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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262 Items found Print
Active Filters: 4th grade (Ages 9-10), Used Books & Materials
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)
$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Geraldine Woolkins
Geraldine Woolkins #1
by Karin Kaufman
from Winter Tree Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Jerry Muskrat
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #10
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$4.00 $2.50 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Jimmy Skunk
by Thornton W. Burgess, illustrated by Harrison Cady
1920 Printing from Little, Brown & Company
for 2nd-4th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Aesop for Children
by Aesop
1st edition from Checkerboard Press
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, retold by Anna Milbourne and illustrated by Linda Edwards
from Usborne
for 1st-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
Windermere Readers #5
by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Milo Winter
1954 edition from Rand McNally
for 4th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll
from Dell Yearling
Fantasy for 2nd-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
All the Mowgli Stories
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Richard M. Powers
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Annotated Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Deluxe from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$15.00 (2 in stock)
Bambi
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Felix Salten, illustrated by Girard Goodenow
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
Animal Stories: Fantasy for 4th-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Battle for Skandia
Ranger's Apprentice #04
by John A. Flanagan
Reprint from Philomel Books
for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
Bear Called Paddington
by Michael Bond
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
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$15.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
Ben and Me
by Robert Lawson
from Little, Brown & Company
Humor/historical fiction for 2nd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Beyond the Pawpaw Trees
by Palmer Brown
from New York Review of Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Beyond the Valley of Thorns
The Land of Elyon #2
by Patrick Carman
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
BFG
by Roald Dahl
from Puffin Books
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$8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Black Cauldron
Prydain Chronicles #2
by Lloyd Alexander
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
1966 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Borrowers
Borrowers Series #1
by Mary Norton
from Harcourt
Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
1952 Carnegie Medal
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Borrowers
by Mary Norton
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 3rd-6th grade
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$3.75 (1 in stock)
Box of Delights
by John Masefield
from New York Review of Books
for 3rd-6th grade
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$11.00 (1 in stock)
Box of Delights (abridged)
by John Masefield
from Macmillan
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Bridge, The
Bracken Trilogy #1
by Jeri Massi
from Bob Jones University Press
Fantasy for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Bunnicula
Bunnicula #1
by James Howe
2nd edition from Atheneum
Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Burgess Animal Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
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$10.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
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$28.99 $17.50 (1 in stock)
Candymakers
by Wendy Mass
from Little, Brown & Company
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$9.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Castle in the Attic
by Elizabeth Winthrop
from Yearling
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cat Who Went to Heaven
by Elizabeth Coatsworth
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Eastern Fairy Tale for 3rd-6th grade
1931 Newbery Medal winner
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Cat Who Went to Heaven
by Elizabeth Coatsworth
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Eastern Fairy Tale for 3rd-6th grade
1931 Newbery Medal winner
$6.99 $4.00 (3 in stock)
Cat Who Went to Heaven
by Elizabeth Coatsworth
PF from Collier Books
for 4th-6th grade
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Champion of the Titan Games
Dragonwatch #4
by Brandon Mull
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-7th grade
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$5.50 (1 in stock)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
by Roald Dahl
from Puffin Books
Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Puffin Modern Classics
by Roald Dahl, Illustrated by Quentin Blake
from Puffin Books
Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory / Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator set
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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$13.88 (1 in stock)
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
by Roald Dahl
Fifth Printing from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
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$3.75 (1 in stock)
Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
1953 Newbery Honor Book
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$8.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
Collectors from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
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$14.00 (1 in stock)
Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
1953 Newbery Honor Book
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$6.00 (2 in stock)
Charlotte's Web - Full Color Edition
by E. B. White
from HarperCollins
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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Pop-Up Book
by Ian Fleming, abridged by Albert G. Miller, illustrated by Gwen Gordon and Dave Chambers
from Random House
for Kindergarten-Adult
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$18.75 (1 in stock)
Christmas Rat
by Avi
from Scholastic Inc.
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
City in Winter
Swan Lake Trilogy #2
by Mark Helprin, illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
from Viking Press
for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Colonel Meacham's Giant Cheese
by Rosemary S. Nesbitt
for 4th-6th grade
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$3.38 (1 in stock)
Cricket in Times Square
by George Selden, illustrated by Garth Williams, foreword & updates by Stacey Lee
from Square Fish Publishing
Animal Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
1961 Newbery Honor Book
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Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent
by Bill Peet
from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-4th grade
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Danny the Champion of the World
by Roald Dahl
from Puffin Books
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Danny the Champion of the World
by Roald Dahl
First Edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Delver's Danger
Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection
by Susan Thompson-Hoffman, illustrated by Eileen Major Buzzanco
from Trudy Corporation
for 1st-4th grade
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
Dinotopia: The World Beneath
by James Gurney
2012nd edition from Calla Editions
for 3rd-6th grade
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Doll People
by Ann M. Martin & Laura Godwin, illustrated by Brian Selznick
Reprint from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
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Dragon of Lonely Island
by Rebecca Rupp
from Candlewick Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Dream Weaver
by Jane Yolen
First Revised Edition from Philomel Books
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
by Nancy Farmer
from Puffin Books
for 4th-6th grade
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Edward, Hoppy and Joe
by Robert Lawson
1972 Printing from Dell Yearling
for 3rd-6th grade
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$3.75 (1 in stock)
Ella Enchanted - Special Read-Aloud Edition
by Gail Carson Levine
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-7th grade
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Enchantress Returns
Land of Stories Book 2
by Chris Colfer, illustrated by Brandon Dorman
from Little, Brown & Company
for 4th-8th grade
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Endymion Spring
by Matthew Skelton
from Delacorte Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Enormous Egg
by Oliver Butterworth
from Scholastic Inc.
