5 Magical Books to Read in December

Even if December has just started, everyone seems to be in a pretty festive mood, so we thought we should compile a short list of magical books that are perfect to read this month. Just add tea/coffee, a fluffy blanket & candle light and you are all set. Enjoy!

1.A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett – To start off the list, we chose a classic children’s tale, that’s one of our all-time favourite winter reads. Our first contact with Sara Crewe, the main character of this novel, was through the 1995 movie adaptation, that is nothing short of magical. Sara is the young daughter of a wealthy English widower, who enrolls her at Miss Minchin’s boarding school for girls in London. For a while, Sara is treated like a real life princess: she has a gorgeous room, beautiful clothes and everything that a little girl might dream of. But all this changes abruptly when she is given some terrible news that result in a dramatic change of destiny. An unforgettable story that shows readers that it’s not wealth that makes one a princess, but living a dignified life, no matter the adversities. Oh, and we adore this Puffin in Bloom edition of the book, illustrated by Anna Bond.
a_little_princess

2.The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg – To keep things diverse, we’ve also picked a graphic novel, one of the newest additions to our collection. The author and illustrator of this book is well-known for another one of her works, The Encyclopedia of Early Earth. The novel is inspired by the 1001 Nights (stories within a story) and it centers around Cherry and her maid, Hero, with whom she also has a secret love affair. Cherry’s husband makes a wager with his friend Manfred: if Manfred can seduce Cherry in one hundred nights, he can have both Cherry& his castle, so Hero is telling stories every night to distract Manfred from his “mission”. This graphic novel is whimsical, funny and very very witty; a definite must-read & it would also make a perfect Christmas gift, because it’s just gorgeous!

one_hundred_nights_of_hero
3. Tales of the Peculiar, by Ransom Riggs – From the same world as the Miss Peregrine Trilogy comes this brilliant collection of stories, that range from the tale of a fork-tongued princess to the origin of the first ymbryne. This book is amazing for fans of the Miss Peregrine series, but it can also be a perfect introduction to the world of peculiars. The book itself is exquisite, with an intricate golden decoration on the cover and beautiful illustrations on the inside.

tales_of_the_peculiar
4. The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan – A whimsical, slow-paced, beautifully-written jewel of a novel that takes place in a world taken over by water. It brings together myth& magic plus something the we are absolutely obsessed with: the circus (a seaborne circus to be more exact).If this doesn’t convince you to pick up this book, we’ll end the description with this quote from the book: “It’s a grace feather. See how its colors shift from green to blue, like the sea? It means remembrance. It shows that no distance, no amount of water between two people, will make them forget. Someone gave it to say that they remembered you.”

the_gracekeepers

5. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ( The Original Screenplay) by J.K.Rowling – marks the screenwriting debut of the beloved author. Once again we are transported back to the wizarding world of Harry Potter, but this time around the story follows the adventures of the magizoologist Newt Scamander in 1920s New York. Whether or not you saw the movie, owning this beautiful book comes as a necessity to everyone who loves magic and the brilliant writing of J.K.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them