary that may arise in the story.

Learn more: Invitation to Play and Learn

There's no doubt that reading comprehension and fluidity go hand in hand. Constant practice with students' reading skills, will ultimately help them to improve their comprehension skills.

Learn more: Invitation to Play and Learn

This video will walk students through a read-aloud and retelling activity. The best part about this video is that you can take it and complete it with students or send it home for an at-home distance learning activity. Tailor is to your curriculum and enjoy!

Learn more: The Elementary ELL Teacher, Mrs. Brenda Pearson

In all honestly, bringing a game show on the computer into the classroom can be a total hit or miss. Although, this particular game show is right at the level of most first graders! Making it that much more engaging. At the end have your students join the leaderboard and see if you can get to #1.

Learn more: Worldwall

12 fascinating books that kids will want to read themselves

What to do with a child on a Saturday morning? You can turn on cartoons, go for a walk, or give your child a book that he wants to read himself. It sounds implausible: like this, the child himself reads! But our blogger, mother of many children Anna Fedulova knows which books are ideal for children to read on their own and talks about them in detail.

To begin with, let's understand what a fascinating book is and why it should "hook" a young reader so special. For those who are aged 6 to 12, the design of the book will be paramount: an attractive cover, colorful page illustrations, font size, the letter “ё”, no hyphenation. Yes, yes, this is very important! Next, the content and plot, which in turn should have dynamics and active action. Well, and finally, a suitable topic: travel, adventure, investigation, humor and fantastic heroes. And small children (as well as big ones, by the way) are very fond of reading about their own kind, that is, about the same boys and girls with whom something always happens.

So let's go! Today, a selection of 12 books that will certainly captivate every child. By the way, other publications that children will want to read themselves can be viewed here.

1. Oliver & Patch by Claire Friedman

The story is that even in an unfamiliar city it's not that hard to find friends, you just have to leave the house and look around.

Oliver's family has recently moved to a new city where everything is new and unfamiliar. The kid sits at home and is sad at the old place. But, when Oliver nevertheless decided to go out into the street, he immediately met Patch. The puppy got lost and he was probably just as bored and lonely as Oliver. They became friends and their lives slowly improved. But baby Oliver was still worried about one question: what if someone is looking for Patch and because of him they can’t find him?

A wonderful story of friendship between little Oliver, Patch the dog and a girl that tells you that everything new is not so scary, and that friendship can be much more than you used to think. After all, you can share joy and laughter not only with a friend, but also with friends! It is also an ideal book for the first independent reading.

2. “Super-secret Fuzzy Gang. Lucky cat”, Katya Alves

Do you think that your pets snore sweetly on their rugs and beddings in your absence? No matter how! When the whole house is quiet, the mafia wakes up.

In general, while you are working or studying, a real Fluffy Gang is operating in the house! At nine in the morning, when all the children and their parents, aunts and grandparents leave home, it’s time for pets on Orekhovaya Street. Thanks to the ingenious Door Spell discovered by Bertie the guinea pig, five friends from the Fuzzy Gang began to often run away from their cages. And everything would be fine, it just looks like the house mice overheard a magic spell and now consider themselves the rightful owners of the house. However, the cat Rufus is sure that this damned “Lucky Cat” is to blame, after the appearance of which all this mess began. But, let's talk about everything in order!

After a neighbor of Rufus's mistress gave a figurine of "Lucky Cat" (this is a porcelain cat that waves its left paw), rather unusual things really began to happen in their house. The owner's brother brought a cage with three arrogant gray mice and asked to look after them while he was on vacation. Then these same mice, having got out with the help of a magical Door Spell, began to mock poor Rufus. Their leader, named Billy Mouse, directly declared to the already crazed cat from the arrogance of a mouse: “Get your fishing rods out of here, a storm of sofas!” How would you like to feel after this? To put it mildly, this is not a very big problem, but, alas, not the smallest one either. There is only one way out: mice must be eaten, that is, re-educated. And as soon as possible! Or use plan "B" - urgently call for help from the Fuzzy Gang. Yes, perhaps you can start with this. Only now the mice themselves have disappeared somewhere!

