Well of Witches: The Thickety, Book 3

There's lots of action, plot twists, creepy images, and heartstring-tugging as J.A. White's young heroes face human and supernatural monsters in a desperate quest to save their father and their world. Striking a nice balance between world-building, character development, and thrilling adventure, Well of Witches sets up the finale in Book 4. Along the way, it delivers many messages about kindness and empathy that resonate strongly with our own world as well as the Thickety's, such as this, from the founder of a magic academy, on why witches in training had to submit to a period of living as ordinary people with no special powers:

"[It] would have been a very poor school indeed if we focused only on how to use magic and spent no time on the when and why. In my day those with the gift were revered and admired from birth. They were exalted above all others. Imagine if you had been told your entire life that you were more important than other people. Something truly terrible might happen. You might start to believe it! You might begin thinking, 'Why should I help any of these sheep around me?' For those with true power, such thoughts are the first steps down a dark, dark path. That's why it was crucial that students experience firsthand what it was like to be powerless, poor, downtrodden -- to understand life from a different perspective. Nothing quells the dark temptations of power better than empathy."