The winter solstice (and the shortest day of the year) is almost here! Get in the spirit with this wintry story of magic, friendship, and love.
13-year-old Alice is on a mission to break a family curse but to do so must conquer some of her own fears. She teams up with old and new friends to save her family and her town.
Usborne Illustrated Norse Myths by Alex Frith and Louie Stowell
Recommended by Nick, for ages 6+
This book is an amazing collection of, and introduction to Norse Mythology. If you ever wanted to read the old Viking stories that inspired Marvel’s Thor, this is the book for you. You don’t need to know the whole background because the first thing this book does is introduce all the many Gods and Giants that’ll become familiar faces across the pages. This collection also features beautiful color illustrations of the stories, while it is more words than pictures; the vocabulary used allows readers of varying skill levels to enjoy these adventurous tales and legends. The collection follows the Norse mythological cycle in rough order: beginning with the creation of the world, the adventures of Odin, Loki, Thor, and some special humans (like Sigurd the Dragonslayer), all the way to the final hours of Ragnarok and the birth of a new world.
Did you ever wonder how oak trees spread their seeds? After all, acorns are quite heavy to scatter in the wind. Enter blue jays that can carry as many five acorns at once to hide for eating later.
A poetically written science picture book that you can read together like a story, then learn more from several pages of details at the end of the book.
This is the debut book by Cherokee author, Ginger Reno. It has some heavy but important themes as the main character’s mother, an indigenous woman, went missing five years ago. Wren has not given up the search and in fact, has begun to use her detective skills to help pet owners who have lost their friends.
This is a good book for mystery lovers, and anyone interested in Cherokee history or MMIWG (Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls) as the back matter has lots of info.
In the land of Readers, two children are carefully selected every year by a mysterious School Master and whisked off to the School for Good and Evil. One represents Good and the other Evil. Main characters Sophie and Agatha are the ones picked this time, only...there seems to be a mistake!
Beautiful, kind, and ambitious Sophie has been thrown into Evil whereas her scary, surly and sometimes, smelly counterpart, Agatha got put into Good. They each need to play the role of belonging until they can find a way to switch back. Will they succeed in finding their Ever After or will the School Master decide they’re causing too much trouble? Read to find out.
Fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson will greatly enjoy immersing themselves into this rich world of fairytales. Chainani has created a masterful story where good and evil are questioned at every turn because like reality, nothing is black and white. Instead, Chainani chooses to focus on the gray areas and that’s what makes this world so intriguing.
The series is perfect for middle schoolers and up due to heavy themes and some mature content. Each book is also consistently a minimum of 500 pages, so younger readers may tire easy. Whatever the case, this series is well worth your time.
Jillian Tupper lives in a house with her parents, who run an antique store. Ivy, who’s an actual ivy plant, and Toasty, the crabby goldfish live there too. You might be surprised to know that Toasty and Ivy are friends, but they bicker about who Jillian likes better. Toasty’s a sucker for cheese puffs and he needs Jillian to stretch her leaves to get them, so he’s got to try and get along with her.... Wait, Jillian can stretch her leaves and get snack food? Is it magic? And if so, where does it come from? The answer to this question is important. To figure it out, this cast of characters will need help from some new friends, and they will have to outsmart someone who is trying to cheat the Tuppers and change everyone’s lives forever. Sometimes, it takes fighting for what’s right to show you who matters in your life and that’s true in this wacky, wonderful book!
Ever been the sibling that falls short compared to your brother or sister? Then, you’ll love getting to know Santa’s youngest son, Arthur Christmas in this action-packed movie. Watch how Santa manages to deliver presents all over the world in just one night with the help of his family and his many, many elves. His eldest son, Steve is his right-hand man and manages the entire high-tech operation from beneath the North Pole while Arthur does the paperwork and responds to every letter to Santa. Steve is next in line to become Santa and when Santa accidentally misses a child, tension grows between the siblings on how to handle it. Will that one child stop believing in Santa for the sake of efficiency, or will Arthur keep the Christmas magic alive?
Need a way for the entire family to have fun, get their wiggles out, and feel a bit of independence while they play a game? Charades for Kids can bring all of that to your family's get–together with prompts made especially for kids of all ages; plus, the cards have both pictures and words to encourage everyone to join in – no reading required. The whole group will have a blast acting out and guessing things like eating spaghetti, playing a guitar, blowing bubbles, and more!
Have you ever wanted to steal Christmas? Play as the Grinch in Whoville, sneaking around and taking presents from innocent Whos. Grab a friend to play as Max for a co-op adventure!
Is the place value concept challenging for your child? Check out this Discovery Kit to help them understand and retain the information. Inside you’ll find a board game to help lighten the mood, an electronic “Power Pen” to get them interested, and a whiteboard to help keep all those tens and hundreds in the right order.