An amazing story full of humor, lively dialogue, incredible plot twists and colorful illustrations. You can read and reread it endlessly, each time finding something new for yourself. Yes, by the way, if you suddenly forgot the keys to the front door, then do not rush to call the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Use a more reliable and proven method. Remember: first you dance left - right, left - right, right - left, then paws (or whatever you have there instead of them) up and three sniffs, do not forget to say "Shmyggi-Pryggi-Dryggi!" You can't thank. Chao! Aurevuar!

3. "The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear", Jacob Martin Strid

It turns out that the tale of the Turnip is only the beginning of the story!

And it was like this! In the city of Sulby, the burgomaster mysteriously disappears (his real name was Hieronymus Bergström Severin Olsen, but most often he was simply called JB). By the way, “Sulby” in Danish means “sunny city”, and it stands on the very seashore, and the story itself also has a second name, namely “The story of how Hieronymus Bergström Severin Olsen was restored to his rightful position burgomaster Sulby, to the joy of all the townspeople, except for one.

After the disappearance of JB, Vice Mayor Quist, an evil and gloomy man, seized power. He decided to demolish the old beautiful town hall, and in its place to build a new and ugly one, where he could sit and command everyone. Fortunately, babies Mitcho and Sebastian find a bottle thrown away by the sea, which contained a letter addressed to them! The paper was badly shabby, and the text was washed out by water, however, the friends were able to make out some words, from which it became clear that the letter was written by JB, apparently located on some mysterious island, he asks them to be planted in the garden a bone, and promises that they will understand everything on their own!

Looking ahead, I will say that they did not understand this immediately. After Mitcho and Sebastian planted the found stone in their garden, a whole series of incredible events followed. Firstly, a giant pear tree grew out of a stone, which almost broke the house where the friends lived. Secondly, Professor Gluck-Oz and Dr. Pibbenip from the Atomic Institute arrived in the city, who intended to study the unusual fruit up and down. Thirdly, friends found an old book that told about the very Mysterious Island, where, according to legend, the same giant pears grow, and also that many dangers await travelers on the way to the island: cruel pirates, a terrible sea dragon and ink sea. Well, and of course, the fact that due to the crappy nature of Vice Mayor Quist, the giant pear, along with Mitcho, Sebastian and Professor Gluck-Oz, ended up in the water. This is where the fun began!

This incredible story was invented by Jakob Martin Strid, a wonderful inventor from Denmark. Possessing an outstanding talent as a cartoonist and a subtle sense of humor, and retaining in himself a childish desire for joyful miracles, the artist creates an exciting world of heroes who are very fond of children and their parents.

4. Ant's adventure. Tales”, Vitaly Bianchi

“The whole huge world around me, above me and below me is full of unknown secrets. And I will open them all my life, because this is the most interesting, most exciting activity in the world.

Can fairy tales about nature and animals be fun? And how! Especially if these are the tales of Vitaly Bianchi. Eduard Shim once said that Bianchi's books represent a whole world of human experiences. That is why the circle of his readers is so wide, and his works are close to everyone. And this is not surprising, because Vitaly Valentinovich easily managed to turn the simplest inhabitants of forests, fields and rivers into brave and inquisitive heroes. It turned out that talking about the life of an ant, elk, mouse or lynx can be no less interesting and exciting than talking about the life of exotic tigers and crocodiles. And of course, it is also remarkable that, discovering the secrets of the world around him, he generously shared his knowledge with children.

This collection includes ten of the most famous tales of the author: "The Adventures of Ant (or Like an Ant Hurrying Home)", "Forest Houses", "Teremok", "Sly Fox and Clever Duck", "Mouse Peak", "Whose nose is better ?”, “Who sings with what?”, “Whose legs are these?”, “How the Fox outwitted the Hedgehog”, “The Fox and the Mouse”. The colorful design and large print make it the perfect book to read together or on your own.

5. Entertaining Munchausen. A guide for beginner barons in three parts, Erich Raspe (retelling by Korney Chukovsky)

Munchausen is eternal!

