Cover Reveal: How to Decorate a Christmas Tree

Tundra Book Group is excited to be publishing How to Decorate a Christmas Tree on October 10, 2023! With stunning three-dimensional art by Miki Sato and a delightful story by wordsmith Vikki VanSickle, including a twist ending, this book will quickly become a Christmas tree decorating tradition of its own.

How to Decorate a Christmas Tree
By Vikki VanSickle
Illustrated by Miki Sato
40 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735268586 | Tundra Books
Release Date: October 10, 2023
In this charming Christmas tale, readers will follow along with the main character as she shares all the things that go into decorating a tree:
Lights
Ornaments
Popcorn
Hot chocolate
Taffy the cat
Memories
And, most importantly, family!

Q&A with Illustrator Miki Sato

What type of materials did you use to create the cover and artwork inside the book?
For my illustrations, I use a whole bunch of different papers and fabrics that I cut and paint. I’m always on the lookout for interesting textures to use in my work.
I also like incorporating unconventional materials. For example, in this book I used a lot of craft supplies like popsicle sticks, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and sequins to create the Christmas ornaments that show up in the story. Another new thing I used in this book was air dry clay. It was the perfect material to make the red Christmas baubles you see throughout the book.

Were you given any guidance from the author/editor?
There were some notes with the manuscript that explained the basic story beats, but otherwise I was given a lot of freedom with this book.
I knew that I wanted to represent a multicultural family in this story, so I spent time sketching out character designs before the layouts for the book even began. The most fun I had was with Taffy the cat. Something about the name Taffy made me think of a big, fluffy, orange tabby cat.

How many drafts/designs did you go through before it was “finished”? and How long does it take you to create each spread?
There actually weren’t too many drafts needed for this book, and it was mostly changes with the layout at the beginning of the process. We did end up with a couple of more pages than what was originally planned, as we thought the book needed a bit more breathing room for some of the spreads. As I get to work on more books, I’m getting faster at making my illustrations too! One spread would usually take me around half a week until it’s ready to be photographed and edited on the computer. I make sure that my initial rough sketches are very polished so that there isn’t any guesswork when it comes time to make the final illustration.
The most time consuming part of this book was definitely all the tiny pine needles that I needed to cut for the Christmas trees!

What emotions did you want to capture on the cover?
I was hoping to convey that feeling of Christmas sparkle and magic, with the twinkling lights of the tree reflected in the eyes of Taffy the cat, and the little girl. That warm, cozy feeling of putting the first ornament onto the tree. I also got the chance to embroider the letters of the title. It was my first time doing lettering in embroidery so it didn’t turn out perfect, but I think that adds to that homey feeling.

Also by Vikki VanSickle:

Anonymouse
By Vikki VanSickle
Illustrated by Anna Pirolli
40 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735263949 | Tundra Books
Art for the birds.
Art for the ants.
Art for the dogs, cats and raccoons.
Art to make them laugh, make them think, make them feel at home.
But who is creating it?
Only Anonymouse knows for sure . . .
This clever tale mixes street art, animals and gorgeous illustrations to create a meditation on how art can uplift any creature’s spirit – human or animal – when it speaks directly to them. Every page of Anna Pirolli’s stunning artwork is its own masterpiece with its bold pops of color and sly humor, elevating Vikki VanSickle’s subtle but evocative text.

If I Had a Gryphon
By Vikki VanSickle
Illustrated by Cale Atkinson
32 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Paperback
ISBN 9781774880913 | Tundra Books
Sam just got a hamster for a pet. But the hamster is kind of boring . . . he just eats and sleeps and gets his shavings wet. Inspired by her book of mythological creatures, Sam longs for a more exciting pet. But she soon realizes that taking care of these magical beasts might not be as wonderful as she thought. Sasquatches are messy, unicorns are shy, hippogriffs scare the dogs at the dog park, and having a fire extinguisher handy at all times makes dragons seem like an awful lot of work. In the end, Sam realizes that her hamster is a pretty sweet and safe pet . . . or is he? If I Had a Gryphon is a raucous rhyming read-aloud about fantastical beasts in everyday situations – and the increasingly beleaguered heroine who has to deal with them.

