Nahoko Uehashi’s The Beast Player is an epic YA fantasy about a girl with a special power to communicate with magical beasts and the warring kingdom only she can save.
The Beast Player
magical creatures
Sweep
In nineteenth-century England, after her father’s disappearance Nan Sparrow, ten, works as a “climbing boy,” aiding chimney sweeps, but when her most treasured possessions end up in a fireplace, she unwittingly creates a golem.
The Hidden Star
Nolitye lives in a shack with her mother Thembi in Phola, a dusty township on the edge of Johannesburg. She is good at maths and likes collecting stones, which she places in a bucket under her bed. She also has unusual powers: she can communicate with dogs. Nolitye has two close friends, Bheki, who is overweight, and the bespectacled Four Eyes, who join with her to resist the bullying from Rotten Nellie and her gang of Spoilers. One day, Nolitye finds a special stone that has the power to make people feel happy and laugh. Her mission from now on is to gather together the other pieces of the stone and reunite them, to stop darkness from taking control of her world.
My Little Small
A Creature who cannot tolerate sunlight lives in a gray cave, longing for something small to care for, until a sun spark appears and teaches her about the world outside.
Monster Nanny
When their mother wins a trip while their father is away, Halley, Koby, and Mimi’s lives are turned upside-down by a hairy, smelly, half-troll nanny.
Yokki and the Parno Gry
When a Traveller family experiences a run of bad luck, an imaginative boy called Yokki lifts their spirits with tales of a magical white horse.
Winterfrost
An ordinary Danish Christmas turns extraordinary when a family overlooks an important folkloric tradition. Christmas has come, and with it a sparkling white winterfrost over the countryside. But twelve-year-old Bettina’s parents have been called away unexpectedly, leaving her in charge of the house, the farm, and baby Pia. In all the confusion, Bettina’s family neglects to set out the traditional bowl of Christmas rice pudding for the tiny nisse who are rumored to look after the family and their livestock. No one besides her grandfather ever believed the nisse were real, so what harm could there be in forgetting this silly custom? But when baby Pia disappears during a nap, the magic of the nisse makes itself known. To find her sister and set things right, Bettina must venture into the miniature world of these usually helpful, but sometimes mischievous folk. A delightful winter adventure for lovers of the legendary and miraculous.
The Stone Fey
Maddy, a young woman who runs sheep on her family farm, develops an unusual relationship with an elusive mountain creature called a fey.
Bagpipes, Beasties And Bogles
Charlie McCandlewick is a nightsweep. But he doesn’t sweep chimneys – oh no. While children are tucked up safely in their beds, Charlie takes care of the bogle creatures of the night: the Nippers and Nabbers who hide under your bed, the Croakies who flap about in cupboards and the Whigmaleeries who wail at windows. But once they’ve been safely captured in his thistle-cloth bag, what does Charlie do with all the beasties? This brilliant story from author and illustrator Tim Archbold will become a firm favourite with children and parents alike. Narrated in a hilarious, quirky style, with wonderfully illustrated beasties and bogles waiting to jump off each page, it will captivate readers until the final surprise twist.
The Book Of The Sandman And The Alphabet Of Sleep
Two travelers discover the secrets of sleep from the Sandman himself. Includes a book-within-a-book with helpful hints for both sleepyheads and insomniacs.