In the article the concept of "a family reading" is analyzed, the significance of " the family reading" model is disclosed, the role of grandparents in the formation of the child's personality is revealed. The goal of the article is to point out the possibility of improving the reading culture in the case of an awareness of the grandparents’ role in the children upbringing. The research is based on the methodological interdisciplinary and systematic principles, presented in the modern socio-humanistic knowledge. Comparative-contrastive methodology allows you to consider the features and patterns of the figurative structure of a work of fiction recommended for the family reading. Relying on the historical, cultural, sociocultural, typological approaches, it allows establishing a typological commonality of the artistic image of "grandparents".The biographical method, as well as the linguistic analysis of the literary text, makes it possible to take into account the individual style of the authors while selecting works for the family reading.It is proved that images of "active" grandmothers and grandfathers dominate in the literary texts of the world literature, in the creation of which zoological and floral portraits-comparisons are used.The material for the study is the works of Russian and foreign literature. The works of Russian literature werethe material of the study: M. Gorky (Childhood, Grandfather Arkhip and Lyonka), V. Astafyev (The Horse with a Pink Mane, The Last Bow), N. Nosov (Shurik at Grandfather's place) , N. Abgaryan ("Manyunya", "Chocolate Grandfather"), D. Sabitov ("Your Three Names"), M. Aromshtam ("When Angels Rest"), V. Vostokov ("FrosyaKorovina"), as well as some works of foreign children's prose: A. Nanetti ("My grandfather was a cherry"), M. Lobe ("Grandma on the apple tree"), M. Parr ("Waffle Heart"), I. Prokhazkina ("Grandmother with wings" ).