Teddy Bear of the Year
By Vikki VanSickle
Illustrated by Sydney Hanson
40 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735263925 | Tundra Books
Ollie is a regular bear with a regular job. He listens to his girl’s stories about her days, he snuggles her to sleep and he is there waiting when she gets home from school. Just your typical teddy bear stuff. So when he is whisked away to the annual teddy bears’ picnic, he feels insignificant compared to the other bears who do daring and daunting things: sleepovers, hospital stays–even a night in the lost and found! Ollie feels even more small and unimportant but he soon learns that it’s not just the big things that matter, it’s the little things too.

For more sneak peeks, check out these behind the scenes shots

Tundra Telegram: Books That Are Critical Hits

Hello, and thanks for joining us at Tundra Telegram, the column where we divine the subjects bom-barding readers, then spell out some lawfully good books to read.

Tomorrow, the long-anticipated movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will grace screens across North America. Starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page (from Bridgerton!) and Hugh Grant, the movie has it all: magic, adventure, an Owlbear! And fans of the iconic roleplaying game have high hopes – or at least hopes this film will be a better viewing experience than the 2000 film starring Jeremy Irons, Thora Birch, and Marlon Wayans!

To celebrate, we’re recommending picture books, middle grade titles, and YA that are the closest possible things to Dungeons & Dragons (without actually being official Dungeons & Dragons books). What does that mean? Elements of medieval fantasy are a must. And some dragons and/or dungeons would certainly help. But any group of adventurers on a fantasy quest sounds good to us! Get ready to roll the twenty-sided dice and try something new with one of our book recommendations!

PICTURE BOOKS

Jennifer L. and Matthew Holm’s The Evil Princess vs. The Brave Knight has a title that’s essentially a campaign. As an added bonus, it plays against type as it asks questions like: is the evil princess, who casts devilish spells, really that bad? Is the knight who valiantly battles dragons and rescues cats as chivalrous as they seem? And D&D is all about playing different roles!

The books Journey, Quest, and Return by Aaron Becker are great picture book accompaniments to Dungeons & Dragons, as well. Journey tells the story of a lonely girl who draws a door on her bedroom wall that takes her to a magical world where wonder and danger abound. Quest follows two kids who follow a misplaced king through an enchanted door into a fantastical adventure, and Return sends that girl back to a magic realm one final time. The three books are completely wordless, which fits well, as D&D encourages you to choose your own adventure.

You don’t need a Monster Manual to tell you that Dungeons & Dragons features a whole host of mythical creatures. That’s why If I Had a Gryphon by Vikki VanSickle and Cale Atkinson is a perfect recommendation, as it features everything from unicorns to hippogriffs and kelpies and the very funny and unforeseen drawbacks of having magical animals as a pet.

Forget Dungeons & Dragons; how about Jockeys & Dragons? Attack of the Underwear Dragon, written by Scott Rothman and Pete Oswald, follows Cole, the brave assistant to the great knight Sir Percival, who must face a terrifying Underwear Dragon on his own. The sequel, Return of the Underwear Dragon, reveals Cole and the Dragon’s conflict in the first book resulted from – spoiler alert – the Dragon’s inability to read signs. The second book chronicles young Cole’s attempt to teach his scaly friend to read – just like in D&D, the possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

CHAPTER BOOKS & MIDDLE GRADE

One of the closest analogs to Dungeons & Dragons is Heroes of Havensong: Dragonboy by Megan Reyes. Four unlikely heroes – a boy-turned-dragon, his reluctant dragon rider, a runaway witch, and a young soldier – must save their world, and magic itself, from being destroyed? With Reyes as our DM, it sounds like a good time, with more campaigns adventures to come.

While the fantasy realms in D&D tend toward the European-inspired, Christina Soontornvat’s Thai-inspired The Last Mapmaker would make a perfect campaign. Sai is the young apprentice to a celebrated mapmaker who’s not who she pretends to be. (Must have incredible charisma stats!) Before long, she sets off on a sea voyage to the fabled Sunderlands – a land of dragons, dangers (maybe dungeons?), and riches beyond imagining.

