Waiting for Unicorns — Beth Hautala

A novel about one girl's journey to the arctic, where she discovers the power of letting go of pain and opening up to second chances

When twelve-year-old Talia -- still reeling from the recent death of her mother -- is forced to travel with her emotionally and physically distant whale-researcher father to the Arctic for the summer, she begins to wonder if the broken pieces inside of her will ever begin to heal. Like her jar of wishes, Talia feels bottled up and torn. Everything about life in Churchill feels foreign, including Sura, the traditional Inuit woman whom Talia must live with. But when Sura exposes her to the tradition of storytelling, she unlocks something within Talia that has long since been buried: her ability to hope, to believe again in making wishes come true.

A rich and poignant story about opening up -- to new people, to second chances, to moving forward with life.