The Madre de Aguas of Cuba: The Unicorn Rescue Society: 5

These books are delightful, the kids are resourceful and real, the Professor is hilarious and earnest, the creatures are fantastical, and they introduce interesting myths and legends from different places and cultures. The books touch on some challenging topics - species loss due to habitat destruction, separation of families across borders, environmental pollution by big industry - but they aren't preachy or trite. Opens up the topic for conversation, and embeds them in truly fun and engaging stories. Another thing I love about them is there really isn't a romantic interest for the kids - the kids are just kids and buddies with each other. Bonus multi-racial, multi-ethnic main characters, again, without being preachy or trite about diversity. If you love these books, also search for the card game on Kickstarter!

We have read and listened to the whole serious upwards of five times with my six year old boy. Adam Gidwitz is our favorite children’s author and these books are well written, absolutely hilarious and the characters are so lovable, even the bad guys are great. Most importantly, there’s so much geopolitical and folkloric research that is apparent to have gone into them, it’s just impressive. Maybe the mythical creatures are not real, but the cultural references and lore they are based on are very real and this team of authors have studied them well. We cannot wait until more books in the series come out! I wish I could give this 10 stars.

There are far fewer modern book series for this middle pre-teen range... An older kid can read these books quickly for a wholesome, but very interesting, long car ride or flight or swing in a hammock. For a younger kid you can read it to them and there's enough excitement without anything truly scary.There's really good ethical considerations in each book and they are also quite funny.Five stars!

My 9 year old loves this series and waits to each next release. I’m so glad we found some book series he enjoys abecause reading is his weaker subject and he’s improving because she likes to read these books

My daughter adores this series, the only thing she doesn't like is waiting for the next book to release.