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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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Fiction by Genre
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50 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 5th grade (Ages 10-11), Library Rebind
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)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Amethyst Ring
by Scott O'Dell
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Amzat and His Brothers
by Paula Fox (reteller), illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully
from Yearling
for 2nd-5th grade
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Apache Gold
by Joseph A. Altsheler
from Appleton-Century-Crofts
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Black Gold (Library Rebind)
by Marguerite Henry
1958 Edition from Rand McNally
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bob, Son of Battle
by Alfred Ollivant
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
2nd edition from Little, Brown & Company
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Cabin on Kettle Creek
by May Justus
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Covered Bridge
by Cornelia Meigs, illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli
from Macmillan
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Danny Dunn and the Automatic House
by Jay Williams & Raymond Abrashkin; illustrated by Owen Kampen
from McGraw-Hill
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Danny Dunn and the Fossil Cave
by Jay Williams & Raymond Abrashkin, Illustrated by Brinton Turkle
from McGraw-Hill
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Danny Dunn and the Voice from Space
by Jay Williams & Raymond Abrashkin, Illustrated by Leo Summers
from McGraw-Hill
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Danny Dunn on the Ocean Floor
by Jay Williams & Raymond Abrashkin; illustrated by Brinton Turkle
from McGraw-Hill
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Dobie Sturgis and the Dog Soldiers
by Carl G. Hodges
First Edition from Bobbs-Merril Co
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Dragon of Og
by Rumer Godden, illustrated by Pauline Baynes
from Viking Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Dream Weaver
by Jane Yolen
First Revised Edition from Philomel Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Edith Herself
by Ellen Howard, illustrated by Ronald Himler
from Atheneum
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Ellen Tebbits
by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Louis Darling
from Morrow Junior Books
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Favorite Just So Stories
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by H. B. Vestal
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 1st-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Fog Magic
Puffin Newbery Library
by Julia L. Sauer, illustrated by Lynd Ward
2nd printing 1944 from Macmillan
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Hercules and Other Tales from Greek Myths
by Olivia Coolidge, illustrated by David Lockhart
from Scholastic Inc.
Greek Mythology for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
In the Hands of the Senecas
by Walter D. Edmonds
from Little, Brown & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
King of the Golden River
Rainbow Classics
by John Ruskin, illustrated by Fritz Kredel
from World Publishing Company
for 2nd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Lucretia Ann on the Oregon Trail
by Ruth Gipson Plowhead
from E.M. Hale and Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Macbeth
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
by Leon Garfield (Abridgement), William Shakespeare
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Shakespeare Materials (Location: LIR-SHA)
Makon and the Dauphin
by Nan Hayden Agle, illustrated by Robert Frankenberg
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Mary Poppins
by P. L. Travers, illustrated by Mary Shepard
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
May Day for Samoset
by Wilma Pitchford Hays
from Coward McCann
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
Me, Cholay & Co.
by Don Schellie
from Four Winds Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Mishmash
by Molly Cone, illustrated by Leonard Shortall
3rd printing from Houghton Mifflin
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Nootka
by Michael Hyde
from Henry Z. Walck, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Nose for Trouble
by Jim Kjelgaard
2nd Printing from Holiday House
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Oh Susannah
by Ruth and Richard Holberg
from Doubleday & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Powder Keg
by Donald E. Cooke
First Edition from John C. Winston
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Princess and the Goblin
by George MacDonald, illustrated by Charles Folkard
from J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
Fantasy for 5th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Robin Hood
by Sarah Hayes, illustrated by Patrick Benson
from Henry Holt and Company
for 3rd-6th grade
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
by Leon Garfield, William Shakespeare
First Edition Thus from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Seven Sunflower Seeds
by John Verney
from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
Silence Over Dunkerque
by John R. Tunis
from William Morrow & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Sophie of the Lazy B
by Myra Richardson, illustrated by Nicholas Panesis
Stated First Edition from Robert M. McBride & Co.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$30.00 (1 in stock)
Steamboat South
by Madye Lee Chastain
from E.M. Hale and Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Sue Barton, Rural Nurse
Sue Barton #04
by Helen Dore Boylston
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Taran Wanderer
Prydain Chronicles #4
by Lloyd Alexander
First Edition from Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Ten Brave Men
by Sonia Daugherty, Illustrates by James Daugherty
from Lippincott
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Ten Leagues to Boston Town
by Dorothy Gilman Butters
from Macrae-Smith Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$40.00 (1 in stock)
Tolkien Reader
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Ballantine Books
Fantasy for 4th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Tom's Midnight Garden
by Philippa Pearce, illustrated by Susan Einzig
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 4th-8th grade
1958 Carnegie Medal
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Vulpes the Red Fox
by Jean Craighead George and John George
1996 Reissue from Dutton Children's Books
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw and Other Stories
by Isaac Bashevis Singer, illustrated by Margot Zemach
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 3rd-6th grade
1969 Newbery Honor Book
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Wild Dog of Edmonton
by David Grew, illustrated by Ellen Segner
from Reynal & Hitchcock
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
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