Animal Stories: Fantasy for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Erak's Ransom
Ranger's Apprentice #07
by John A. Flanagan
from Philomel Books
for 4th-8th grade
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Ersatz Elevator
Series of Unfortunate Events #6
by Lemony Snicket
from HarperCollins
Morbid Humor for 4th-8th grade
in Clearance: Fiction (Location: ZCLE-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fables of Aesop
by Aesop, selected & illustrated by David Levine, translated by Patrick & Justina Gregory
from Gambit
for 2nd-4th grade
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
by Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, illustrated by Kay Nielsen
from Viking Press
for 3rd-8th grade
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them
by J.K. Rowling (as Newt Scamander)
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Farthest Shore
by Ursula K. Le Guin
11th Printing from Bantam Books
for 1st-4th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Five Kingdoms #1: Sky Raiders
by Brandon Mull
for 3rd-6th grade
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Fledgling
by Jane Langton
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
1981 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Fledgling
by Jane Langton
from HarperCrest
for 4th-6th grade
1981 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fog Magic
Puffin Newbery Library
by Julia L. Sauer, illustrated by Lynd Ward
Tenth printing, 1968 from Macmillan
for 4th-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Fog Magic
Puffin Newbery Library
by Julia L. Sauer, illustrated by Lynd Ward
2nd printing 1944 from Macmillan
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
by Arthur Ransome, illustrated by Uri Shulevitz
from Sunburst Book
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-4th grade
1969 Caldecott Medal winner
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Geronimo Stilton #01
Geronimo Stilton #1
by Geronimo Stilton, Translated by Edizioni Piemme
from Scholastic Inc.
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$3.50 (1 in stock)
Good American Witch
by Peggy Bacon
from E.M. Hale and Company
for 3rd-6th grade
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$48.75 (1 in stock)
Grand Escape
by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
from Yearling
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$1.50 (1 in stock)
Graven Images
by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Andrew Glass
1st edition from Harper & Row
for 4th-8th grade
1983 Newbery Honor Book
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Great Rescue Operation
by Jean Van Leeuwen, illustrated by Margot Apple
from Puffin Books
for 1st-4th grade
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Green Smoke
by Rosemary Manning, illustrated by Constance Marshall
from Doubleday & Company
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Grey King
Dark Is Rising Sequence #4
by Susan Cooper
from Aladdin Paperbacks
Fantasy for 4th-7th grade
1976 Newbery Medal winner
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Grimm Warning
Land of Stories Book 3
by Chris Colfer, illustrated by Brandon Dorman
from Little, Brown & Company
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Halt's Peril
Ranger's Apprentice #09
by John A. Flanagan
from Philomel Books
for 4th-8th grade
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter Book 4
by J. K. Rowling
1st American Edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-10th grade
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$29.99 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter Book 1
by J. K. Rowling
Canadian edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter Book 3
by J.K. Rowling
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-10th grade
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$29.99 $15.00 (2 in stock)
Herodia the Lovely Puppet
by Katherine Milhous
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 3rd-6th grade
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$13.50 (1 in stock)
High in the Clouds
by Paul McCartney, Geoff Dunbar, Philip Ardagh
1st edition from Dutton Juvenile
for 2nd-5th grade
in Clearance: Picture Books (Location: ZCLE-PIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Holes
Holes Series #1
by Louis Sachar
10th Anniversary Edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 4th-6th grade
1999 Newbery Medal winner
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Homer Price
by Robert McCloskey
from Puffin Books
Humor for 3rd-6th grade
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$7.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Horse and His Boy
by C. S. Lewis
Reprint from HarperCollins
for 3rd-9th grade
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
House of Arden
by E. Nesbit
from New York Review of Books
for 3rd-6th grade
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$12.99 $8.00 (1 in stock)
How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?
by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague
from Blue Sky press
for 1st-5th grade
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$8.00 (1 in stock)
Icebound Land
Ranger's Apprentice #03
by John A. Flanagan
from Philomel Books
for 4th-8th grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Igraine The Brave
by Cornelia Funke
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
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$5.50 (1 in stock)
Incredible Detectives
by Don & Joan Caufield, illustrated by Kiyo Komoda
from Harper & Row
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.25 (1 in stock)
Indian in the Cupboard
Indian in the Cupboard #1
by Lynne Banks
from Yearling
Fantasy for 4th-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Indian in the Cupboard
Indian in the Cupboard #1
by Lynne Banks
from Weekly Reader
Fantasy for 4th-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Infamous Ratsos: Project Fluffy
by Kara LaReau, Illustrated by Matt Myers
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Iron Giant
by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Laura Carlin
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 2nd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
James and the Giant Peach
by Roald Dahl
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
James and the Giant Peach
by Roald Dahl
from Puffin Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
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