Speaking of mapmakers, you may also want to seek out the graphic novel Mapmakers and the Lost Magic by Cameron Chittock and Amanda Castillo. A group of magical protectors long thought lost is rediscovered when young Alidade finds a secret door that leads to Blue, a magical creature called a memri who may help her protect the Valley from the merciless Night Coats! The second book, out this April, Mapmakers and the Enchanted Mountain, features Alidade and her new allies ready to restore the lost magic to the rest of the world outside the Valley.

To capture the ragtag group of adventures on a mythical quest feel, you also need to investigate Kelley Armstrong’s A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying. Over four books, ambitious monster hunter Rowan, her twin brother Rhydd, and a growing number of friends and fantastical beasts, fight to protect their homeland – and sometimes monsters – from untold danger.

Similarly, the heavily illustrated Max & the Midknights series by Lincoln Peirce (of Big Nate fame) features a girl who dreams of being a knight. And joined by a band of brave companions, she rescues hostages, battles trolls, and even faces an evil twin in misadventures a bit more comical than the average D&D campaign.

Not a lot of dungeons to be found in modern-day Brooklyn, but there are plenty of winged serpents in Zetta Elliott’s winning Dragons in a Bag series. The four books follow young Jax and friends Vikram, Kavita, Kenny, and more as they discover dragons and magic are real, and travel back and forth between a magical realm and a slightly-less-magical borough of New York City.

Also heavy on the dragons and not so much the dungeons is the Dragon Storm series, written by Alistair Chisholm and illustrated by Eric Deschamps.  Each book is about a youth inducted into a secret league of dragonseers, The Guild, where they train to bond with their dragons and summon their power. Just imagine the party if those dragonseers joined together in a quest!

The subtitle of the Dungeons & Dragons movie is Honor Among Thieves, and we can think of no better comparison than the thrilling Thieves of Shadow series by Kevin Sands. Starting with Children of the Fox, the books feature a motley band of five young thieves, each with their own special skill, hired to steal a guarded treasure from the most powerful sorcerer in the city. From that initial heist, the five criminal friends learn over and over again that you do not mess with magic!

A book series that reflect the fun of roleplaying with a bunch of your friends is Chad Sell’s The Cardboard Kingdom graphic novels. A bunch of neighborhood pals transform ordinary cardboard into fantastical homemade costumes and environments as they explore conflicts with friends, family, and more in their ongoing games of imagination (which are more like LARPing than D&D, granted). A third book, Snow and Sorcery, will be in stores this fall!

And if that’s not an adorable enough adventure for you, there’s Kitty Quest and Kitty Quest: Tentacle Trouble by Phil Corbett. Yes, it’s the fun, swashbuckling adventure filled with monsters and wizards you expect from a graphic novel fantasy, but our two adventurers – Woolfrik and Perigold – are two bumbling kittens who don’t know as much about monster hunting as they should!

YOUNG ADULT

If Dungeons & Dragons is about one thing, it’s about epic journeys where friends and allies are made along the way and in Rachel Hartman’s Tess of the Road (set in the same world as her Seraphina series), Tess – headed for a nunnery against her will – sets out on an uncertain journey across the Southlands, disguised as a boy. She runs into an old friend who is a quigutl – a subspecies of dragon – and they travel the road, making many memorable stops (and friends). The follow up, In the Serpent’s Wake, sees Tess on a similar quest on the sea, to find the last World Serpent.

The graphic novel Witchlight by Jessi Zabarsky takes the D&D tropes of magic and journey, but with a focus centred on queer women. Lelek is a witch who kidnaps a peasant girl Sanja (who is quite good at swordfighting). The duo grow more entangled and friendly as they travel together on a hunt for the missing half of Lelek’s soul – the source of her true magical abilities.

But there are few YA series more about dragons than Christopher Paolini’s classic Inheritance Cycle series. First written when amateur swordsman Paolini was just a teen himself, the books follow poor farm boy Eragon who stumbles upon a dragon egg and – as you might expect – is soon swept into a world of magic, battle, and intrigue. And Paolini fans are in luck, as the author just announced a new book set in the world of Alagaësia, Murtagh, which sees the fan favorite dragon rider and his dragon Thorn in a quest to outwit a dangerous witch.

