Welcome to the world Baby Sussex! Congratulations are in order for The Duke and Duchess of Sussex — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are officially parents!
Time spent reading together is the royal treatment for a child’s development. Not only do pediatricians recommend that reading aloud begin from birth, but we know from our Kids & Family Reading Report that kids love the time spent with their families! (85% of kids said that reading aloud is a special time spent with caregivers, and 92% of parents agree.)
To celebrate the new royal baby, we rounded up some royal recommendations below that would make perfect read alouds! So snuggle up, open that book, and get ready to read happily ever after.
King Baby by Kate Beaton
All hail King Baby! He greets his adoring public with giggles and wiggles and coos, posing for photos and allowing hugs and kisses. But this royal ruler also has many demands, and when his subjects can't quite keep up, King Baby takes matters into his own tiny hands.Created by Kate Beaton, author of The Princess and the Pony and #1 New York Times bestsellers Hark! A Vagrant and Step Aside, Pops!, this modern, funny, and (let's be honest) realistic take on life with a new baby is the perfect gift for anyone with an adorable little monarch in their world.
Nixie Makes Waves (Mermaids to the Rescue #1) by Lisa Ann Scott
Nixie can't wait to join the Royal Mermaid Rescue Crew. Along with a magical seapony partner, she'll save merpeople in danger and use her natural creativity to keep the seas safe!
But then Nixie gets matched with Rip, a super-speedy seapony who's at the top of his class, but also a strict rule-follower. Rip and Nixie couldn't be more different!
Will Nixie be able to befriend Rip, or will she have to look for another fish in the sea?
Sky Chasers by Emma Carroll
Orphan Magpie can’t believe her eyes when she sees a boy swept off his feet by a kite … or something that twists and dances in the wind. She goes to his rescue only to find herself dangling in the sky. The world looks so different from on high and suddenly Magpie knows what she wants – to be the first to fly in a balloon above the King and Queen of France ...
Snow Place Like Home (Diary of an Ice Princess #1) by Christina Soontornvat
Princess Lina has a life any kid would envy. She lives in a massive palace in the clouds. Everyone in her family has the power to control the wind and weather. On a good day, she can even fly! She loves making lemons into lemon ice, riding wind gusts around the sky, and turning her bedroom into a real life snow globe.
There's just one thing Lina wants: to go to regular, non-magical school with her best friend Claudia. She promises to keep the icy family secret under wraps. What could go wrong? (EVERYTHING!)
Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly
Isabelle should be blissfully happy — she's about to marry a prince. Except that Isabelle isn't the girl who lost the slipper. And the glass shoe on her foot is filling with blood . . .
Isabelle isn't the beauty who captured the prince's heart. She's the ugly stepsister who cut off her toes to fool him. When the prince discovers Isabelle's deception, she's banished. It's no more than Isabelle deserves. She's a plain girl in a world that values beauty. A stubborn girl in a world that wants her to be pliant. Her destiny is a life of misery.
That's what Isabelle believes until she finds herself in the midst of a battle between Fate and Chance. Cruel Fate believes that an "ugly" girl with so much bitterness in her heart can never change her destiny. Roguish Chance believes otherwise. And so, Isabelle is given the opportunity to harness strength she never knew she possessed, and learns that while "pretty" is a noose around your neck, "ugly" is the sword that cuts you free.
Truly Madly Royally by Debbie Rigaud
Zora Emerson is not here to play. She's enrolled in a prestigious summer program, and is ready to use what she's learning to change the world (or at least her corner of New Jersey, for now).
Zora's not expecting to vibe with any of her super-privileged classmates. So she's shocked to find she's got chemistry with Owen Whittelsey, who is charming, funny, undeniably cute...and turns out to literally be a prince. As in, his parents are the king and queen of a small European country. What?
Suddenly, Zora's summer is looking a lot more complicated -- especially when Owen asks her to be his date at his older brother's wedding. Can her feelings for Owen, not to mention her sense of self, survive the royal chaos?
