A story of acceptance, love, and the universal feeling of other-ness, Kevin Henkes’s Chrysanthemum is a story for every child. Our titular heroine loves her one-of-a-kind name. That is, until her classmates point out its length and eccentricity. Suddenly, the happy little Chrysanthemum is self-conscious and hyper-aware of her difference. With a little help from her teacher, Mrs. Delphinium Twinkle, however, Chrysanthemum learns to find the melody in her unique name.

After two decades of teaching kids that their differences are not flaws, Chrysanthemum remains an important story for young readers today. Henkes has a knack for creating silly characters in important stories, told with beautiful words. To this day, I can remember my mother’s exact cadence when she read the refrain of this book: “Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum…”

Often, books with themes of self-acceptance can be cheesy. Henkes avoids this pitfall with charming characters, beautiful illustrations, and a message that resonates with subtlety. Chrysanthemum perfectly captures the fine line between feeling strange and feeling special as a child.

“Once upon a time there was no alphabet. Only numbers.” So begins The Numberlys, an imaginative picture book about how the alphabet came to be. Five friends decide their orderly existence needs something different, something MORE, than the ten numbers. A series of wordless spreads show the friends hammering and welding beams into letters, until they’ve created all 26. Suddenly things have names (jellybeans! pizza!), and the gray palette of the artwork bursts into color in a joyful celebration of letters and words. The Numberlys is less an alphabet book and more about having the courage to innovate—to think outside the box in a world that encourages strict rule-following and sameness. This message even shines through in the book’s design; the interior plays with text placement and the orientation at which the reader has to hold the book, and the jacket is a transparent material printed with silhouettes of the characters and the book title. A unique and beautiful offering for young makers, thinkers, and innovators.

Fables, history, and magical realism collide in this middle-grade novel following three characters from different times and locations, and the harmonica which binds them together. Following a Grimm-style fairytale, the story begins with Friedrich and his father, who are attempting to flee Nazi Germany; the reader is then introduced to Mike, an orphan trying to look out for his younger brother in Depression-era Pennsylvania; before finally moving on to Ivy, the daughter of Mexican immigrants who agree to take care of a farm when its Japanese owners are sent to an internment camp. Each section offers a vibrant glimpse of world history, as viewed through each character’s personal struggles. In the end, all three stories are tied together with the message that through family and music, we can overcome the injustices of the world. Keep an ear out for this poignant historical novel.

Leigh Bardugo weaves a complicated fantastical realm in this first book of the Grisha Trilogy. We follow Alina, an orphan who serves as an apprentice to a cartographer, on a ship that is bound for the Shadow Fold—a realm of pitch darkness filled with unspeakable monsters that has spread across the country. During a grizzly fight in the Shadow Fold, Alina’s powers of light awaken and she is shepherded into the dazzling world of the Grisha as the last hope of eliminating the Fold. Working together with the most powerful of the Grisha, the Darkling, Alina learns to harness and control her powers and her feelings for the Darkling while she is still pining for her childhood friend and love, Mal, who was wounded during the fight. There’s a fair amount of twists and turns throughout this first book to keep readers on their toes. Alina is your average YA heroine who packs a punch while still trying to find her way through life and the new opportunities available to her. The emotional stakes remain high as her passion wavers back and forth between the Darkling and Mal. The ending gives way to an explosive setup for the rest of the series.