Kristin Cashore’s Graceling Realm series is great as each book is set in the same shared magical world, but only loosely connected – with some characters appearing in more than one book, but books also taking place in different eras. So, whether you start with the story of Fire, a princess with mind-control powers in a kingdom on the brink of war, or the recent Seasparrow, which follows the (much later) Queen Bitterblue’s sister and spy on a sea quest, you still get a satisfying, self-contained fantasy epic.

Over three pulse-pounding books, the Ash Princess series by Laura Sebastian chronicles the deposed princess Theodosia’s battle to raise an army and reclaim her kingdom from the murderous Kaiser (who killed her mother – this isn’t a spoiler; it’s literally on the jacket copy). Besides the trappings of medieval fantasy, what makes it a great D&D chaser is that Theodosia’s greatest weapon is – as it is with any D&D player – her mind.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t also recommend what Buzzfeed called “one of the best fantasy series of the last decade”: Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes. In four titles, readers follow unlikely allies – rebel spy Laia and soldier for the Martial Empire Elias – as they gather allies in their fight against tyranny and encounter magical jinn and deadly warriors. (The book covers even look like D&D art!)

Sally forth, fellow adventurers!

Tundra Telegram: Books That Are Kind of Great

Hello, and thanks for joining us at Tundra Telegram, the column where we remain attentive to the issues on readers’ minds and benevolently recommend good books that we think are pretty decent.

Tomorrow – Friday, February 17 – is “Random Acts of Kindness Day” may have its origin in a book that we do not publish, but since it started in the mid-1990s, the day has grown into a true movement, with schools across the world participating in a day that celebrates and encourages simple, small acts of goodness to create a positive effect in society.

Obviously, we are very into the idea of kindness – random or otherwise – so we’re recommending books for everyone from the youngest readers to teens that focus on empathy and goodwill. And if, as your own personal random act of kindness, you want to purchase any of these books for the readers in your life, we would heartily endorse that.

PICTURE BOOKS

A wordless tribute to the power of kindness to change a community, I Walk with Vanessa by the husband-wife duo of Kerascoët, is inspired by real events. A girl (the titular Vanessa) is bullied at a school, an incident that affects her and all the bystanders who witness it deeply. One girl invites Vanessa to walk to school with her the next morning, and soon – Spartacus-like – they are joined by other children, because not only is kindness powerful it is contagious.

Can’t get much better in books about kindness than one with “kind” in the title, and KINDergarten by Vera Ahiyya and Joey Chou delivers. Ahiyya is a kindergarten teacher and Instagram influencer affectionately known as the Tutu Teacher. She’s written a picture book about a class that creates a kindness pledge to make sure that their class is the kindest it can possibly be! Even better – it’s a book that celebrates random (and often quiet) acts of kindness.

How kindness can positively affect shy and quiet children is vividly realized in Trudy Ludwig and Patrice Barton’s The Invisible Boy. Brian is an invisible boy at the beginning of the story – nobody in class ever seems to notice him or include him in their group, game, or birthday party. But Justin, the new boy in class, demonstrates how a simple act of kindness can transform an invisible boy into a friend. The book is also available in Spanish for books on la benevolencia.

Trudy Ludwig (you remember her from The Invisible Boy) is a strong author proponent of kindness. And with The Power of One, illustrated by Mike Curato, she demonstrates that every act of kindness counts. When one child reaches out in friendship to a classmate who seems lonely, she begins a chain reaction of kindness that ripples throughout her school and her community. And the power of one … becomes the power of many.

Randall de Sève and Carson Ellis’s This Story Is Not about a Kitten is, in fact, about kindness. Well, it’s about kindness, community, compassion, and – in some small way – about a kitten, TBH. Young readers will love to watch as a number of people and – eventually – a whole family rallies together (The House that Jack Built-style) to coax a frightened cat from beneath a car and into someone’s arms and – ultimately – a warm and safe home.

An average teddy bear learns that even the smallest acts of kindness can make him a superstar in Teddy Bear of the Year by Vikki VanSickle and Sydney Hanson. Ollie attends his first magical teddy bear’s picnic, in which teddy bears from around the world are recognized for acts of courage and kindness that go above-and-beyond. And while Ollie doesn’t think snuggling with his girl or listening to her stories is all that special, he learns even the smallest positive actions can have big impact.

