How to Save a Queendom

Stub-the-Nuisance is an orphan apprentice at a rough tavern with only a chicken named Peck for a friend. But when a spell-shrunk wizard appears in her pocket, she finds herself bound in an adventure to save a young queen. After years of abuse and bullying, she discovers her own strength and the joys of true friendship. This book is an absolute delight filled with detailed worldbuilding, quirky humor, and characters that will tug your heart. The focus on found family lends a deep layer of poignant authenticity to the story and makes this a book worth reading over and over… show more.

Moving away from triangles involving friends of the same age and relative size, this is a fantasy in which an orphan girl named Stub must make a perilous journey in order to – spoiler alert – save the queendom. Her companions are an overly enthusiastic young chef’s apprentice and an elderly wizard who, much to his own annoyance, is small enough to fit in Stub’s pocket due to an errant spell. The dynamic doesn’t start out very promisingly, but in the end, the three make a great team. I love the theme of friendship forming among unlike persons thrown into… show more.