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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500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
by Dr. Seuss
from Random House
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in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99
Adventures of Jimmy Skunk
by Thornton W. Burgess, illustrated by Harrison Cady
1920 Printing from Little, Brown & Company
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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
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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
from Grosset & Dunlap
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Adventures of Pinocchio
Illustrated Junior Library Series 2
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by Fritz Kredel
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Adventures of Pinocchio
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by Carlo Collodi, translated by M.A. Murray and illustrated by ??
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Adventures of Pinocchio
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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
by Carlo Collodi, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
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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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Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
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Aesop's Fables
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by Aesop, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
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Aesop's Fables
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$14.99
Aesop's Fables
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (adapted)
by Adapted by David Blair and illustrated by John Bradley, Original by Lewis Carroll
1st.Edition from Courage Books
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
All the Mowgli Stories
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Richard M. Powers
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Animal Stories
by Joel Chandler Harris, illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats
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Animal Stories
by Edited by Walter de la Mare
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Arazan's Wolves
Royal Ranger #6
by John A. Flanagan
from Viking Press
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Armstrong
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
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Arthur, High King of Britain
by Michael Morpurgo
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Babar the King
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Baby Sister for Frances
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Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
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Bartholomew and the Oobleck
by Dr. Seuss
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1950 Caldecott Honor Book
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Bear Called Paddington
by Michael Bond
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Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
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Bear Called Paddington
by Michael Bond
50th Anniversary Edition from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
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Bedtime for Frances
by Russell Hoban
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
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$16.99
Bellmaker
by Brian Jacques
from Philomel Books
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$12.00 (1 in stock)
Beyond the Pawpaw Trees
by Palmer Brown
from New York Review of Books
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$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
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
BFG
by Roald Dahl
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 2nd-6th grade
Bilbo's Last Song
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Riverwood Publishers
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Lord of the Rings (Location: LIR-LOTR)
Bilbo's Last Song
by J.R.R. Tolkien, Illustrated by Pauline Baynes
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$16.99
Bonjour, Babar!
by Jean De Brunhoff, introduction by Kevin Henkes
from Random House
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-4th grade
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Book of Giant Stories
by David L. Harrison
from American Heritage Publishing Co.
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Borrowers
by Mary Norton
from Harcourt
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Box of Delights
by John Masefield
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Box of Delights (abridged)
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Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox
by Joel Chandler Harris, Jane S. Shaw
1st edition from Collins
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Bunnicula
Bunnicula #1
by James Howe
2nd edition from Atheneum
Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
Newbery Honor Book
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Burgess Animal Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-6th grade
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$28.99
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by Thornton W. Burgess
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$28.99
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by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
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$28.99
Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase
by Wendy Mass
from Little, Brown & Company
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$10.99
Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio (adapted)
by Marianna Mayer (translator and adapter), illustrated by Gerald McDermott
from Four Winds Press
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$5.00 (1 in stock)
Castaways in Lilliput
by Henry Winterfeld
1st edition from HMH Books for Young Readers
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Cat Who Went to Heaven
by Elizabeth Coatsworth, illustrated by Lynd Ward
First Edition from Simon and Schuster
Eastern Fairy Tale for 3rd-6th grade
1931 Newbery Medal winner
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory / Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator set
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
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Charlie McTwiddle and the Wobbly-Wheeled Sputter Putter Popper
by Jerry Warner, illustrated by Jim Conlin
1st edition from Windsor Medallion
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Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
from HarperCollins
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Charlotte's Web
by E. B. White
from The Folio Society
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Cheshire Cheese Cat
by Carmen Agra Deedy, Randall Wright
1st edition from Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
for 3rd-6th grade
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Children of the Forest
by Elsa Beskow
from Floris Books
for Preschool-3rd grade
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Children of the Soil
by Nora Burglon, illustrations by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire
1936 Printing from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
1933 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang
by Ian Fleming
from Random House
for 3rd-7th grade
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Christmas Carol
Little Unicorn
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Walt Sturrock
from Unicorn Publishing House
for 2nd-4th grade
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City in Winter
Swan Lake Trilogy #2
by Mark Helprin, illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
from Viking Press
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$6.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Treasury of Aesop's Fables
by Aesop, illustrated by Don Daily
from Running Press
for 2nd-4th grade
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$11.99
Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter
by Beatrix Potter
from Frederick Warne & Company
Animal Fantasy for Preschool-3rd grade
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$32.00
Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh
by A. A. Milne
from Dutton Children's Books
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Cricket in Times Square
by George Selden, illustrated by Garth Williams
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Animal Fantasy for 3rd-6th grade
1961 Newbery Honor Book
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$10.00 (1 in stock)
Crickwing
by Janell Cannon
1st edition from Harcourt Children's Books
for Preschool-3rd Grade
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D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls
by Edgar & Ingri D'Aulaire
from New York Review of Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$22.95
Delver's Danger
Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection
by Susan Thompson-Hoffman, illustrated by Eileen Major Buzzanco
from Trudy Corporation
for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Digging-est Dog
by Al Perkins
from Random House
for Kindergarten-3rd Grade
in Beginner Books (Location: EAR-BB)
$9.99
Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins
by Barbara Kerley
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-3rd Grade
2002 Caldecott Honor Book, NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$19.99
Dinotopia: The World Beneath
by James Gurney
2012nd edition from Calla Editions
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Doctor Dolittle Complete Collection
by Hugh Lofting
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for 3rd-4th grade
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Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures
Doctor Dolittle #15
by Hugh Lofting
from Weekly Reader
for 1st-4th grade
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Doctor Dolittle's Zoo
Doctor Dolittle #6
by Hugh Lofting
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 3rd-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Doll People
by Ann M. Martin & Laura Godwin, illustrated by Brian Selznick
Reprint from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Door Before
by N. D. Wilson
from Random House Books for Young Readers
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$16.99
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
Books of Wonder Wizard of Oz #4
by L. Frank Baum
from HarperCollins
for 2nd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Dorothy of Oz
by Roger S. Baum, illustrated by Elizabeth Miles
from Books of Wonder
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Dragon Used to Live Here
by Annette LeBlanc Cate
from Candlewick Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$17.99
Dream Days
by Kenneth Grahame
from Akadine Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Dream Days
by Kenneth Grahame
from Ten Speed Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
ECL: Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Brigitte Bryan
from Classic Publishing Corporation
for 3rd-6th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
ECL: Gulliver's Travels (abridged)
by Jonathan Swift, illustrated by Don Irwin
for 3rd-8th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
ECL: Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by Brigitte Bryan
for 3rd-6th grade
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
Eddie and his Big Deals
by Carolyn Haywood
10th printing, 1968 from William Morrow & Company
Realistic Fiction for 1st-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Eddie and Louella
by Carolyn Haywood
7th printing, 1968 from William Morrow & Company
Realistic Fiction for 1st-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Edison
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
from NorthSouth
for 2nd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Elephant's Child
by Rudyard Kipling
2nd Printing from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Ella Enchanted - Special Read-Aloud Edition
by Gail Carson Levine
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-7th grade
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Ember Falls
Green Ember #2
by S. D. Smith
from Story Warren Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Ember Rising
by S.D. Smith
from Story Warren Books
for 2nd-6th grade
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Ember's End
Green Ember #2
by S. D. Smith
from Story Warren Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Enchanted Schoolhouse
by Ruth Sawyer
for 3rd-6th grade
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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)
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