While we’re looking at the concept of kindness through animals (real or stuffed), we have to mention Jonathan Stutzman and Isabelle Arsenault’s The Mouse Who Carried a House on His Back, which is perhaps more about generosity (which is sort of a subcategory of “kindness”). Vincent (the mouse) puts down the house he carries on his back in an ideal spot on a hill. And Vincent makes that house open to whatever tired travelers may pass by – even if it’s a hungry cat (!). It’s like a woodland AirBNB without the bill (or the chores)!

Birds can be kind, as well, as readers of Night Lunch by Eric Fan and Dena Seiferling learn. (I know; I had my doubts, too.) The majority of the book chronicles an owl chef preparing food for customers of his late-night food cart. But the busy chef makes time to prepare a veritable feast for a hungry mouse street sweeper once their evening shifts end.

Mice and owls abound in Little Witch Hazel by Phoebe Wahl, but it’s the title character, a tiny witch who is a some-time midwife and full-time friend to all the residents of her forest, who is the kindness role model here. The book is broken into four seasonal and self-contained adventures, but the common thread is that Little Witch Hazel is a good and caring friend to all – whether they be an injured critter or a lonely (maybe) ghost – and that kindness makes for a more wonderful life for everyone.

Like I Walk with Vanessa, The Notebook Keeper by Stephen Briseño and Magdalena Mora is a story about kindness based on actual events. In this case, a mother and her daughter are denied entry at the Tijuana border, so they seek out Belinda, the refugee in charge of “the notebook,” an unofficial ledger of those waiting to cross into the U.S. for asylum. Belinda welcomes newcomers and assigns numbers, but, more importantly, she treats the hopeful refugees with kindness and instills hope.

What Is Given from the Heart by Patricia C. McKissack and April Harrison is not only a book about kindness, it has the added benefit of taking place around Valentine’s Day (and, accordingly, Random Acts of Kindness Day). This final picture book from McKissack demonstrates you don’t need to have money to show generosity. James Otis is raised by his mother after his father dies unexpectedly, and though he doesn’t grow up with much, he devises a wonderful way to contribute when his church takes collections for a family that has lost nearly everything in a fire.

A boy and his grandma go on a special bus ride after church in the modern classic Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson. When CJ asks his grandma why they don’t have a car or several other material items, his grandma answers in ways that help CJ appreciate and love the world around him. And that goes doubly when they reach their end destination, when they demonstrate kindness by (spoiler alert!) spending their afternoon volunteering at a local soup kitchen.

CHAPTER BOOKS & MIDDLE GRADE

You knew we couldn’t get away without including the juggernaut of kindness in children’s literature, Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Wonder turned kindness to a phenomenon. The book has been a bestseller for years, and inspired the #ChooseKind campaign (seen in schools across North America). Auggie Pullman, the main character of Wonder, is an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. And when he attends a public school for the first time in fifth grade, he helps his community as they struggle (to different degrees) with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.

A kind teacher is at the center of Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea. Seven very different students have never really gotten along until a new teacher arrives and helps them to connect with one another. But when Mr. Terupt suffers a terrible accident, will his students remember the lessons he taught them? (You’d better believe they do!)

Individualism and nonconformity is often referenced as the theme of Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, but there are underlying messages of kindness, as well. Stargirl is different for many reasons, but one of them is her kindness: she remembers every classmate’s birthday, she makes a scrapbook for the kid across the street. Her school is first fascinated by her quirkiness, then loathes her for it, but Stargirl remains committed to her strange kindness no matter what.

YOUNG ADULT

As readers get older, the books get less specifically about kindness. (I guess authors and publishers have figured you should have read all those picture books about kindness when you were younger.) But there are still some YA titles where kindness abounds!

Kindness appears in the darkest spaces in Erin Stewart’s Scars Like Wings. Ava Lee loses nearly everything (and is terribly disfigured) in a massive fire, which drives her into a pit of despair. But then Ava meets a fellow burn survivor named Piper and doesn’t feel so alone. Piper introduces Ava to Asad, a boy who loves theater just as much as she does, and Ava begins to feel hope again. But Piper is fighting her own battle, so Ava must dig into her well of empathy and share a little tenderness with her new friends.

