Angelinka and the Christmas Train

This is the Ukrainian-language edition of Angelinka and the Christmas Train (Янголинка і різдвяний потяг), a Christmas picture book written and illustrated by Grasia Oliiko and published by Old Lion Publishing House (Видавництво Старого Лева) in 2025. It is a warm story about kindness with a light touch of humour, and a good way to talk with a child about what kindness looks like in practice.

On Christmas Eve, Angelinka (the name means "little angel") receives a letter from a dog shelter. The puppies write that they have been good all year, yet nobody has come to take them home. Angelinka and the children of her town know that every dog needs a home and a person of its own, so they board the Christmas train with their parents and set off to visit the shelter.

The book shows Christmas as the time when we can do more than make wishes: we can do good and create small miracles, and all it takes is a sincere wish and a kind heart. For Ukrainian families abroad, it is a Christmas story in your child's mother tongue that is lovely to read aloud together. A good pick as a gift for an animal-loving child, or as a first Ukrainian Christmas book for children growing up far from home.

You may also like

• Angelinka’s Christmas Hat by Grasia Oliiko: another Christmas picture book about the same heroine
• Little Sonya in the Forest of Christmas Stories by Zabine Balman: winter Christmas tales in Ukrainian
• All Christmas books in Ukrainian

Edition details

• Author and illustrator: Grasia Oliiko
• Publisher: Old Lion Publishing House, 2025
• Language: Ukrainian
• Pages: 48
• Cover: hardcover
• ISBN: 9789664485545