A special literary project for Ukrainian children who are temporarily in European countries was started by a team of Ukrainians.
The initiator, Andriy Shmygelskyi, has been living in Amsterdam since 2014, he is the father of Thea (age 7). Andrii's parents in Lviv host families from cities where hostilities are ongoing. His sister and two children are now safe in the Netherlands, but their father stayed to protect Ukraine. With iKs - Interactive Kids Stories, Andriy is working on a technology platform to bring children's books to life, allowing parents and other family members to record their voices while they read a children's book. When the first stories about Ukrainian refugees appeared in the news, Andriy realized that such technology could connect families at a distance. Then the man joined forces with the Number 5 Foundation and Princess Laurentine, who is very active in the development of literacy and reading for children. And the story began… Better Time Stories was created by iKs, founded by Ukrainian entrepreneur Andriy Shmygelskyi and Number 5 Foundation, which was founded by Princess Laurentine and Prince Konstantin of the Netherlands. While iKs is responsible for product, technology and management, Number 5 Foundation is leading the community organization around the project to lay a strong foundation. All donations are managed by the princess's foundation, in keeping with the non-profit nature of the project.
Currently, the project team is making efforts so that as many children as possible, who are not at home, could join the project. Since the beginning of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, about two million children have left their homes. This is a quarter of the child population in Ukraine. Almost 1 million Ukrainian refugees are now in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria. Most of them left their books at home, and the children fleeing the war in Ukraine ended up in Europe with no more than an "anxious suitcase". The new language environment causes children to experience difficulties in adaptation combined with social problems. Most are separated from their relatives which remain in Ukraine. To help children cope with separation, the developers created a specially designed package for children aged 3 to 7 years. Five bilingual, interactive, illustrated books unite children with their relatives and help them adapt to a new language environment. Top-5 carefully selected stories with incredible illustrations from leading Ukrainian authors help children survive difficult times, and the audio versions of the books are written in the voices of parents.
Bilingual books with professionally read audiobooks in both languages help children with early reading and a new language.
Books from Ukrainian illustrators and bestselling authors. The selection of books is carried out by specialists of the Children's Reading Laboratory of the Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Barabuk. In partnership with the Ukrainian Book Institute.