Awkward Persian American Darius experiences understanding and kindness for the first time in a while in Adib Khorram’s Darius the Great Is Not Okay. A perennial outsider struggling with depression, he takes his first-ever trip to his parents’ hometown in Iran, where his life is forever changed by Sohrab. The boy who lives next door becomes a kind friend who makes him feel so much better than okay.

And author Susin Nielsen is known for stories that blend dark, laugh-out-loud humor with kindness, so while many of her books would fit our criteria, we’re going to highlight YA novel We Are All Made of Molecules. The book is the story of families torn apart by illness and death that get stitched back together with a few growing pains along the way. Step-siblings Stewart and Ashley are from opposite ends of the school’s social ladder, but by each embracing a little goodwill and forgiveness, they may actually make their new family work.

That’s it for this week. Until next week, take care of yourself – and each other.

Tuesdays with Tundra

Tuesdays with Tundra

Tuesdays with Tundra is an ongoing series featuring our new releases. The following titles are now available in stores and online!

Ghostlight
By Kenneth Oppel
400 Pages | Ages 10+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735272330 | Puffin Canada
The story of the tragic death of sixteen-year-old Rebecca Strand and her lighthouse keeper father is just an elaborate tale Gabe tells tourists for his summer job on the Toronto Island. Or so he thought. When his ghost tours awaken Rebecca’s spirit, Gabe is drawn into a world far darker than any ghost story he’s ever heard. Rebecca reveals that she and her father were connected to The Order, a secret society devoted to protecting the world from “the wakeful and wicked dead”—malevolent spirits like Viker, the ghost responsible for their deaths. But now the Order has disappeared and Viker is growing even stronger, and he’ll stop at nothing to wreak chaos and destruction on the living. Gabe and his friends – both living and dead – must find a way to stop Viker before they all become lost souls.

New in Paperback:

Fairy ScienceFairy Science
By Ashley Spires
40 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Paperback
ISBN 9780735264618 | Tundra Books
Esther the fairy doesn’t believe in magic. But fairies are all about magic, despite Esther’s best efforts to reveal the science of their world. No matter how she and her bird, Albert, explain that rainbows are refracted light rather than a path to gold, or that mist is water evaporating rather than an evil omen, or the importance of the scientific method, her fairymates would rather just do magic. So when the other fairies’ solution to helping a dying tree is to do a mystical moonlight dance, Esther decides to take it upon herself to resuscitate the tree . . . with the scientific method, some hypothesizing, a few experiments and the heady conclusion that trees need sunlight to live! But while Esther manages to save the tree, she can’t quite change the minds of her misguided fairymates . . . or can she?

If I Had a Gryphon
By Vikki VanSickle
Illustrated by Cale Atkinson
32 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Paperback
ISBN 9781774880913 | Tundra Books
Sam just got a hamster for a pet. But the hamster is kind of boring . . . he just eats and sleeps and gets his shavings wet. Inspired by her book of mythological creatures, Sam longs for a more exciting pet. But she soon realizes that taking care of these magical beasts might not be as wonderful as she thought. Sasquatches are messy, unicorns are shy, hippogriffs scare the dogs at the dog park, and having a fire extinguisher handy at all times makes dragons seem like an awful lot of work. In the end, Sam realizes that her hamster is a pretty sweet and safe pet . . . or is he? If I Had a Gryphon is a raucous rhyming read-aloud about fantastical beasts in everyday situations – and the increasingly beleaguered heroine who has to deal with them.

