100 Books Like Julia and the Shark

I love Jackie Morris’s introduction about the author of this book's life story. I found it inspiring and heartwarming to learn that it was written by a twelve-year-old girl’s prodigy child. 

I understood how the girl's genius captures the natural world's mystery, fantasy, and wonder and expresses it with crystalline words.

This book is a classic story that transported me to a realm where fairies come alive—I felt I could be there dancing with them, too.

I love the story's initial opening with the magical expression, “Once upon a time.” It’s like opening a gateway to my mind’s eye, imagining life in that country that was very close to Fairy Land, guided by the exquisite illustrations in the book.

I like also very much the simplicity of the names of the characters, like for example, “Princess Niente (Princess Nobody) and of the structure of the story divided into three chapters.

The end is sweet: “Journeys end in lovers meeting, and so do stories.” And offered me a pearl with the quote of Apuleius and the poem.

The introduction of this book struck a chord with me because it describes in such detail the trials and tribulations of the traveler children’s way of life between the historical period of 1914 to 1955. 

It was a time of poverty and suffering for the youngest born from families of an outcast minority community, considered the oldest indigenous group of the population in Scotland.

I understood that the oral tradition of storytelling to the traveler children was like a precious inheritance the children would receive from their parents.

The book offers diverse stories, including animal fables, wonder, and horror tales handed down through generations of traveling people.

I also love the cover illustration with the painting “Harvest Moon” by John Maxwell.

I love how the wonderful illustration of the tree with three children on the book's cover evoked my imagination to read this story. This feeling was reinforced when I opened the book and read the quotation on the first page: “So much world all at once” by Wislawa Syzmborska.

It is, indeed, a fascinating story that immersed me in a rich plot and introduced me to a diversity of characters who gained life in the little town of Blackbird Tree.

In this story, I could see the mastery of creating a tapestry, with the written words as the threads that bring together different worlds, feelings, and emotions, like love, friendship, and forgiveness.

I was tempted to pick the ever-welcoming Moominhouse as my final choice – Mooninvalley is a place I return to often – but in the end, I’ve gone for one of Tove Jansson’s real-world stories.

Based on her own family’s summer house, The Summer Book is set on an islet in the Gulf of Finland, and centres around the relationship between a six-year-old girl, Sophia, and her grandmother. Almost nothing happens – but the island is a world in itself, alive with so many tiny details.

Like Jansson’s Moomin stories, it’s a book you can keep coming back to and find new depths and wisdom each time. 

This book had me with the title alone. Who hasn’t spent a boring school break looking for something – anything – mysterious to investigate? Paul and his two best friends live in a small town in which nothing interesting happens…until hundreds of rubber duckies appear in a nearby yard one morning. Together, Paul (the hilariously observant narrator), Shanks (tiny but tough), and Peephole (whose many fears include the sound of other people’s sneezes) figure out how all those ducks ended up on Mr. Babbage’s lawn. The friendship here is comfortable and worn in, based on fond tolerance of one another’s quirks – as the best friendships usually are. 

The Saturday Night Ghost Club wraps a poignant story about grief and loss inside a nostalgic 1980s package that brings to mind the best of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King.

I’m always a sucker for a group of misfits who band together and learn some important life lessons, and Davidson takes that outline and fills it in with Uncle Calvin, Jake, Billy, and Dove. Uncle Calvin will break your heart, the boys’ friendship will warm it, but the real MVP for me is fierce, wild Dove.

The vibe of this book is sleepovers in wood-paneled game rooms, staying out past bedtime under a full moon, and being on the cusp of leaving childhood fears behind, while learning that the adult world sometimes holds more darkness than you knew. 

Malibu Rising was the first book I read by Taylor Jenkins Reid. As soon as I finished, I read three more of her novels. All of them made me feel great. Hers are stories you can lose yourself in and come out feeling refreshed and optimistic.

Malibu Rising centers around the adult Riva siblings, children whose parents stopped parenting long before the kids were equipped to care for themselves. Particularly impacted is Nina, the oldest, who has spent her life making choices that prioritize the well-being of everyone except herself. 

This is a book about dealing with old wounds, the kind that hide under the surface of successful lives. It’s a story that takes us on multiple journeys of self-discovery and healing. For me, a book doesn’t get more “feel good” than that.

I love wordplay, and Douglas Florian is a master. His poems are short, fun, and well-crafted. He also illustrates his books, in a style that is sketchy, childlike, and textural. When I need a bit of lighthearted inspiration for my own poetry, Florian always delivers. He has written dozens of books, but his book about summer called Summersaults captures the essence of his style. Here’s a delicious sample:

"A Summery"

June: We seeded.
July: We weeded.
August: We eated.

I’m a sucker for YA and love triangles, and the love triangle between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah is one for the ages!

Watching Belly come alive in Cousins is such a delight, and from the moment both boys see Belly emerge from the car that summer, I couldn’t put the book down. Belly’s crush on Conrad delivers such good teenage pining.