When I worked at a children’s bookstore I noticed there were tons of books about dragons and unicorns, but not a lot of picture books about other kinds of mythological creatures. I thought this was strange, especially since Harry Potter was so popular and those books were full of magical creatures. I have always loved pets and mythology, so I thought maybe I could write a primer on magical pet care. I also noticed how much the kids at storytime loved rhyming books, so I put all of these things together and If I Had a Gryphon was born!
I love stories about sea monsters and this was one of my favourites as a kid. It’s hard being Cyrus. Humans are afraid of sea monsters like him, and Shark thinks he’s too cowardly to sink ships. But the kindly sea serpent resists peer pressure and saves the day when he comes to the rescue of a ship in need. A sweet and surprising story about kindness and being true to yourself from a real legend of children’s literature, Bill Peet.
A shark accuses Cyrus of cowardice because he won't sink any ships. The kindly sea serpent almost succumbs to peer pressure, but learns at last to be himself.
I’ve always loved pirates and fantasy – combining the two is just wonderful in my eyes, cemented with my first watch of The Curse of the Black Pearl.It’s a struggle to identify exactly why these things appeal so much – I suppose my imagination and sense of free-wheeling roguish adventure runs wild. I’ve loved action-adventure and exploration since growing up watching the Indiana Jones films and playing Tomb Raider. The beloved genre of pirate fantasy seemed absurdly scarce within literature. I couldn’t find the books I wanted to read – so I had to write them, filling them with all the pirate fantasy staples I adored, twisting them, and adding entirely new creations.
Another of my cheat picks, but I feel they are both following the spirit of the list (and, more importantly, my own enthusiasm).
Here is a maritime fantasy set in a blustery region much colder than the tropical Caribbean. No, this is grim-up-north fiction – and I wasn’t surprised one bit to find the author is from Yorkshire.
The Tide Child series is a uniquely fascinating one, set in a dark, matriarchal world, dense with rotting pink and purple plants, where the “corpselights” of sacrificed children hang from ships built from the bones of sea dragons, where slavery is rife, and the faces of crews are scoured by wind and freezing brine. Don’t expect a great deal of joy in these books. But they are nonetheless adventurous, fantastical, and exciting. I just wish they’d get a bit warmer... brrrrr.
"Excellent. One of the most interesting and original fantasy worlds I've seen in years." —Adrian Tchaikovsky, Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author
A brilliantly imagined saga of honor, glory, and warfare, The Bone Ships is the epic launch of a new series from British Fantasy Award winner, RJ Barker.
*British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel, winner
Two nations at war. One prize beyond compare.
For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war. The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted.
I am an author and illustrator of several picture books including My Daddy Can Fly, Starboy - Inspired by the Life and Lyrics of David Bowie, Imagination Vacation, Seb and the Sun and Mae and the Moon. I’ve always been a curious person filled with wonder at our amazing world, and I love letting my imagination get taken away by a good book. I find picture books to be the perfect format to blend my love of illustration and story, and some of the stories I love the most are those that are imaginative and magical, but also give a little tug at the heartstrings, fill us with warmth and make us want to read them again and again.
When a tiny sea serpent suddenly drops out of the faucet and into a girl’s bath, an immediate and playful friendship begins. As the sea serpent grows bigger, he tells the tale of how he was carried by a tornado over jungles and silvery cities until he landed in a lake and was whooshed up by a pipe. He sings fanciful songs about the deep blue sea and fish-shaped like guitars. Eventually, he grows so big that the little girl knows it’s time he returns to the sea. So, she helps the sea serpent, now big as a whale, overcome his fear of being left on his own, reminding him that he won’t be lonely, and will have new adventures with newfound friends. Catia Chien’s gorgeous illustrations are very expressive and a beautiful compliment to this lovely story of learning to let go and do what’s right.
One day a small sea serpent falls from the faucet into the tub as a child is about to take a bath, and as the days go by and the serpent grows, they both realize that he needs to go back to the sea where he belongs.