The Fabled Stables: Trouble with Tattle-Tails
By Jonathan Auxier
Illustrated by Olga Demidova
96 Pages | Ages 6-9 | Paperback
ISBN 9780735267770 | Puffin Canada
Auggie was just like most other boys, except in one way. Auggie had a job. Auggie worked in the Fabled Stables – a magical place full of one-of-a-kind creatures. Sometimes the Fabled Stables changes to make room for a new beast. The whole place would shake, and then Auggie would find a new stall that led to a beast somewhere in the Wide World. It was Auggie’s job to go out and rescue that beast from danger. In this second installment, a new stall appears with a sign: Tattle-Tail. Although this doesn’t sound like a very friendly thing, Auggie knows it’s his job to help. Peering in the new stall, he can see a little village with a tall tower in the middle. The Tattle-Tail is somewhere in that village. Together with Willa the Wisp and Fen, the stick-in-the-mud, Auggie makes his way to the village, where he’s surprised to discover not one, but many Tattle-Tails – all of the villagers have a talking tail attached to them, tails that tattle on their humans, blabbing all their secrets out loud. Auggie and Willa try everything they can to get the tails off the villagers, but all they manage to do is get tails of their own!

We can’t wait to see you reading these titles! If you share these books online, remember to use #ReadTundra in your hashtags so that we can re-post.

Tundra Telegram: Books That Really Slay

Hello, and thanks for joining us at Tundra Telegram, the column where we talk about the subjects hoarding all our attention, and recommend some books that we think are straight fire.

This past weekend, HBO premiered House of the Dragon, the prequel series to their popular Game of Thrones show, based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books. Viewers were keen to return to Westeros and learn about how the House of Targaryen fell – so keen, in fact, that streaming services HBO Max and Crave (in Canada) reportedly crashed for many users.

What better time to recommend some books for children and teens about dragons – books that are too hot, they’d make a dragon want to retire (from appearing in dragon-related books, I assume)? So, let’s not drag on any further (get it?) and jump into this week’s fiery recommendations.

PICTURE BOOKS

What we’re looking for is books with dragons in them, so there’s no better way to start our picture book recommendations than with There’s a Dragon in Your Book by Tom Fletcher and Greg Abbott. But not just any dragon – a cute baby dragon that hatches in your book (as if it were Drogo’s funeral pyre) and young readers must stamp, blow, and flap their arms to save the book from bursting into flame when this baby dragon sneezes!

One thing you don’t see a lot of in Game of Thrones is something you see a lot of in this book: underwear. Attack of the Underwear Dragon, written by Scott Rothman and Pete Oswald, follows Cole, the brave assistant to the great knight Sir Percival, who must face a terrifying Underwear Dragon on his own. The sequel, Return of the Underwear Dragon, reveals Cole and the Dragon’s conflict in the first book resulted from – spoiler alert – the Dragon’s inability to read signs. So this book chronicles young Cole’s attempt to teach his scaly friend to read – even resorting to alphabet-themed undies.

Okay, so the “dragons” in Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor aren’t the kind that fly and breathe fire. But this book by Patricia Valdez and Felicita Scala is about a pioneering female scientist who loved reptiles – especially komodo dragons. Procter became the Curator of Reptiles at the British Museum, designed the Reptile House at the London Zoo, and hosted children’s tea parties with her komodo dragon as a guest of honor (!).

Ellie’s Dragon by Bob Graham is sort of a modern twist on the “Puff the Magic Dragon” song, as it tells of the friendship of small, shy Ellie, and the newborn dragon she finds at the grocery store, Scratch, who may or may not be real.

Though it could have been written by a Targaryen, How to Light Your Dragon is actually written by Fred Benaglia and Didier Levy, and hilariously walks readers through the steps to help a dragon rediscover its fire-breathing abilities. While there are certain handy tricks (surprising your dragon with a cake and unlit birthday candles), readers learn the key is loving your dragon unconditionally.

And though a dragon is just one of the mythical creatures our heroine considers for a pet in Vikki VanSickle and Cale Atkinson’s If I Had a Gryphon – among unicorns, manticores, and, yes, gryphons – it’s among the ones that cause the most property damage, as it comically torches our poor pet lover’s house with a sneeze.

CHAPTER BOOKS & MIDDLE GRADE

When you hear “dragon,” you probably think of castles and knights in shining armor. Well, throw that out the window (like it were Bran Stark), because you need to read Canadian Zetta Elliott’s Dragons in a Bag series. The acclaimed middle-grade series takes place in modern-day Brooklyn, where young Jaxon and friends Kenny, Kavita and Vikram help his mother’s Ma deliver some baby dragons to a magical world where they’ll be safe. Book Two, The Dragon Thief, outlines what happens when Kavita steals a dragon’s egg. And The Witch’s Apprentice shows Jax learning a little magic for himself!

