Tis the Season (Part 1 of Holiday Recommendations)

Hi everyone and welcome back to the Nest. I'm sure everyone has Christmas shopping on the brain, so I wanted to share some recommendations for all age groups to help ease the shopping stress. Everyone loves a good book, and those who don't I honestly think they have not found the right book for them yet.

So I am starting with the young readers, and I do want to preface this with anyone can read these books not just for kids! I see so often at my job that people can miss out on some great and really fun stories because they think "oh that's too young for me." These books may be marketed towards younger readers but anyone can pick them up. I am going to be sharing two great fantasy series that have an expansive world that any reader can love and get lost in.

The Skandar Series, Books 1-5 are now available wherever you get books with the sixth acting as a prequel.

• Skandar Series by A.F. Steadman

  • So, this is actually a sort of reread for me as I initially read Book 1, The Unicorn Thief, back in 2023 and I now have Books 2-4 in my TBR. The story follows Skandar, who on his thirteenth birthday travels to the magical Island to bond with a unicorn and become a rider. He bonds with his new unicorn Scoundrel's Luck, and the story follows their journey during their five-year training period. I won't go too much into spoilers, but I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loved Percy Jackson and are looking for something similar to read. I would also recommend this series to fans of How to Train Your Dragon; I saw a lot of parallels between Skandar and Scoundrel and Hiccup and Toothless. I cannot wait to get into the other books and I hope you guys enjoy Book 1 as much as I did.

• The Whisperwicks Trilogy by Jordan Lees and Vivienne To

  • So, for this one I was definitely sucked in by the cover. This was such a delightful read perfect for fans of Coraline. The story follows a young boy Benjamiah who does not believe in magic and then stumbles into a whole new world, Wreathenworld that was connected to his family's bookshop. As I was reading it also reminded me of the Spiderwick Chronicles, and just a dash of Greek mythology as Benjamiah must navigate the labyrinth that is Wreathenworld so he can find his way home. I absolutely loved Book 1 and can't wait to see how the story continues in Book 2.

The Cover of Book 1 in the Whisperwick Trilogy

Thanks for stopping by the Nest and keep an eye out for more holiday recommendation posts coming soon, next up are the young adult readers! Yet another group that gets overlooked because people think their stories are too young for them, I cannot wait to share some more recs with you guys.