Bear Can’t Sleep
Karma Wilson

Bear Can’t Sleep is a great bedtime story with the rhythm of rhyming to lull a little one to sleep. Bear isn’t able to fall asleep, and all his friends are concerned about him. Read the book to discover how he finally gets to sleep.

Little Owl’s Snow
Divya Srinivasan

Little Owl will soon experience winter for the first time. Davya Srinivasan chronicles the decision woodland animals make as they prepare for the changing of the seasons. Her writing puts you in the forest, hearing rustling and scurrying about. This book is a delight!

Mother Bruce
Ryan T. Higgins

Bruce, the grumpy bear, has a problem—the eggs he was going to eat for lunch have hatched! Enjoy the trouble the four goslings get into, and the parenting problems which ensue for Bruce.

The Prince and the Dressmaker
Jen Wang

Prince Sebastian has a secret—he enjoys dressing up like a princess and going by the persona Lady Chrystallia. Frances is a low-ranking dressmaker with a dream who unwittingly catches the eye of the prince after she makes a dress totally against the fashion status quo. Sebastian hires Frances to make him more of these cutting edge dresses and slowly the pair become friends. Tensions run high when keeping Sebastian's identity safe interferes with Frances achieving her dream of becoming a respected dressmaker. This modern day fairy tale revolves around friendship and acceptance, rather than love. I loved the format; a graphic novel was the perfect way to show all of Frances’ dresses.

Girls of Paper and Fire
Natasha Ngan

Lei is violently torn from her family after word gets around that she has an unusual trait—her eyes are the color of gold. This trait is common in people of higher castes, but Lei is in the lowest caste. She is swept away to the palace to join the ranks of the coveted Paper Girls. The Paper Girls are the eight most beautiful girls of the lowest caste that are chosen to “serve” the king. But Lei doesn’t want to be a Paper Girl and she is shunned by many of the other girls, especially since she broke tradition by becoming the first ninth girl. Lei soons finds out that the real purpose of the Paper Girls is to be concubines for the king. To reject him is to be killed and Lei is determined to survive and escape, while keeping her dignity. This YA fantasy novel tackles some deep themes, especially those of sexual assault and LGBT, which are topical for today’s society.