The Dragon Storm series, written by Alistair Chisholm and illustrated by Eric Deschamps, is a series of books, each about a youth brought to a secret league of dragonseers, The Guild, where they train to bond with their dragons and summon their power. Whether it’s Tom and Ironskin, Cara and Silverthief, or Ellis and Pathseeker – each kid and their dragon have a rousing adventure story to tell.

A Dragon Used to Live Here, or so the story goes by Annette LeBlanc Cate – or rather, that’s the story that Meg, a cranky scribe in the castle basement, tells to restless noble children Thomas and Emily. Meg tells them fantastical and funny stories of their mother’s (and the castle’s) past that they frankly cannot believe – kidnappings, loyal elves, true love, archery practice gone amiss, and, of course, a ferocious dragon.

Rowan has had to face all sorts of monsters throughout Kelley Armstrong’s Royal Guide to Monster Slaying series: gryphons, colocolos, and dropbears. And in the fourth and final installment, The Final Trial, she, her twin brother Rhydd, friends Dain and Alianor, and an ever-growing group of monstrous companions, must protect the dragon living in their homeland and prove to all the kingdoms that people and monsters can peacefully coexist.

Likewise, The Unicorn Rescue Society, a series of books by Adam Gidwitz and Hatem Aly, has featured rescues of everything from sasquatches to chupacabras by Elliot, Uchenna, and mentor Professor Fauna. But in Book 2: The Basque Dragon (co-authored by Jesse Casey) they must solve the kidnapping of a fire-breathing dragon in the mountains of Europe’s Basque County.

Including The Dragon Turn, the fifth case of The Boy Sherlock Holmes by Canadian author Shane Peacock, in this list is maybe unfair. But the mystery that teen Sherlock and Irene Doyle attempt to solve is connected to illusionist Alistair Hemsworth, who makes a very real and – for his rival magicians – very deadly dragon appear before audiences’ very eyes (just like those talented visual effects people at HBO).

YOUNG ADULT

If you’re talking YA and dragons, then you have to mention Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. (After all, don’t you have to trust a fantasy writer who has a broadsword?) First written when Paolini was just a teen himself, the books follow poor farm boy Eragon who stumbles upon a dragon egg and – as often happens in these situations – is soon swept into a world of magic, battle, and story. The latest book set in the world of Eragon is The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm, three original stories that interlock with Eragon’s epic, featuring a wanderer and a cursed child, spells and magic – and dragons, obvi.

Not to be outdone in the dragon department is Vancouver’s Rachel Hartman, who first introduced readers to the kingdom of Goredd, in which dragons can take human form and coexist in an uneasy peace with humans in the New York Times bestselling novel Seraphina and its sequel, Shadow Scale. She’s since continued her explorations of social justice and feminist in the realm of Goredd with Tess of the Road and its follow-up, In the Serpent’s Wake. Both books feature Tess and her old dragon friend, as they traverse the lands and seas.

If you like your dragons with a dose of post-revolutionary action, you want Fireborne by Rosaria Munda, a book that comes highly recommended by dragon expert Rachel Hartman. In it, Annie and Lee, just children when a brutal revolution changed their world and gave a chance to potentially enter into the governing class of dragonriders. Seven years of training have made them rivals for the top position in the dragonriding fleet (even though Annie’s family was executed by dragonfire years ago!). And if you like those dragonriding politics, you’ll love Flamefall and Furysong, the other books in the Aurelian Cycle.

And lest you get the impression that European fantasy has the copyright on dragon stuff, we recommend Elizabeth Lim’s The Dragon’s Promise, and not just as a reminder of the importance dragons have to Asian legend. The next adventure after Six Crimson Cranes (which also famously features a dragon!) sees the sorceress Princess Shiori trying to make good on a deathbed promise to return the dragon’s pearl to its rightful owner. Unfortunately, that involves journeying to the kingdom of dragons, filled with almost as many dangers as the pearl itself!

Happy reading, friends!