The most recommended books about legendary creatures

This gorgeous book is both metaphoric and literal. A young boy learns about dragons (and himself, his grandmothers, and life) on a mythical bedtime story-walk to find two very different paths.

I love the message here (and that it isn’t too in-your-face message-y; the story is really primary). But the art is so gorgeous that I could dive back into it over and over again for that alone. 

No writer creates a compelling sense of dread better than H.P. Lovecraft. His stories instantly immerse you in whatever world he’s conjuring, and I think his writing reached its peak in this book.

His narrator descends into a creepy world of “others” whom he senses want to harm him (in his personal life, Lovecraft was notoriously disdainful of “others”). I was willingly dragged along with Lovecraft’s desperate narrator as he raced through town, hotel rooms, and ultimately into a terrifying gathering of the townspeople.

Nearly a century after its publication, I consider it to be one of the most timeless and striking pieces of horror ever created. 

I fell into this world of strange happenings, mythical creatures, and techno gizmos with no trepidation.

Lange weaves a spell and I couldn’t escape until I’d read the last word. The mixture of action, mystery, and mythology set in contemporary times is spellbinding. And it’s the first of a trilogy. I’ve already bought the second one.

Have you ever felt out of place? Like you don’t belong in this world? 

That’s how Lily Monroe used to feel—until she discovered she was right. 

When Lily is thrown into a parallel world filled with magic, mythological creatures, and people with amazing superpowers, she embarks on a rollercoaster of a journey and takes you along. 

She finds family. She finds loyal friends. And maybe even love.

I highly recommend all three books of the Realm Saga. In fact, after you read the first one, you’ll definitely want to read the rest, and you won’t regret it.

This first complete English translation of a twelfth-century Latin bestiary has served me well as a partial map for following mythical beasts through time—from when the unicorn, griffin, and other fantastic creatures were considered part of God’s animal kingdom. T.  H. White supplements his translation of the moralized Christian bestiary with his own learned and entertaining footnotes and afterword. His “Family Tree” graph of Western animal studies highlights classical and medieval authors and ends with “Sir Thomas Browne’s Vulgar Errors,” the end of bestiary lore and the beginning of modern biology.

As research, I read a lot of books about werewolves. Some were bad, some were decent, and some were too academic. This one was, in the words of Goldilocks, just right. I loved that it was written in a language anyone could understand and that it wasn’t focused on just one geographic location or culture.

Douglas presents everything from Greek mythology to Norse, Japanese, American Indian, and others. He keeps his personal commentary to a minimum and presents the reader with much information. I see this book as a primer for understanding just about everything about the shapeshifter in legend and literature. If the fiction author has done his/her job well, the shapeshifter will have roots in something Douglas has told us about.

Jessica Cluess surprises not just the readers, but also each of the characters in her novel with her choices for protagonists. Every new emperor in her world is chosen from a contest amongst the eldest heirs of each of the five major houses of the land. But this time, the eldest of each family is spurned and the younger, apparently weaker child is picked to compete. House of Dragons is a lot of fun, and the story has a clever construction, for this strange choice of hero is no accident. There is a powerful reason and lesson in House of Dragons. Read it and find out why we sometimes want the second pick for the team.

My Lady Jane is a retelling of the true-life story of Lady Jane Gray, who lived in Tudor England during the reign of Edward VI. Though the plot isn’t as fast-paced as other novels, it is nonetheless engaging, and so are its main characters, with plenty of banter and humor throughout the whole book that had me laughing out loud on several occasions. If you are into period pieces, this lighthearted read is guaranteed to entertain you.

Delving into something a little different here – Malamander by Thomas Taylor may be a kid's book but here’s why you should read it: it’s like A Series of Unfortunate Events but less depressing. It’s a rich, creative, and engaging story that was really, really hard to put down! 

Young Herbert Lemon is the Lost-and-Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel. He returns lost things to their rightful owners – shoes, suitcases, money… but one night a strange young girl turns up at his window claiming to be lost. 

While both Herbert and Violet are absolutely delightful, my favourite character is the town itself. Eerie-on-Sea is a strange little town which, during the warm seasons, is frequented by tourists. But things change when the temperature cools and the mist rolls in… 

The rival clans of Wizards and Warriors, sworn enemies in the dark forest, come together when a young warrior princess gets caught by an arrogant young wizard and his gang of fairies and beast, and discover that they are not as different as they feared.

My daughter loved the characters, especially the fairies, and the giant snowcats, and enjoyed the fast pace of the story (plus the illustrations)