You might be surprised, but there are a lot of Munchausen. Since the beginning of the 12th century, more than a thousand people have gathered in the genealogical tree of the Munchausen family. It was Carl Hieronymus Friedrich von Munchausen who received the greatest fame and world recognition, going in the genealogical family table under 701 numbers. However, he did not become famous on his own. Most likely, he would have remained just another number if, during his lifetime, the two brilliant writers Raspe and Burger would not have recounted either the funny stories they heard from Munchausen himself, or the funny stories they themselves invented, which for two centuries have been causing a smile from the most different people in all parts of the world.

The book “Entertaining Munchausen. A guide for beginner barons in three parts" is the amazing adventures of Baron Karl on land and water, on war and hunting, on horseback and in a carriage, very truthfully described by the writer Erich Raspe, retold by grandfather Korney Chukovsky and illustrated by Nikolai Vorontsov. Moreover, in addition to the stories themselves about the life of Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Baron von Munchausen-auf-Bodenwerder, full of wonderful travels, chilling adventures and witty tricks, readers here are waiting for puzzles, sayings, games, recipes, informational footnotes, cartoons, playful comments and other creative experiments that both children and their parents will definitely like.

And also, after reading this book, an attentive reader will learn how to cook a Szechuan duck, cook grandmother's compote from cherries, what items the hunter's arsenal consists of, where the horse's sigh is and where the bridle is attached, learn about the main differences between several types of swords and spy aircraft, as well as get acquainted with a brief charm of the teeth of a bear, instructions for taming a furious fur coat, an unusual game of sea battle and many others.

6. Asta-Hurricane. Geographic Adventures, Kristina Kretova

Once upon a time there was a girl, Asta, who could control the wind!

To tell the truth, Asta was not an ordinary child. More precisely, not at all ordinary. While other children traveled with their parents on planes, trains and boats, Asta flew around the world along with a fair wind. In an instant, she could easily be in France, India, America, Japan, Brazil or South Africa. In all new places, adventures and discoveries awaited her.

However, the choice of the next landing point was not so random, because in every country Asta visited, one of its inhabitants needed help. She helped the French boy Sena from Paris find his mother, and the Indian boy Santosh, who lived on the very outskirts of New Delhi, saved a toy car from a sacred cow. Asta taught the American girl Thea Asta to skate, and together with the Japanese girl Fatiko and her grandmother went to the garden to admire the beautiful cherry blossoms, and with the boy Pedro from Brazil, Asta had plenty of fun and danced at the famous carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

Asta, affectionately known as Asta-Hurricane by her parents, will introduce children to the main cities and capitals of six countries, as well as learn about their most famous sights, cultural traditions, borders and geographic points. In addition, after reading this book, children will understand what to do if you are lost and why you should not laugh at other people's failures, find out who invented McDonald's and Coca-Cola and which countries of the world are the largest in area, understand why cows are considered sacred animals in India and why the Japanese are considered the most hardworking and polite people, and they will also find an understandable explanation for such amazing phenomena as time and climatic zones and the change of seasons. But that's not all! All the places mentioned by the authors are marked on the flyleaf of the publication, so along with the educational book, children will also receive their own travel diary.

7. “Detective Fletcher. The case smells bad”, Antje Zillat and illustrator Jan Birk

The best detective is the one who answers the question: “When are we going to the case?” - rushes at full speed with a cry of "Ar-r-riba!".

The situation is terrible, super detectives Fletcher and Theo have a job to do! We report the situation: the victim is chef Bode; the place of events is the Wild Elk diner, the crime is an unpaid bill; evidence is missing. On the face of the most insidious crime that is just waiting to be revealed. But you shouldn't worry, because it's all about reliable paws! Why? First, because in Fletcher's world there are no questions that cannot be answered. Secondly, everyone knows that there are detectives and there are super-detectives. Well, and thirdly, the one who first rushes into the thick of things is the fastest to solve crimes.

Meet! Fletcher is the brainstormer and lead creative of the team, the founder of a yard detective agency, a noble skunk who knows everyone and everything and is able to smell a criminal a mile away. Theo is his partner, the son of the Wild Elk chef and the only person who can understand the language of animals. Chloe is the glamorous secretary of the detectives, the mere sight of her eyelashes makes Fletcher's heart beat twice as fast. The whole fuss, in fact, is this: an unknown person got into the habit of having dinner at Theo's father's restaurant, this sly man leaves the establishment without paying the bill. Now the very existence of the Wild Elk is at stake, without whose signature dish, Fletcher quickly falls into despair!

