Pocket Bear
By Katherine Applegate
Children's Fiction
Recommended for Ages 7–12

This is a fantastic tale of kindness and bravery. It combines lessons on World War I with a wonderful "Toy Story” like narrative. It also includes a fun history of teddy bears. A Pocket Bear was created to be a tiny token of comfort carried by soldiers in WW1. His eyes were sewn a bit higher, so he al...

And the River Drags Her Down
by Jihyn Yun
Young Adult Fiction

Korean American Soojin and her sister Mirae, like all women in their family, have the power of reviving the dead by placing a small fragment of the deceased being into the ground. Their mother has died in a car crash, but she had warned the sisters against ever using their powers on anything larger than a sma...

Bear
By Julia Phillips
Adult Fiction

I found the book Bear by Julia Phillips in a charming bookstore in Pike Place Market in Seattle. I was drawn to the simple title and its mesmerizing watercolor cover. And I’m so glad I picked it up. Bear brings us a story of two sisters living in the Pacific Northwest whose predictable lives become flipped upside down when an unusual black bear a...