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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'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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Doug Wilson: Magic in Literature
Should Christians read books with "magic"?
47 Items found Print
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Active Filters: Library Binding
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
by Carlo Collodi, translated by Carol Della Chiesa, illustrated by Attilio Mussino
1969 printing from Macmillan
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Annotated Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Arabian Nights: Three Tales
by Deborah Nourse Lattimore
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-2nd grade
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 Jessie Willcox Smith
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
Fairy Tale for 4th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Best Friends for Frances
by Russell & Lillian Hoban
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Brave Davy Coon
by Laurence Hyde
from Harper & Brothers
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Children of Hurin
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 7th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$30.00
Christmas Carol
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
$20.00
Christmas Carol (condensed)
Books of Wonder
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Carter Goodrich
from HarperCollins
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Chronicles of Narnia - Deluxe Hardcover Boxed Set
by C. S. Lewis
from HarperCollins
Allegorical Fantasy for 3rd-9th grade
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$139.63
Church Mouse
by Graham Oakley
from Kane Miller
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Come and Have Fun
by Edith Thacher Hurd, illustrated by Clement Hurd
from HarperCrest
for Kindergarten-1st grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Fellowship of the Ring
Lord of the Rings #1: Deluxe Hardcover
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$40.00
Fog Magic
Puffin Newbery Library
by Julia L. Sauer, illustrated by Lynd Ward
Tenth printing, 1968 from Macmillan
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Frederick
by Leo Lionni
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-2nd grade
1968 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
George and Martha Rise and Shine
by James Marshall
from Houghton Mifflin
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Good Knight for Dragons
by Roger Bradfield
from Young Scott Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$35.00 (1 in stock)
Grasshopper on the Road
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from Harper & Row
for Preschool-3rd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
Grouchy Uncle Otto
by Alice Bach, illustrated by Steven Kellog
from HarperCrest
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$35.00
Hobbit and Lord of the Rings - Deluxe Hardcover Collection
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 5th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$131.20
Incredible Detectives
by Don & Joan Caufield, illustrated by Kiyo Komoda
from Harper & Row
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Just So Stories
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by Rudyard Kipling
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
$18.00
Kenny's Window
by Maurice Sendak
Undated Reprint from HarperCrest
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$35.00 (1 in stock)
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by Roger Green
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-10th grade
$17.95
King of the Hummingbirds
by John Gardner, illustrated by Michael Sporn
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lord of the Rings - Hardbound Boxed Set
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$67.20
Lord of the Rings Deluxe Hardcover Boxed Set
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 5th-12th grade
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$125.00
Magic Leaf
by Winifred Morris & Ju-Hong Chen
from Atheneum
for Nursery-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Miss Pickerell Takes the Bull by the Horns
by Ellen MacGregor & Dora Pantell
from McGraw-Hill
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Mr. Sipple and the Naughty Princess
by Jan Slepian and Ann Seidler, illustrated by Richard E. Martin
from Follett
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Pegasus
by Marianna Mayer & K. Y. Craft
1st ed from Morrow Eagle
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Pet Dragon
by Christoph Niemann
First Edition first Printing from Greenwillow Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Peter Pan
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by J. M. Barrie, illustrated by F. D. Bedford
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
$15.95
Ralph S. Mouse
Mouse & the Motorcycle #3
by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
from William Morrow & Company
Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$2.40 (1 in stock)
Return of the King
Lord of the Rings #3: Deluxe Hardcover
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$40.00
Rosie's Walk
by Pat Hutchins
from Macmillan
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Silmarillion
by J.R.R. Tolkien
2nd edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$45.00
Story of Babar the Little Elephant
by Jean de Brunhoff
from Random House
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Two Towers
Lord of the Rings #2: Deluxe Hardcover
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$40.00
Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
Books of Wonder
by Hugh Lofting, illustrated by Michael Hague
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-7th grade
1923 Newbery Medal winner
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Where's Wallace
by Hilary Knight
from Harper & Row
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
Wilfred the Rat
by James Stevenson
from Greenwillow Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Wind in the Willows
Everyman's Library Children's Classics
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
$20.00
Winnie-the-Pooh: A Tight Squeeze
by A. A. Milne, illustrated by The Walt Disney Studio, adapted by Al White
1974 printing from Golden Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
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