Detective Fletcher is not a comic book, nor is it a picture book. Inside it is a brightly illustrated text with clearly placed accents. Reading such books is much easier, primarily because the main plot is supplemented with notes and highlights that help readers prioritize correctly. Plus, cartoon illustrations and mischievous phrases of the protagonist, which set the narrative a special rhythm and perfectly maintain the similarity with live speech.

8. “Lou Upstairs. Stowaway, Francois Place

By the belly of the sperm whale, this is the book that you will beg to read from a child, and he, of course, will not give it away!

Stubborn is the best tug in the entire merchant fleet! His motto is "We will destroy, but we will not let you drown. " On board the ship are Captain Boniface Up All Up, sailor Speedy, radio operator Aristide Mega Hertz, mechanic Titus, the ship's cook Bouillon and baby Lou Up All Up - the captain's niece, who was impudently planted on him by his sister Pamela.

One day the "Stubborn" receives a signal for help, and Captain Boniface gives the command to sail to the injured ship

The ship they found turned out to be very unusual: the Belphegor was a real ghost ship, and its entire crew were snow-white skeletons in uniform. But that's not all. In the hold of the Belphegor there is a giggling monster that feeds on marshmallow and toffee, it was it that doomed the merchant ship to eternal wanderings in the ocean. It seems that without the help of Captain Boniface and little Lou, we cannot do here.

“Lou Upstairs. Stowaway" is the first book in a series of crazy adventures of the "Stubborn" team, created by a French author for all lovers of travel and far-flung wanderings and fans of the adventure and humorous genre. The artist and writer François Place has long been known in Russia for his illustrations for Timothée de Fombel's dilogy Toby Lolness, and now his own books are being published in Russian. Inspired by Tintin and the Fifteen-Year-Old Captain, this collection of hilarious stories will delight all readers. Precisely logical! Trumsel-bramsel!

9. Against the Current by Ellis Keller

After reading this book, I really want to paraphrase the classics and say: “Just swim towards your dream!”.

Gertrude Caroline Ederle is a famous American swimmer and the first woman to swim the English Channel. It is the story of her victories that formed the basis of this incredibly motivating and easy to read book.

For clarity, Ellis Keller and Veronica Truttero came up with a younger cousin named Emily for Gertrude. Like her famous cousin, Emily is a very energetic and purposeful girl who has felt an irresistible craving for water since childhood, but she doesn’t know how to swim yet. However, if something came to her mind, then it was definitely destined to come true. Trying to imitate her famous sister in everything, she begins to secretly train. As Gertrude Ederle prepares for her big swim across the English Channel, Emily tries to set her own record by swimming across the lake near her house. Of course, both of them will have success and an unconditional victory!

This book can and should be read with children of any age. The illustrations accompanying the book, often turning into comic book drawings, colorfully enliven the story, giving it that very characteristic style of the past. And of course, readers will like the fact that, in addition to biographical and motivating accents, stories of fatal accidents and human relationships are woven into the storyline: be it a fateful swimsuit given to little Emily by Gertrude herself, without which there would be no book itself, or a misunderstanding in home family, or the difference in upbringing, or the love story of friendship with Leo. Victory will be ours, so whatever happens, swim!

10. "Moscow - Beijing and two bears", Oleg Roy

Friendship of peoples is omnipotent and always on guard of bears!

To tell the truth, the Chinese boy Yulong never dreamed of such travels and adventures. He lived with his parents in Sichuan and dreamed of becoming a zoologist just like his mom and dad. But someone kidnapped his beloved panda Meili with a heart spot on his chest, whom he raised from birth and with whom he could chat for hours and exchange secrets and news. As it turned out later, the abductors were the famous liar Miss Smith and her two assistants - John and Bill. It was they who took Meili to Russia in order to make a stuffed animal out of her later! Without wasting a minute, Yulong leaves for Moscow. There he meets the girl Masha, who, like him, loves animals and takes care of the brown bear cub Mishka in the zoo. Masha also knows Chinese well and studies at a specialized school with only A's. After infiltrating the Moscow office of the bandits, the guys manage to free Meili, but the attackers continue to pursue them. However, now the insidious villains themselves will have a hard time, because against them is real Russian-Chinese friendship, and two more, albeit small, but very smart bear cubs.

