#3 Spot to Buy Children's Books in Ukraine

Bookstore in the Underground passage near Hotel Salut

There is a tricky intersection between the Hotel Salut and the park for WWII (and now the Famine). Several roads come together at that point. One of them is paved with cobblestones and has a steep descent. In true Soviet fashion, the roadway was designed to force people to walk underneath the roads in order to cross it. Pedestrians who want to get from the side of the street where Salut and the Arsenal metro stop to say, the side of the street where the National Transportation University (check name) has its (main?) campus, have to go down a long wide staircase of polished granite stairs. (This is a particular joy in the winter when the stairs are slicked over with slush.) Then they had to wend their way through a series of dark tunnels to get to the right egress that can spew them out the desired corner, but only after a treacherous climb up a similar staircase.

The 'perekhody' are all over Kyiv. Babushky used to line the halls of many of them and sell bunches of fresh flowers, or green onions, or sunflower seeds, or whatever was in season.

The 'perekhid' in front of Salut, however, was renovated several years ago. I heard about it from my parents but I couldn't imagine it until I saw it for myself.

Gone are the dimly lit hallsways. Also gone are the babushky with the sacks of sunflower seeds. In their place are a well-lit series of shops, primarily a mall of bookstores. One of those stores is the Ukrainino-Yazhychna Knyharnia (check name). It is not the largest one in the complex, but it is stuffed full with books only in Ukrainian. The back right corner is dedicated to children's literature. Hardcovers, paperbacks, and magazines are all piled up vertically and horizontally on shelves. It reminded me of an old Village bookstore in New York. The staff was friendly, and gave some recommendations based on what sells well.

It was tiny and cozy. Somehow two stools were jammed into it, but it was not the kind of place where you'd want to spend a few hours leafing through books. My mom and two kids barely fit in there.

I was thrilled. I had not seen anything like this on any of my previous trips to Ukraine. I started to understand what all the fuss was about. I piled a huge stack of books on the counter and pulled out my Visa card. Then I hauled it all back to the apartment.

Pros:
It is very convenient to get to. I liked the fact that all the books are in Ukrainian so I didn't need to constantly scan the text for the letter 'i' to confirm that the particular book I was holding was, indeed, in Ukrainian and not in Russian. They accepted payment in cash or by Visa card.

Cons:
Only books and magazines. No games, blocks, workbooks or puzzles. No reading area.
The slippery stairs are still there but they end in a line of gleaming glass doors that lead to the shopping center.