Fiction by Genre

Fiction is good. It's not just lies—lies are the dishonest things we tell other people out of selfishness, while fiction is (or should be) those stories used to reveal truth. Not that all stories have to be tied up with a neat moral at the end. Truth wears many faces, and our favorite stories are as varied, and often as unresolved, as life itself.

A good book always has something to say, however. Even if the message is as simple as "it's good to have friends" or "growing up is difficult no matter who you are," there is a message and it can be understood. There are books that are all plot....but they aren't good books. There are books that are all blatant morality and character-building....also not good books, at least in the sense we mean here.

For those of you about to stop reading, know this: we aren't promoting immoral books. Just because there isn't an obvious "and Johnny was happy because he knew that stealing was bad" ending doesn't mean we support kids reading about worldly characters doing worldly things as though this was normal and healthy. But we also don't think Pathway Readers are the only appropriate fiction available to children.

What we mean by "good book" is one which accurately depicts human nature, demonstrates an engaging style, displays a consistent worldview, and doesn't use cheap tricks to get readers interested. That excludes a lot of books. It also includes a lot of books, and they typically aren't the ones filling the new release racks at Barnes & Noble.

We emphasize classic fiction at Exodus Books. That's not to say we shun all modern fiction, but typically good writing survives for years and years and years on its own merits, and those books that fit that description can be trusted more than those still in their infancy. Genres we find particularly problematic are those built around cheap formulas and plots with little to say (fantasy, sci-fi and mystery series come immediately to mind).

Books that rely on non-stop action and thrills are also avoided by our charming and discerning book-buying staff. Kids need to learn to enjoy reading because it's good for them and offers new ways to look at the world, not simply for a book's entertainment value. It's not enough just to read—if you read a steady diet of trash or sub-standard fiction you're really no better off than watching hours of television.

There is a difference between children's and adult literature. Kids shouldn't be sheltered, but they also aren't prepared to deal with the themes and darker elements adults must confront. Most of the titles in this section are "safe"—not a lot of extreme violence, sexual content, profanity, etc. here (though there is some overlap with the adult and children's genres).

Along the same lines, we don't encourage letting kids read abridged versions of classics or advanced material. Everything we offer is unabridged unless explicitly stated—it's far better to have kids read stories at their level than to have them read edited and often misrepresented versions of books not intended for children. If they read Charlotte's Web and Rufus M. as kids, they'll be ready for Great Expectations when they're older.

Nowhere in the Bible does God say "Read fiction. It'll make you a better person." But neither does He say "Have a time set aside for daily devotions. It's the only path to true spirituality." Simply because there's no command in Scripture doesn't mean a particular activity isn't a really good idea. Not that reading the Bible and reading fiction are in any way on the same level. Reading God helps us understand Him better—reading fiction helps us understand ourselves.

