Skip to main content

Five Faves: Uncommon Mythical Creatures

By

We all have our favorite books about unicorns, dragons and mermaids. But what about a cyclops? Or a gnome? Even though they are out of the ordinary, these creatures are just as fantastical and have the added bonus of opening up new high-quality reading options!

Here are five favorite books about uncommon mythical creatures:

Written by Jonathan Auxier
Illustrated by Olga Demidova
New York: Amulet Books, 2020. Intermediate. 85 pages.

Auggie lives on a magical island and takes care of its one-of-a-kind creatures in the Fabled Stable. When one of the incoming inhabitants, a wisp, is in danger Auggie comes to the rescue with a creative plan and a little help from his friends. 


Gnome
By Fred Blunt
Minneapolis: Andersen Press USA, 2020. Picture Book. 

As we follow Mr. Gnome throughout his day, he is consistently grumpy and answers "NO," to almost every question asked of him! Upon sitting down to fish, he encounters a witch and he soon learns there are consequences for his bad manners. 

By Rowboat Watkins 
San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2015. Picture Book.

This laugh-out-loud story about cakes and cyclopses flips our expectations completely around. You would think that a cake is sweet and a cyclops is mean, but no! In this story, the cyclopses are always well-mannered, and surprisingly good teachers to one rude cake. 


Written by Roald Dahl 
Illustrated by Quentin Blake
New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1982. Fiction. 219 pages. 

This heartwarming classic is the story of how a brave little girl and one gentle giant (who spends his nights giving good dreams to children) work together to stop the other "cannybull" giants from gobbling up "human beans."


Written by Ellen Potter
Illustrated by Felicita Sala
New York: Amulet Books, 2018. Intermediate. 136 pages. 

Boone, an aspiring cryptozoologist, and Hugo, a young sasquatch, both have big dreams. When happenstance brings them together, they become a bridge to make those dreams a reality. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Fowl Play

By
  Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Alice with a Why

By
Alice with a Why By Anna James New York: Penguin, 2026. Fiction. 240 pgs. In 1919, in the aftermath of the first World War, Alyce is living with her grandmother in the English countryside. Her grandmother, also named Alice, tells Alyce (with a y) stories from her childhood adventures in a wonderful land filled with white rabbits and mad hatters. Alyce doesn't really believe the silly stories, she just misses her father who was killed in the war. One day, Alyce receives a mysterious invitation to tea, and subsequently falls into a pond where she is transported to Wonderland. Her grandmother, of course, is that Alice. Alyce is prompted by the Mad Hatter, Dormouse, and March Hare to seek out the Time Being and put an end to the war between the Sun King and the Queen of the Moon. Thus begins Alyce's adventure through Wonderland. I have a certain soft spot for the original story of Alice in Wonderland. It is one of my particular favorites and I often have a hard time reading new int...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Blood in the Water

By
Blood in the Water By Tiffany D. Jackson New York: Scholastic, 2025. Fiction. 255 pages. 12-year-old Kaylani McKinnon can't help but feel like a fish out of water. She's a Brooklyn girl spending her summer on Martha's Vineyard surrounded by wealthy family friends in their mansion. All she really wants is to stay home all summer where she her incarcerated father can easily reach her, and she can keep working to find ways to prove him innocent of fraud and embezzlement. Despite her protests, she finds herself on the island with the snooty granddaughters of her host. Soon after Kaylani's arrival, a popular teen boy is found murdered and she decides to conduct her own investigation. As she tries to discover what happened to Chadwick Cooper, Kaylani finds that not everything on Martha's Vineyard is as perfect as it appears. Thrillers for middle grade readers can be hard to find, but Tiffany D. Jackson succeeds in her first middle grade novel. A quick moving plot, tight d...
Post a Comment
Read more