Writer Oleg Roy is extraordinarily successful, phenomenally productive and practically ubiquitous. Based on his books, movies and TV shows are made, animated films are drawn. His book from the famous series "Dreamers", in addition to being entertaining, also has an educational character. After reading it, the children will learn many interesting facts about Russia and China, as well as about the traditions and culture of the Russian and Chinese peoples.

11. Guarantee Little Men, Eduard Uspensky

Do you think that you can only find dust in a vacuum cleaner, and only lemonade and sausages live in a refrigerator? Of course not! Everything is much more interesting.

A refrigerator is brought to the Smirnovs' ordinary Moscow apartment, along with which a new guarantee named Kholodilin arrives. He immediately gets acquainted with Ivan Ivanovich Bure, a guarantee from a cuckoo clock. The watch's warranty has expired, but the factory where it was made is long gone, and Bure, like a true master, is left to look after it. Also in the apartment live the warranty Vacuum Cleaner from the Uralets vacuum cleaner and News of the Day from the radio.

Eduard Uspensky once again proves to us that in addition to ordinary life, there is also one that does not depend on us, that many things can really happen by themselves. And all because small but very special people live in refrigerators, radios, vacuum cleaners and other electrical appliances. They don’t just live, but make sure that they work properly, which is why they are called warranty.

Warranty little men are sent from the factories along with the devices, and after the warranty period expires, they return to their factory to get a new job they consider it their main business to be useful!

“Where are they? Why don't we see them?" - you ask. Everything is simple! They hide. How else? After all, there are mice, cats and children in the house! Our miracle masters hide especially carefully from the latter, as they want to play with them at all costs!

In the 2010s, the plot of this story was the basis of the animated series "Fixies", and Eduard Uspensky released its continuation - "Guaranteed little men are returning."

12. "Pencil and Samodelkin on Dinosaur Island", Valentin Postnikov

Fasten your seat belts and close the porthole blinds, our Dryndolet is ready to take off!

Pencil and Samodelkin have been favorite fairy tale characters for several generations of girls and boys. They were invented over 50 years ago by Yuri Druzhkov, a well-known children's writer and creator of the Funny Pictures magazine. Today, his son Valentin Postnikov continues to write fascinating stories about the kind and cheerful artist Pencil and his faithful friend Samodelkin.

In this book, Pencil and Samodelkin, as well as their friend, geographer Professor Pykhtelkin, learn about the mysterious island of Karambuka, where dinosaurs were somehow magically preserved. Friends immediately go on an expedition to see this miracle of nature with their own eyes. An unforgettable journey awaits them, full of adventures, incredible discoveries and even dangers, during which they will learn interesting facts about the history of our planet and about the life of the most amazing creatures of antiquity.

Together with the heroes of the book, the children will meet with the ruler of the island of dinosaurs, ride fish lizards, save the spy Hole from four-winged birds, fly on huge dragonflies and take a water ride on giant sea turtles. The illustrations for the book were created by the legendary and inimitable Anatoly Eliseev, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation.

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list of books for children 7-8 years old

Extracurricular reading for junior schoolchildren in grades 1-2 (7-8 years old). In this list, we single out books for the first independent reading, for adults to read to children. It is very important not to scare away the young reader who has taken the book into his hands and is going to overcome it on his own. Let the first books be suitable for the child in terms of content (we choose not too small ones) and in terms of the amount of text (many pictures and not very much text in large print). With each new book, the amount of text can be slightly increased and be sure to help - read a page or two aloud in a “simple” book and read other, more complex texts until the child says: “I myself!”.

Photo by @kamyshonok_books

Ungerer Tom

Adventures of the Hryullops family

850₽ 680₽ Buy

For independent reading. Stories about a family of restless adventurers, Hryullops pigs, building rafts, extracting alternative fuels, exploring caves, being captured by the Indians, repairing engines and ... always returning home to mom's cake. Gorgeous illustrations and a small amount of text - the perfect combination for the first independent reading and a lot of ideas for summer games in the country and in a city apartment.

