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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57 Items found Print
Active Filters: 5th grade (Ages 10-11), Trade Paperback, Used Books & Materials
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)
$7.99 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Justin Todd
from Lynx
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
American Fairy Tales
by L. Frank Baum
from Dover Publications
for 3rd-6th grade
$4.00 (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)
Big Book of Animal Stories
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
for 1st-5th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Borrowers Afloat
Borrowers Series #3
by Mary Norton
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman
by Brian Jacques
from Puffin Books
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Cat Who Went to Heaven
by Elizabeth Coatsworth
PF from Collier Books
for 4th-6th grade
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Charlotte Sometimes
by Penelope Farmer
from Yearling
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in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
by Ian Fleming
from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 3rd-7th grade
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$2.50 (1 in stock)
Christmas Doll
by Elvira Woodruff
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$1.50 (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)
Endymion Spring
by Matthew Skelton
from Delacorte Press
for 4th-7th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Flora & Ulysses
by Kate DiCamillo
Reprint from Candlewick Press
for 3rd-6th grade
2014 Newbery Medal winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Gaal the Conqueror
Archives of Anthropos #2
by John White
from InterVarsity Press
Christian Fantasy for 5th-8th grade
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$11.00 (2 in stock)
Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio
by Lloyd Alexander
from Scholastic Press
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Gregor The Overlander
Underland Chronicles #1
by Suzanne Collins
from Scholastic Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Horse and His Boy
Chronicles of Narnia Book 3
by Lewis, C. S.
from HarperCollins
Allegorical Fantasy for 3rd-9th grade
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$12.99 $7.00 (4 in stock)
Jazz Man
by Mary Hays Weik
2nd edition from Aladdin Paperbacks
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Jungle Book
by Rudyard Kipling
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$4.50 (1 in stock)
Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling
from Dover Publications
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Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Joseph M. Gleeson
from Book-of-the-Month Club
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
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$6.50 (1 in stock)
Knee-Knock Rise
by Natalie Babbitt
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-5th grade
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$2.00 (1 in stock)
Knights of the Kitchen Table
Time Warp Trio
by Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith
from Viking Press
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Last Battle RUC
Chronicles of Narnia Book 7
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Allegorical Fantasy for 3rd-9th grade
1956 Carnegie Medal
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$8.99 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Legend of the Dagger Prince
from Timotheos Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harvest House
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$11.99 $7.50 (2 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harvest House
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Lost and Found Journal of a Miner 49er Vol. 1
by Jack Dublin
1st edition from J. Dublin Media
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Magic by the Lake
by Edward Eager
from Harcourt
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in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$4.50 (2 in stock)
Mary Poppins Opens the Door
Mary Poppins Series #3
by P. L. Travers
from Harcourt
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
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$3.50 (3 in stock)
Medallion
by Dawn L. Watkins
from Bob Jones University Press
for 3rd-5th grade
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$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Mouse of Amherst
by Elizabeth Spires, Illustrated by Claire A. Nivola
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
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$3.00 (2 in stock)
Paddington At Large
by Michael Bond
from Dell Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Patchwork Girl of Oz
Wizard of Oz Book 7
by L. Frank Baum
Reissue from Dover Publications
for 4th-8th grade
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$12.95 $7.00 (1 in stock)
Perilous Gard
by Elizabeth Marie Pope
from Scholastic Inc.
Historical Fantasy for 5th-8th grade
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Real Thief
by William Steig
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by Jon Scieszka
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Silver Chair
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Silver Chair
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by C. S. Lewis
from Collier Books
Allegorical Fantasy for 3rd-9th grade
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$3.00 (1 in stock)
Stanley's Christmas Adventure
by Jeff Brown
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Stories Julian Tells
by Ann Cameron
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String in the Harp
by Nancy Bond
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1977 Newbery Honor Book
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Stuart Little
by E. B. White
60th Anniversary Edition from HarperCollins
for 4th-6th grade
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$5.00 (2 in stock)
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Wrinkle in Time Series #3
by Madeleine L'Engle
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Fantasy for 4th-9th grade
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Time Bike
by Jane Langton
from Scholastic Inc.
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Tuck Everlasting
by Natalie Babbitt
from Square Fish Publishing
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Tucker's Countryside
by George Selden; illustrated by Garth Williams
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Two Princesses of Bamarre
by Gail Carson Levine
from HarperCollins
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Two Princesses of Bamarre
by Gail Carson Levine
from HarperCollins
for 4th-7th grade
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Whisper of Glocken
The Sequel to The Gammage Cup
by Carol Kendall, illustrated by Imero Gobbato
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for 3rd-6th grade
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, Michael Clay Thompson
from Royal Fireworks Press
for 4th-5th grade
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$7.50 (1 in stock)
Wingfeather Tales
by Andrew Peterson, et al.
from Rabbit Room Press
for 4th-6th grade
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$9.00 (1 in stock)
Wonder Clock
by Howard & Katherine Pyle
1st edition from Starscape
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
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Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Wizard of Oz Book 1
by L. Frank Baum
Unknown from Dover Publications
for 3rd-8th grade
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from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-8th grade
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