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
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.99
100 Cupboards - Paperback Trilogy
by N. D. Wilson
from Random House Books for Young Readers
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$24.62
Acceptable Time
Wrinkle in Time Series #5
by Madeleine L'Engle
from Square Fish Publishing
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Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 3
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Fritz Kredel
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Adventures of Pinocchio
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Adventures of Pinocchio
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Adventures of Pinocchio
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Adventures of Pinocchio
Travel and Adventure Library for Young Folks
by Carlo Collodi, translated and adapted by Angelo Patri and illustrated by Mary Liddell
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The Knights' Tales Book 2
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$8.95
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Alice in Wonderland
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by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Milo Winter
1954 edition from Rand McNally
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by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Milo Winter
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Windermere Series 4
by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Milo Winter
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Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
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Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Penguin Classics
by Lewis Carroll
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Fantasy for 5th-8th grade
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$11.00
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Puffin Classics
by Lewis Carroll
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Gwynedd M. Hudson
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Fantasy for 5th-8th grade
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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by Lewis Carroll
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Fantasy for 5th-8th grade
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$4.00
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by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
from Candlewick Press
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by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Peter Weevers
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by Lewis Carroll, Illustrated by John Tenniel
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Rainbow Classics
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All My Holy Mountain
The Binding of the Blade Book 5
by L. B. Graham
from P&R Publishing
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Allan Quatermain
by H. Rider Haggard
from SeaWolf Press
Adventure for 7th-12th grade
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Alloy of Law
Mistborn Chronicles Era Two Book 1
by Brandon Sanderson
from Tor Fantasy
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Among the Shadows
by L. M. Montgomery
from Bantam Books
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Ancient, Strange, and Lovely
Dragon Chronicles #4
by Susan Fletcher
Reprint from Atheneum
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$12.99
Andrew and the Firedrake
by Douglas Wilson
from Canonball Books
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$14.95
Animal Stories
by Joel Chandler Harris, illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats
from Junior Deluxe Editions
for 2nd-8th grade
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Animal Stories
by Edited by Walter de la Mare
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Annotated Peter Pan
by J. M. Barrie
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Annotated Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame
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Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
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Annotated Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum, edited and annotated by Michael Hearn
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Ascendence Series
by Jennifer A. Nielsen
from Scholastic Inc.
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Ashtown Burials Collection - Paperback
by N. D. Wilson
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Assassination of Brangwain Spurge
by M. T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
from Candlewick Press
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At Home with Beatrix Potter
by Susan Denyer
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
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At the Back of the North Wind
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by George MacDonald, illustrated by Arthur Hughes
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fairy Tale for 4th-Adult
$20.00
At the Back of the North Wind
by George MacDonald, illustrated by Colleen Browning
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
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At the Back of the North Wind
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by George MacDonald, illustrated by Harvey Dinnerstein
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by George MacDonald, Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
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by George MacDonald, illustrated by Frank C. Pape
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New Children's Classics
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by George MacDonald, illustrated by Charles Mozley
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At the Back of the North Wind
by George MacDonald, Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from David McKay Company
Fairy Tale for 4th-Adult
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Austere Academy
Series of Unfortunate Events #5
by Lemony Snicket
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Morbid Humor for 4th-8th grade
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Bad Beginning
Series of Unfortunate Events #1
by Lemony Snicket
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Ballad of Sir Dinadan
Squire's Tales Book 5
by Gerald Morris
Reprint from Sandpiper Books
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Bands of Mourning
Mistborn Chronicles Era Two Book 3
by Brandon Sanderson
from Tor Fantasy
Fantasy for 7th-Adult
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Bark of the Bog Owl (May 2024)
Wilderking #1
by Jonathan Rogers
2nd edition from Rabbit Room Press
for 4th-8th grade
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$14.95
Battle for Skandia
Ranger's Apprentice #04
by John A. Flanagan
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 4th-8th grade
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$9.99
Battle for Skandia
Ranger's Apprentice #04
by John A. Flanagan
Reprint from Philomel Books
for 4th-8th grade
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$9.00 (2 in stock)
Battle of Hackham Heath
Ranger’s Apprentice: The Early Years Book 2
by John A. Flanagan
for 5th-8th grade
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$9.99
Battle of the Labyrinth
Percy Jackson & the Olympians #4
by Rick Riordan
from Hyperion/Madison Press
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$7.99
Battle of the Labyrinth
Percy Jackson & the Olympians #4
by Rick Riordan
from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 4th-8th grade
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Beauty
by Robin McKinley
First Paperback Edition, 2018 from Greenwillow Books
Fantasy/Retold Fairy Tale for 5th-8th grade
$7.99
Bellmaker
Redwall #7
by Brian Jacques
from ACE Publishing
Fantasy for 4th-9th grade
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$9.99
Bellmaker
by Brian Jacques
from Philomel Books
for 3rd-7th grade
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Bellmaker
Redwall #7
by Brian Jacques
from Firebird Press
Fantasy for 4th-9th grade
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$10.99
Beowulf the Warrior
by Ian Serraillier
from Bethlehem Books
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$11.95
Between the Forest and the Hills
Bethlehem Books Adventure Library
by Ann Lawrence
from Bethlehem Books
Humorous Fantasy for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.50
Beyond the Reflection's Edge
Echoes From the Edge #1
by Bryan Davis
from Zondervan
for 7th-9th grade
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$4.00 (1 in stock)
Beyond the Summerland
The Binding of the Blade Book 1
by L. B. Graham
from P&R Publishing
Fantasy for 7th-10th grade
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Beyonders #1: A World Without Heroes
by Brandon Mull
from Aladdin Books
for 5th-8th grade
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Bilbo's Last Song
by J.R.R. Tolkien, Illustrated by Pauline Baynes
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$16.99
Binding of the Blade Series
by L. B. Graham
from P&R Publishing
Fantasy for 7th-10th grade
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Black Cauldron
Prydain Chronicles #2
by Lloyd Alexander
from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
1966 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$7.99
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)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Black Cauldron
Prydain Chronicles #2
by Lloyd Alexander
Revise Edition from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
1966 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Black Hearts in Battersea
Wolves Chronicles #2
by Joan Aiken
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-9th grade
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Black Horses for the King
by Anne McCaffrey
from Magic Carpey Books
for 5th-9th grade
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$7.99
Black Horses for the King
by Anne McCaffrey
from Del Rey
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Bone #1: Out from Boneville
Bone #1
by Jeff Smith
1st edition from Scholastic Reference
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Bone #2: The Great Cow Race
by Jeff Smith
from Graphix
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Bone #3
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Bone #5
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Bone #6
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