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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 is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

 

 

Q&A with Pastor Doug Wilson: "Should Christians read books with magic?"

 

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Doug Wilson: Magic in Literature
Should Christians read books with "magic"?
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"Stand Back," Said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!"
by Patricia Thomas
from HarperCollins
for Nursery-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$14.44
100 Cupboards
by N. D. Wilson
from Random House
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.79
100 Cupboards - Paperback Trilogy
by N. D. Wilson
from Random House Books for Young Readers
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from Viking Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
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21 Balloons
by William Pene du Bois
First Edition from Viking Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
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for 2nd-4th grade
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Abel's Island
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from Square Fish Publishing
Animal Fantasy for 3rd-5th grade
1977 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
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Abuela
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from Puffin Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Acceptable Time
Wrinkle in Time Series #5
by Madeleine L'Engle
from Square Fish Publishing
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.79
Acceptable Time
Wrinkle in Time Series #5
by Madeleine L'Engle
First Edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.80 (1 in stock)
Ace, the Very Important Pig
by Dick King-Smith
from Yearling
for 3rd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
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Adventures in the Big Thicket
by Ken Gire
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by Thornton W. Burgess
Illustrated from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$3.40
Adventures of Bobby Raccoon
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #21
by Thornton W. Burgess
New edition from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$2.98
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by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
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$3.40
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by Thornton W. Burgess
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for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$2.55
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by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
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in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$2.55
Adventures of Grandfather Frog
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #12
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$3.40
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by Thornton W. Burgess
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$2.55
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by Thornton W. Burgess
Una Rep from Dover Publications
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$2.55
Adventures of Johnny Chuck
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by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
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Adventures of Mr. Mocker
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by Thornton W. Burgess
Illustrated from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$3.40
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by Thornton W. Burgess
Later Printing Used from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$2.55
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by Thornton W. Burgess
Revised ed. from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$2.55
Adventures of Paddy the Beaver
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by Thornton W. Burgess
Unabridged from Dover Publications
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in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$3.40
Adventures of Peter Cottontail
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by Thornton W. Burgess
Reprint from Dover Publications
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in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$2.55
Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Charles Folkard
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Charles Folkard
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Carlo Collodi
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Adventures of Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.L. Rosenthal, illustrated by Troy Howell
from Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-8th grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
Adventures of Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi, translated by Carol Della Chiesa, illustrated by Attilio Mussino
1969 printing from Macmillan
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Poor Mrs. Quack
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by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$2.55
Adventures of Prickly Porky
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #17
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$2.55
Adventures of Reddy Fox
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #5
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
Animal Stories: Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$3.40
Adventures of Sammy Jay
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #14
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$2.55
Adventures of Sir Balin the Ill-Fated
The Knights' Tales
by Gerald Morris
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.94
Adventures of Sir Gawain the True
The Knights' Tales
by Gerald Morris
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.94
Adventures of Sir Givret the Short
The Knights' Tales Book 2
by Gerald Morris
from Sandpiper Books
for 5th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great
The Knights' Tales Book 1
by Gerald Morris
Reprint from Sandpiper Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.94 $3.40 (2 in stock)
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by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 1st-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$3.40
Adventures of Vin Fiz
by Clive Cussler
from Philomel Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$5.95 (1 in stock)
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by Aesop
1st edition from Checkerboard Press
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.10 (1 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Aesop, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fables for 2nd-6th grade
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop
from Henry Holt and Company
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.34
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, edited by Ann McGovern
from Scholastic Inc.
for Nursery-2nd grade
$2.13 (2 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop
from Chronicle Books
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Aesop's Fables
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Aesop
from Grosset & Dunlap
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Illustrated Junior Library (Location: VIN-IJL)
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