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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107 Items found Print
Active Filters: 12th grade (Ages 17-18), Hardcover, Used Books & Materials
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne, Translated by Lewis Page Mercier, edited by Allen Grove
from Chartwell Books
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Windermere Readers #19
by Jules Verne, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen with a frontispiece by Milo Winter
1956 printing from Rand McNally
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies
Hornblower Series #11
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Other Stories
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
from Canterbury Classics
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories Not for the Nervous
by Alfred Hitchcock, editor
from Random House
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Macmillan Classics
by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel
from Macmillan
Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Arctic Twilight
by Samuli Paulaharju
1982 Edition from Finnish American Literary Heritage Foundation
for 7th-Adult
$12.00 (1 in stock)
At Bertram's Hotel
A Miss Marple Mystery #10
by Agatha Christie
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Atlantis Rising
by Robert Sullivan, drawings by Glenn Wolff
from Simon and Schuster
for 6th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Autumn's Brightness
by Daisy Newman
Special Family Bookshelf Edition, 1989 from Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Beejum Book
by Alice O. Howell
Revised
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Beloved Bondage
by Elizabeth Yates
from People's Book Club
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Lost Tales 2
by J. R. R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Mythology, Faërie for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Born Free
by Joy Adamson
Anniversary from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Caine Mutiny
by Herman Wouk, illustrated by John Thompson
from Reader's Digest
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Calamity Town
by Ellery Queen
from ImPress Mystery
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Children of the River
by Linda Crew
from Delacorte Press
for 9th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Chord of Steel
by Thomas B. Costain
from Doubleday & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
City and the Stars
Book Club Edition from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Classic Adventures
by Sir H. Rider Haggard
from New Orchard Editions
for 8th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Codfish Musket
by Agnes Hewes, illustrated by Armstrong Sperry
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
1937 Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$45.00 (1 in stock)
Crying for a Vision
by Walter Wangerin Jr.
from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Cunning Little Vixen
by Rudolf Tesnohlidek
First Edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Diedrich Knickerbocker's A History of New York
by Washington Irving, illustrated by F.O.C. Darley, introduction by Andrew B. Myers
Facsimile, First Printing from Sleepy Hollow Press
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Earth is the Lord's
by Taylor Caldwell
from Literary Guild of America
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Egg and I
by Betty MacDonald
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
Biography for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.50 (1 in stock)
Emma
by Jane Austen, illustrated by Niroot Puttapipat with an inroduction by Deirdre Le Faye
from The Folio Society
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-12th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$75.00 (1 in stock)
Eugenie Grandet
by Honore de Balzac, translated by Ellen Marriage, introduction by Richard Aldington, illustrations by Rene ben Sussan
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Far Lands
by James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Farthest Shore
Earthsea #3
by Ursula K. Le Guin, illustrated by Gail Garraty
First Edition, 4th Printing from Atheneum
Fantasy for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Full Cupboard of Life
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #5
by Alexander McCall Smith
1st edition from Pantheon Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
by Gennady Spirin
from Marshall Cavendish Education
for 9th-Adult
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Good Samaritan Strikes Again
by Patrick F. McManus
from Henry Holt and Company
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Half-Crown House
by Helen Ashton
Book Club Edition from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
House Divided
by Ben Ames Williams, jacket & illustrations by Reginald Marsh
from Houghton Mifflin
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
How to Become Extinct
by Will Cuppy, illustrated by William Steig
from Farrar & Rinehart
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Hundred Days
Aubrey/Maturin #19
by Patrick O'Brian
from W. W. Norton and Co.
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Hunger
by Knut Hamsun
Fifth Printing, 1967 from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$60.00 (1 in stock)
In His Steps
by Charles M. Sheldon
from Hendrickson Publishers
for 9th grade-Adult
in Hendrickson Christian Classics (Location: XCL-DEV)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
In His Steps
by Charles M. Sheldon
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 9th-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #6
by Alexander McCall Smith
First American Edition from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
In This Mountain
Mitford Years Book 7
by Jan Karon
from Viking Press
for 11th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
James Herriot's Yorkshire Revisited
from Michael Joseph
for 7th-Adult
in Great Britain / England (Location: HISMC-BRIT)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Kalahari Typing School for Men
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #4
by Alexander McCall Smith
from Pantheon Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
1st edition from Ballantine Books
Historical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
King's Jackal
by Richard Harding Davis
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Lays of Beleriand
by J. R. R. Tolkien & Christopher Tolkien
1st edition 1st printing from Houghton Mifflin
Mythology, Faërie for 8th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
1st edition from Harcourt
for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Little Prince
by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
from Harcourt
Fantasy for 3rd-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Lord Hornblower