I am writing this list because I am a sea monster. I’m the sort of sea monster who loves merpeople, pirates, sharks, dolphins, octopuses, shipwrecks, and…did I miss anything? Oh yes, piranhas. Some people have pointed out that I look like a regular adult human, but really it’s just a trick of the light. I like to make stories, draw pictures, and build miniature environments for stop motion animated films. My typical day is spent gluing miniature flowers to miniature rocks, or screwing miniature chairs to miniature floors. It’s the sort of job that makes you feel like magic is around every corner. Because it is, probably.
It’s impossible not to fall head over heels in love with the little
mermaid explorer Oona and her sea otter friend Otto. The adorable duo was
created by illustrator Raissa Figueroa who has this amazing ability to make all
her characters completely irresistible and her environments rich with
atmospheric colors and magical details. I can’t wait to see what adventures
Oona and Otto go on next!
1
author picked
Oona
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
3,
4,
5, and
6.
What is this book about?
This comical and heartfelt picture book is a winning celebration of invention, creativity, and friendship. With gorgeous underwater scenes and a crowd-pleasing tale, this is one little mermaid who is here to make a splash!
New York Times bestselling author Kelly DiPucchio and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Raissa Figueroa would like to introduce Oona-the big wide sea's littlest mischief-maker.
Oona and her best friend Otto love to search for treasure...and often find trouble instead.
Messy trouble.
Tricky trouble.
Even shark-related trouble.
That's never stopped them before, though!
After all, no proper treasure hunt is without some adventure. But…
I’m a big-time fantasy reader, and I’ve always loved non-human characters in fiction, whether it was The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast. It never sat right with me that the Beast becomes human when I got to understand his vulnerability in monster form; I hated that Ariel wanted boring human legs. I was a romance novel hater for a long time, too, because I thought they were repetitive (and mostly straight). Finding queer indie romance that embraced these monsters and explored what makes them monstrous caused a huge shift in the way I interpret all relationships in literature, and it definitely influenced my choice to write monster romance.
I absolutely loved this quiet, lyrical novella with a sapphic sea monster romance and an underlying paranormal mystery that needs to be solved. The characters were flawed and real to me, and, like the rest of this novella, they were fully fleshed out despite the relatively few pages they have together.
The language is stunning, the pacing is perfect, and the sea monster lady is scaly and incredibly cool. I will be thinking about the impact this book left on me—and the way it proved to me that indie books can be very high quality—for years.
Del needs all the cash she can get, so when someone who claims to be from someplace called The Uncanny Society hires her to look into local disappearances, she takes the job. It brings her to On the Water, a club by the river, where she notices a beautiful woman trying too hard to be overlooked, and who goes out of her way to keep Del from the riverbank.
Saira entered the human world to retrieve the missing Guard of the Northern Gate at the behest of her Eminence, and return to her underwater home as quickly as possible. But…
All my books (I hope!) sweep the reader into another world – it’s one of my favourite themes in the books I love to read, as well as write. When I was about seven, I first read some of the books which would shape my life, including Elidor by Alan Garner and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine l’Engle, which brought me right out of my own life and into worlds as varied as the frightening interstellar realm of Camazotz and the battlefields of Elidor. I’ve been trying to capture that sense of ‘being swept away’ in my own work ever since.
All of Vashti Hardy’s books are brilliant, but I recommend Crowfall because Hardy creates an incredibly immersive world – the island of Ironhold – and characters including a mechanical sea monster, a pet robot, and a very brave boy named Orin. When Orin discovers his island is under threat, and ends up being put to sea in a rickety boat, how can he save his family and home? An unforgettable adventure.
A rip-roaring, island-hopping adventure - and unforgettable ecological fable - from the award-winning author of Wildspark and Brightstorm. 'Hardy has drunk from the same cup as Philip Reeve and Philip Pullman.' - LITERARY REVIEW
Ironhold is an orderly place where "industry brings prosperity", and where nature is pushed aside for progress. But when Orin Crowfall, a lowly servant boy, learns that the island itself is in grave danger, that knowledge makes him a target of powerful forces. He narrowly escapes on a small boat, but then faces a fight for survival with his robot friend, Cody, in the stormy ocean,…
I love wordless books immoderately, and I also love books that have meta, surreal, or magical realism elements. This list combines these two features! I was personally so happy that The Red Book was described in a review as “a wordless mind trip for tots,” and I think all the books on this list would perfectly fit that description (and much, much more!) too.
