Fantasy Fiction

The "fantasy=escapism" equation is older than the genre as we know it. People in the old days boycotted the Theater, not just because it was a potential hotbed of wickedness, but because it was something other than Real Life and therefore odious to Sensible People. Some radical Christian sects have prohibited the reading of fiction on grounds that only the Bible has any literary value (....even though Jesus clearly told fictional stories).

In our day, fantasy as a fiction genre is more narrowly defined than simply "that which is not established fact." It encompasses stories of dragons, elves, dark and mysterious woods, magic (or majyck, or whatever the kids are calling it these days), unicorns, gnomes, etc. High fantasy usually takes place in a world or realm other than our own; low fantasy imports fantastic elements into the-world-as-we-know-it.

Certainly, there is plenty of fantasy fiction that can be defended on no grounds. The flood of worthless literary drivel with images of buxom maidens and swarthy sword-wielding savages with pointy ears on their paperback covers began sometime in the 1960s and has only increased as its putrid waters have swelled. But there's plenty of good fantasy, too, some of it among the best fiction ever written.

Because good fantasy, of course, has something to say about the human condition. Sometimes taking characters out of the humdrum of Earth-bound existence allows authors more artistic freedom to create the situations necessary to tell the narrative they have burning a hole in their imagination. Or sometimes they just make the story a bit more fun. Sometimes they make it darker, or scarier, or just plain more weird.

If you're J.R.R. Tolkien, the fantasy element plays a different role (mythmaking) than that of the story it frames (the sinfulness of sin and the cost of redemption). The point is, good fantasy isn't just about the fantastical. In most cases (Ursula K. LeGuin comes to mind), the unfamiliar is used to show how even it is ultimately familiar, and if we can see ourselves in the Edmund Pevensies and Gurney Hallecks we read about, the fantasy has done its job.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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100 Cupboards
by N. D. Wilson
from Random House
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
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$8.99
100 Cupboards - Paperback Trilogy
by N. D. Wilson
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Abel's Island
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from Square Fish Publishing
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1977 Newbery Honor Book
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$15.00 (1 in stock)
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by Aesop, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
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Alice in Wonderland
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by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by June Goulding
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll, Illustrated by John Tenniel
from SeaWolf Press
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by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Michael Hague
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by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Nick Hewetson
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by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Justin Todd
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
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by Adapted by David Blair and illustrated by John Bradley, Original by Lewis Carroll
1st.Edition from Courage Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll
from Dell Yearling
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All the Mowgli Stories
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Richard M. Powers
from Grosset & Dunlap
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American Fairy Tales
by L. Frank Baum
from Dover Publications
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Amos and Boris
by William Steig
from Square Fish Publishing
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-3rd grade
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Ancient, Strange, and Lovely
Dragon Chronicles #4
by Susan Fletcher
Reprint from Atheneum
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by Joel Chandler Harris, illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats
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Animal Stories
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from Charles Scribner's Sons
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Annotated Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Deluxe from Random House
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Another Celebrated Dancing Bear
by Gladys Scheffrin-Falk & Barbara Garrison (illusttrator)
from Purple House Press
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Ant and the Elephant
by Bill Peet
from Sandpiper Books
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
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Armstrong
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
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Arrow
by Dawn L. Watkins
from Bob Jones University Press
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$8.99
Arthur's Honey Bear
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Lillian Hoban
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-3rd grade
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$4.99
Baaa
by David Macaulay
from Houghton Mifflin
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by Jean de Brunhoff
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by Elaine Waisglass
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Babe the Gallant Pig
by Dick King-Smith
1st edition from Yearling
Animal Stories: Fantasy for 2nd-5th grade
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$7.99
Baby Sister for Frances
by Russell & Lillian Hoban
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
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$9.99
Baby Sister for Frances
by Russell & Lillian Hoban
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Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
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Baby Sister for Frances
by Russell & Lillian Hoban
from Atlas Editions
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
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Bartholomew and the Oobleck
by Dr. Seuss
from Random House
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1950 Caldecott Honor Book
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$16.99
Bear Called Paddington
by Michael Bond
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
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by Michael Bond
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Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
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Bear Called Paddington
by Michael Bond
50th Anniversary Edition from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
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Bedtime for Frances
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Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
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Bedtime for Frances
by Russell Hoban
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Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
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Bedtime Stories
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Bellmaker
by Brian Jacques
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by Jonathan Auxier, illustrated by Olga Demidova
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by Palmer Brown
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The Land of Elyon #2
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by Roald Dahl
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by Bill Peet
from Sandpiper Books
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
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$9.99
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by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
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