by C. S. Forester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Lost in a Good Book
Thursday Next Book 2
by Jasper Fforde
First American Edition from Viking Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Man Called Cervantes
by Bruno Frank
from Viking Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Map That Changed the World
by Simon Winchester
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Massacre at Fall Creek
by Jessamyn West
from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Merry Ballads of Robin Hood
by Laurabelle Dietrick, assisted by Joseph Franz-Walsh and illustrated by Edna Reindel
from Macmillan
Songs and Ballads for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Miracle at Speedy Motors
No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #9
by Alexander Mccall Smith
from Pantheon Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.50 (1 in stock)
Mirkheim
by Poul Anderson
Book Club Edition from Berkley Books
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Moneyman
by Thomas B. Costain
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 10th grade - Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Moon and Sixpence
Modern Library
by W. Somerset Maugham
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
More Stories to Remember Volume 1
by Thomas B. Costain & John Beecroft, illustrated by Fred Banbery
from Doubleday & Company
for 6th-12th grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Murder of Roger Ackroyd
A Hercule Poirot Mystery #4
by Agatha Christie
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
My Cousin Rachel
by Daphne du Maurier
from Doubleday & Company
Mystery/Suspense for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mysterious Island
by Jules Verne, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
by Edgar Allan Poe, illustrated by Rene Clarke
from Heritage Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Never Dies the Dream
by Margaret Landon
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Nutmeg Tree
by Margery Sharp
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Outlaws of Halfaday Creek
by James B. Hendryx
from A. L. Burt Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Parzival
by Katherine Paterson
First Edition, First Printing from Lodestar Books
for 10th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Place Apart
by Paula Fox
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 7th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen, illustrated by Niroot Puttapipat with an inroduction by Deirdre Le Faye
from The Folio Society
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$95.00 (1 in stock)
Ramona
by Helen Jackson
from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Ride With Me
by Thomas B. Costain
1944 Edition from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Rise of the Mystics
Beyond the Circle #2
by Ted Dekker
from Revell Publishing
for 6th-12th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$12.50 (1 in stock)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Edward A. Wilson
from Heritage Press
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Robinson Crusoe
Focus on the Family's Classic Collection
by Daniel Defoe, Introduction and Afterword by Joe L. Wheeler
from Focus on the Family
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Room Made of Windows
by Eleanor Cameron, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
from Little, Brown & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Roots
by Alex Haley
Book Club Edition from Doubleday & Company
for 11th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Scarlet
by Stephen R. Lawhead
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
School at Thrush Green
by Miss Read (Mrs. Dora Saint), illustrated by John S. Goodall
First American Edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Secret Lives of Walter Mitty and of James Thurber
by James Thurber, illustrated by Marc Simont
1st edition from Collins Design
for 6th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Shadow Puppets
by Orson Scott Card
1st edition from Tor Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Shepherd of the Hills
by Harold Bell Wright
from Shepherd of the Hills Historical Society
for 9th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Shepherd of the Hills
by Harold Bell Wright; illustrated by F. Graham Cootes
from A. L. Burt Company
for 9th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Shrewbettina's Birthday
by John S. Goodall
1973 Printing from Harcourt Brace Jovanich
for Preschool-Adult
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$19.00 (1 in stock)
Snow Goose
by Paul Gallico
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.95 $14.00 (3 in stock)
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Hitchhiker's Trilogy #4
by Douglas Adams
from Crown Publishers
Humorous Science Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Son of a Hundred Kings
by Thomas B. Costain
from Doubleday & Company
for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Song of Hiawatha
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by Frederic Remington
from Bounty Books
for 7th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Stories For Young People: Leo Tolstoy
by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Louise & Aylmer Maude, edited by Donna Tussing Orwin, and illustrated by Herve Blondon
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 4th-12th grade
in Short Story Anthologies for Kids (Location: FIC-ANTH)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Stories to Remember Volume 1
by Thomas Costain & John Beecroft
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 10th grade - Adult
in Short Stories (Location: LIT-ANTH)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Story of Elsa
by Joy Adamson
First American Edition from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Story of Yorktown as told by Conrad Shultz
by W. Walter Van Baman
from Privately printed
History in Verse for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
from Parents Magazine Press
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
The Hurricane
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Little, Brown & Company
for 8th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
The Robe
by Lloyd C. Douglas
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Three Musketeers
Macmillan Classics
by Alexandre Dumas, illustrated by James Daugherty
2nd Printing, 1923 from Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Tom Sawyer Abroad and Other Stories
by Mark Twain
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Tontine - 2 Volume Set
by Thomas B. Costain
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Tramp Abroad
by Mark Twain, Illustrated by David Knight, Introduction by Edward Wagenknecht
from Heritage Press
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Watcher in the Shadows
by Geoffrey Household
from Atlantic Monthly Press
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
12