Does something exist even if you can’t see it? A humorous bedtime story for budding philosophers.

Dounia is the story of a little girl who loves her home city of Aleppo, Syria, and its many smells, sights, and traditions. But when war breaks out, Dounia and her grandparents must flee Aleppo to find safety. Before they go, their neighbour reads their future in a cup of coffee, she sees a long difficult journey ahead of the family and a blue house awaiting them at the end. Taking only a bird carved from Aleppo soap and four little barake seeds in her pocket, Dounia faces dangerous waters, a camp surrounded by barbed wire, and unfriendly soldiers, and she wonders where she and her family belong in the world. Remembering the ancient knowledge that barake seeds ward off evil, she pulls one from her pocket to use for each of the threats they face. Magically, the seeds from their faraway home help them along their way, until they finally find the blue house at the end of their journey. In her new home, Dounia plants her final seed in a pot so it can grow and offer more seeds, while also keeping a piece of Aleppo with her. The baraké seeds represent the Syrian culture. Although Dounia is fleeing her country, she carries with her the strength of her people. It is by tapping into her roots, represented by the seeds, that she finds her own strength and resilience. The magical moments brought about by the baraké seeds can be interpreted as Dounia’s imagination it’s a way of seeing the war and the migration from a six year old’s perspective. Dounia does not understand everything that is going on, but she is not a powerless victim. By using the seeds, she feels she is taking an active part in her own destiny. In the end, whether it is magic or Dounia’s imagination at play, it’s a story about obstacles faced by migrants and about the courage they have in facing these obstacles. As Marya puts it in her article for TBI Magazine, it reverses the common narrative in North American media that Syria is synonymous with devastation and destruction, and that Syrian refugees can only be victims of their circumstance, rather than brave, vibrant heroes who can take charge of their own stories.

Seventeen year old Chinese Filipina Chloe’s father sets her up on a marathon of arranged dates in hopes of convincing her to stay close to their Manila home for college.

“The first middle-grade book from a picture book master-a harrowing, heartrending, illustrated account of his childhood escape from the terrors of war”–

All Momo wants for her twelfth birthay is an ordinary life, but instead she finds out she is half human, half goddess and must unlock her divine powers to save her mother’s life and keep countless evil spirits from escaping Yomi, the land of the dead.

Lonely seven-year-old Harold Phillip Snipperpot is excited when his parents, not known for their affection, throw him a birthday party attended exclusively by animals, but things take a turn when his guests start destorying the house, forcing Harold to try and save his party from calamity with surprising results.

Twelve year old Iveliz is trying to manage her mental health and advocate for the help and understanding she deserves, but in the meantime her new friend calls her crazy and her abuela Mimi dismisses the therapy and medicine Iveliz needs to feel like herself.

The resilience of two cousins is tested when one of them is lost at sea and washes up on a deserted island while the other remains at home, holding on to the belief that her beloved cousin is still alive.

“With a mix of sidebars, illustrations, photos, and graphic panels, this book uncovers the hidden truths about history’s pandemics, from the Black Death to COVID-19”–

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them meets Neil Gaiman in this thrilling novel about an Iranian American girl who discovers that her father was secretly a veterinarian to mythical creatures and that she must take up his mantle, despite the many dangers.