These books are so much fun to read out loud. This one and the first are some of our family's very favorites that we've read over the past decade-ish. There were parts that made all of us laugh out loud. The chapters are the perfect length: between 10 and 20 minutes each. Maggie Stiefvater never disappoints, and the chemistry between her and Jackson Pearce is basically alchemy because these books are GOLD. ( )

Love Pip Bartlett and their love of animals (cryptids in their case). Pip can understand the speech of the magical animals around her, even when it's boring, When her magical veternarian aunt brings Pip and her ultra-allergic friend Tomas to the unicorn competition Pip's yearned to see all her life, she's thrilled. But an old friend-- a phobic unicorn-- needs their help and training to make it through the show, that's a distraction. So is a sudden mystery at the show. But there's still lots of fun magical animals, sympathy, and hey, will Tomas actually find an animal he likes? Not as good as the first & third in the series but still fun. ( )