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Romantic Fiction

Between the sickly sweet of Nicholas Sparks and the pure raunch of bodice rippers, romance novels have fallen into disrepute. They're considered (in most cases, rightfully so) to be unrealistic, shallow and poorly written. Such representations of the romantic bond between a man and woman lead invariably to expectations that not only will never, but can never be fulfilled. Why fill our minds with such drivel? More to the point, why let our kids fill their minds with such drivel?

Yet men and women fall in love and get married all the time. Or get married and fall in love, as the case may be. Our best literature examines and chronicles the realities of existence—do we make an exception for matters of the heart? Do we cut out all the bad romance novels....and with them, the works of Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott and George MacDonald?

Just because something can be misused doesn't mean we also need to dispense with its good manifestations. Really, anything can be misused, including those things we value most. Hands aren't bad because people kill each other with them. Words aren't bad because people lie. It's the same with literary genres. Because certain "writers" abuse the romance genre doesn't mean we shouldn't read good romance novels, and even (horror of horrors!) enjoy them.

There are few more universal stories than that of a boy and girl in love. As much as we want to keep our children pure (especially in our debauched society), we also want them to see and appreciate the beauty of true romance. We also want them to understand the difficulties love entails, the self-sacrifice and the frustration, the pain as well as the joy. That's why you won't find any books by Nicholas Sparks or Danielle Steele here, that celebrate one element of love over others, that honor love as a feeling or impulse, but not as a choice or decision.

For that reason, Jane Austen may be the best romance writer of all time. Nothing terribly exciting happens to any of her characters (just as nothing terribly exciting happens to most of us), there are always obstacles to happiness (no romance is truly easy), and yet each honorable romantic attachment ends where it should—in marriage. You'll find all of Austen's books in this section, and many others like them, books that promote purity and honor and humility over the lust and blind passion that fills the romance novels of today.

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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41 Items found Print
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Active Filters: 7th grade (Ages 12-13), In-Stock Books & Materials
Anne of the Island
Anne #3
by L.M. Montgomery
from Bantam Books
Orphan Stories for
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.79 $3.20 (3 in stock)
Anne of the Island
Puffin Classics
by L.M. Montgomery
Reissue from Puffin Books
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$6.79
Anne of the Island
Anne #3
by L.M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
Orphan Stories for
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Anne of the Island
Anne #3
by L.M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
Orphan Stories for
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.49
Anne of Windy Poplars
Anne #4
by L.M. Montgomery
from Bantam Books
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.79
Aunt Jane's Hero
by Elizabeth Prentiss
from Calvary Press
for 7th-10th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
Betsy and the Emperor
by Staton Rabin
1st edition from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 4th-7th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Betsy and the Great World & Betsy's Wedding
Betsy-Tacy #9-10
by Maud Hart Lovelace
from Harper Perennial
for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Betsy Was a Junior & Betsy and Joe
Betsy-Tacy #7-8
by Maud Hart Lovelace
from William Morrow & Company
for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$16.99
Betsy-Tacy & Deep Valley Collection
by Maud Hart Lovelace
from William Morrow & Company
for 3rd-Adult
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Captain Blood
Penguin Classics
by Rafael Sabatini
from Penguin Classics
Historical Romance for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$13.60
Dobry
by Monica Shannon; illustrated by Atanas Katchamakoff
15th printing 1967 from Viking Press
for 4th-8th grade
1935 Newbery Medal winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Emily of Deep Valley
by Maud Hart Lovelace, illustrated by Vera Neville, foreword by Mitali Perkins
Reprint from Harper Perennial
for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$15.29
Emily's Quest
by L. M. Montgomery
from Bantam Books
Orphan Stories for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.79 $3.60 (1 in stock)
Freckles
Dover Evergreen Classics
by Gene Stratton-Porter
from Dover Publications
Romance for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$11.04
Gabriel and the Hour Book
by Evaleen Stein
from Yesterday's Classics
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$8.46
Gabriel and the Hour Book
by Evaleen Stein
from Unknown Publisher
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$3.20 (2 in stock)
Girl of the Limberlost
Dover Evergreen Classics
by Gene Stratton-Porter
from Dover Publications
Realistic Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$11.04
Golden Road
by L.M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 5th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.49
Heaven to Betsy & Betsy in Spite of Herself
Betsy-Tacy #5 & # 6
by Maud Hart Lovelace
from Harper Perennial
for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$18.70
Keeper of the Bees
by Gene Stratton-Porter, illustrated by Gordon Grant, decorations by Lee Thayer
from Purple House Press
for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$13.59
Laddie
by Gene Stratton-Porter
from Indiana University Press
Romance for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$14.41
Lantern in Her Hand
by Bess Streeter Aldrich
from Puffin Books
Realistic fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.64
Little Minister
World Juvenile Library
by James M. Barrie
from World Publishing Company
for 5th-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Little Women
Puffin Classics
by Louisa May Alcott
from Puffin Books
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Puffin Classics (Location: FIC-PUF)
$10.19
Little Women
Whole Story Series
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by James Prunier
from Viking Press
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by M.E. Gray
Unabridged from Everyman's Library
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
$14.41
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, Illustrated by Frank Merrill
from SeaWolf Press
Romantic Realistic Fiction for 4th-9th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$13.13
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Clara M. Burd
from Abbeville Press
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$29.75
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrator unknown
Undated from M. A. Donohue & Company
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Mara, Daughter of the Nile
by Eloise J. McGraw
from Puffin Books
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.64 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Old-Fashioned Girl
Puffin Classics
by Louisa May Alcott
from Puffin Books
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.49 $3.60 (1 in stock)
Old-Fashioned Girl
by Louisa May Alcott, Illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith
150th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$10.95
Rose in Bloom
Puffin Classics
by Louisa May Alcott
from Puffin Books
for 4th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$5.09
Rose in Bloom
by Louisa May Alcott, Illustrated by Harriet Roosevelt Richards
150th Anniversary from SeaWolf Press
for 4th-9th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$8.49
Scarlet Pimpernel
Puffin Classics
by Baroness Orczy
from Puffin Books
Action/Adventure for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.34
Scarlet Pimpernel
by Baroness Orczy
from SeaWolf Press
Action/Adventure for 6th-10th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$10.45
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons
by Barbara Cohen & Bahija Lovejoy
1st Beech Tree ed from HarperTeen
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.34 $4.80 (1 in stock)
Story Girl
by L. M. Montgomery
from Tundra Books (NY)
for 6th-9th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.49
These Happy Golden Years
Little House Series #8
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
Realistic Fiction/Pioneers for 3rd-8th grade
1944 Newbery Honor Book
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$18.69
Under the Lilacs
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Alice Barber Stephens
from SeaWolf Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$8.49
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