Impeccable artwork, precision storytelling, and singularly unique invention are all packed into this amazing book experience. The basic concept is brilliant and mind-bending, and actually maybe even a little bit mind-melting. On top of that is an additional treat of wonderful and whimsical glimpses into a magical undersea world, obviously painted with true passion for the subject matter.
A bright, science-minded boy goes to the beach equipped to collect and examine flotsam--anything floating that has been washed ashore. Bottles, lost toys, small objects of every description are among his usual finds. But there's no way he could have prepared for one particular discovery: a barnacle-encrusted underwater camera, with its own secrets to share . . . and to keep. In each of his amazing picture books, David Wiesner has revealed the magical possibilities of some ordinary thing or happening--a frog on a lily pad, a trip to the Empire State Building, a well-known nursery tale. This time, a…
I am writing this list because I am a sea monster. I’m the sort of sea monster who loves merpeople, pirates, sharks, dolphins, octopuses, shipwrecks, and…did I miss anything? Oh yes, piranhas. Some people have pointed out that I look like a regular adult human, but really it’s just a trick of the light. I like to make stories, draw pictures, and build miniature environments for stop motion animated films. My typical day is spent gluing miniature flowers to miniature rocks, or screwing miniature chairs to miniature floors. It’s the sort of job that makes you feel like magic is around every corner. Because it is, probably.
This book has this soft slow kind of magic that would be wonderful for
winding down right before bedtime. The images flow through the book and guide
you down into the colorful glowing depths where a family of mermaids guard the
secrets of the sea. The message is lovely as well. Little Pearl the mermaid
discovers that even the smallest of responsibilities, when nurtured properly,
can grow to be hugely impactful.
1
author picked
Pearl
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
4,
5,
6, and
7.
What is this book about?
Sometimes the tiniest light can shine the brightest! Like the other mermaids of the deep, Pearl longs to care for the endless beaches, coral reefs, and towering kelp forests of her vast ocean world. So when her mother asks her to tend to a mere grain of sand, Pearl is heartbroken. It takes all her patience and determination to discover how even the littlest mermaid can transform the world.
Caldecott Honor-winning author and artist Molly Idle has masterfully crafted a modern classic in this mesmerizing tale about the immense power of small actions.
Children feel all their emotions, but I learned to suppress many emotions to avoidcriticism. The youngest, I learned to not trust my intuition. I was taught that the mind wasthe path to success. In my chosen medical profession, physicians use intellect to healbodies. The interconnection of thoughts, emotions, energy as well as interconnectionsbetween people and the environment are ignored.This separation from all of me was sapping me of the joy of living a full life.During my self healing integration journey: I uncovered limiting beliefs, reconnected withmy heart, and dove deep into the source of my pleasure. Bringing this awareness to lightshould be healing.
Children love being unique and different. We live in a culture that celebrates beauty and shiny,glittery wealth and even “having” a lot.
The beautiful rainbow fish was indeed beautiful on theoutside but this did not endear the fish to her peers. This book teaches that in gratitude andservice to others, we show our love.
When we show our heart and share from the heart, this is asign of true beauty, and this helps us better connect with others. And in this way–when we givelove, we feel love.
The award-winning book about a beautiful fish who finds friendship and happiness when he learns to share is now available in a board book edition for the youngest child.
I am writing this list because I am a sea monster. I’m the sort of sea monster who loves merpeople, pirates, sharks, dolphins, octopuses, shipwrecks, and…did I miss anything? Oh yes, piranhas. Some people have pointed out that I look like a regular adult human, but really it’s just a trick of the light. I like to make stories, draw pictures, and build miniature environments for stop motion animated films. My typical day is spent gluing miniature flowers to miniature rocks, or screwing miniature chairs to miniature floors. It’s the sort of job that makes you feel like magic is around every corner. Because it is, probably.
This book is so delightfully silly! Poor little Brian tries to convince
the other piranhas that they’d probably love to try some fruit—but alas, they
would rather eat feet, or knees, or…well…bum! It’s definitely a book that feeds
your inner sea monster!
