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.

In 2004, four undocumented Mexican teenagers arrived at the national underwater robotics championship at the University of California, Santa Barbara. No one had ever told Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they would amount to much until two inspiring high school science teachers convinced the boys to enter the competition. Up against some of the best collegiate engineers in the country, this team of underdogs from Phoenix, Arizona, scraped together spare parts and a few small donations to astound not only the competition’s judges but themselves, too.

Of Light and Shadow is a novel about magic, mayhem, love, and betrayal-the story of a bandit and a prince who change each other in unexpected ways.

A collection of tanka poems, illustrations, and photographs explore biomimicry and show how plants, animals, and objects in the natural world have inspired human made inventions. Includes additional backmatter information about biomimicry, tanka and the natural and human-made objects featured.

A little girl and her grandfather rediscover the Cree language together.

Featured in August 2023’s WOW Dozen on books about Language Learning and Communication.

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.

Two families flee extreme weather in India and come together on a mountaintop.

Tiger Lily and her community, the Indigenous people of Neverland, possess a unique ability: they can choose to grow up. But for now, Tiger Lily is enjoying being thirteen, spending time with her grandmother and exploring alongside her horse and her friends. Then Tiger Lily uncovers a plot by two of Captain Hook’s pirates, who are searching for a mysterious, powerful treasure. Determined to protect Neverland, Tiger Lily sets out on a very grown-up mission: find the treasure first, and keep it out of the pirates’ reckless hands. As her journey takes her from Mermaid Lagoon to the Lost Boys’ hideaway and beyond, Tiger Lily will need to become the brave leader she has always wanted to be. Can she save her home and people she loves before it’s too late?

Two parents love their brand-new baby dragon…even though he is always breathing fire, especially when he’s hungry or tired. Dragon tries his best not to set any more fires, but sometimes accidents happen. And when he unwittingly coughs up another flame while playing, what are his loving-but-slightly-exasperated parents to do? He is a baby dragon, after all!

In fourteenth century Norway, the plague has destroyed Rype’s entire village, and as the sole survivor, she embarks on a sweeping adventure across Europe with the son of an English ship captain and a band of troubadours in search of a brighter future and a new home.