Anna Taraska

Point with error

750₽ 375₽ Buy

Fascinating detective story about the life of signs and letters. For independent reading.
Investigate the disappearance of a beloved pet with punctuation marks, numbers, letters as the main characters! The main character, the girl Tochka, goes in search of her pet using notebooks and textbooks. encyclopedias and even music notebooks that are on the bookshelf! This book may well become the first longread of a novice reader.

Dahl Roald

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

850₽ Buy

Reading for adults to children and for independent reading.
World-famous story from the #1 storyteller in the world - Roald Dahl. There is a mysterious chocolate factory owner, mysterious men, exciting adventures, a golden ticket lottery and a lot of magic. But most importantly, the main character! This is the most ordinary boy who unexpectedly falls into this whirlpool of amazing events!

Sokovenina Elena

System errors D.T.

700₽ Buy Now

Hilariously funny story of friendship between a child and an IT specialist. For adults to read to children and for independent reading.
Do not scold children, they are good! They don't need to be drunk. As Uncle Tyoma once sawed a bath - with a hacksaw. You have to be friends with them, even if they seem to speak a different language. Uncle Tyoma is an IT specialist, so not everyone understands him either (yes, everyone tries). He's a strange dude, that is, a man. That's why Uncle Tyoma gets along so well with Anya. And vice versa. Not that they speak the same language. But there is contact! A child and an IT specialist are friendship forever.

Nilsson Frida

Hedwig is finally going to school! Book One

700₽ Buy

Required reading for those who are going to the first grade or just finished it! And then you can read what happened to the main character in the second grade and what happened next. For independent reading.
A witty and slightly hooligan series of books by the famous Swedish writer Frida Nilsson about a curious, restless, inventive girl Hedwig begins with stories about first-graders and their experiences.

Mizelinskaya Alexandra, Mizelinsky Daniel

On the way to Yellowstone

2 800₽ Buy now

A fun and unique encyclopedia about nature! And the information in it is not given in small print in a boring column, but in the form of a comic book with an exciting plot.
Bison Kuba and squirrel Ulya, residents of the Belovezhskaya Pushcha reserve, at the invitation of a relative of Kuba from Yellowstone, set off on an amazing journey through the national parks of the world. From the book you will learn about the northern lights, thermal springs, deserts, ice, ecosystems and much, much (repeat a hundred times) more.

Posukh Olga

Micro-superheroes. The most invisible

850₽ Buy now

For adult reading to children and for independent reading.
Does your child like comics? Excellent! Offer him a science comic drawn and written by Olga Posukh, a biologist and researcher at the Academy of Sciences! A series of her books tells about different animals with amazing abilities. which, at first glance, only superheroes can have.

Gonserovskaya Olesya, Yanbarisova Diana, Smirnova Alexandra

From the nest

900₽ Buy

A whole team worked on this book, which included an artist, a biologist and a writer. For independent reading.
For an adult thrush it would be the most ordinary day, but Kira is a fledgling. She just fell out of her nest and today is her first big adventure! Watching the story of Kira, her new acquaintances and discoveries, we will learn how this wonderful world works - the world of the forest. You will get answers to a lot of questions. which arise in the forest not only in a child, but also in an adult.

Vostradowska Teresa

Encyclopedia of the mouse: the world big and small

900₽ Buy

Colorful travel book with practical tasks. A guide to the wonderful world of nature will be a little mouse who just loves to read encyclopedias and decided to write her own. For adults to read to children and for independent reading.
Travel around the world big and small with the Mouse: study the underground inhabitants, collect a herbarium, try to lure insects to a piece of raw meat, look inside an anthill, learn to distinguish bird trills, catch tadpoles and grow parsley.

Roman Belyaev

How does the bridge work?

950₽ Buy Now

Unusual and not at all boring popular science book about engineering and architecture. For adults to read to children and for independent reading.
She tells the young reader about how bridges work. How they are built, what tasks they solve, where are the most famous and unusual bridges in the world. The author talks about this consistently and clearly, page by page, traveling with the reader through times and countries. The book is available not only to the Russian reader and has been translated into several foreign languages.

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