Staff Favorites: Fiction

"Favorite" might not be the right word to describe the fiction books we love. It implies some kind of hierarchy, and while there are books we like more than others, it's hard to arrange theones we like very much into a least-to-greatest list. You won't find anything like that here, just collections of our best-loved stories and poems in no particular order (collections, it should be said, that are subject to change).

Not every book that makes it on these lists is a great book, either—sometimes our favorites are simply those that had a major effect on us, or to which we have a sentimental attachment, or simply that we liked for some ineffable reason. At the same time, bad books weren't included. Not that any of us around here like bad books, but we didn't include titles that were inappropriate or of noticeably poor quality.

The purpose of fiction is to broaden our horizons, help us grow in character and virtue, and provide genuine entertainment. Each of us kept that in mind while compiling our list (though naturally those elements are interpreted a little differently by each of us). It's pretty easy to see what's important to us collectively and individually from these lists, so that should help if you're using them to get reading suggestions for yourself or your kids.

Eli made a decree when he asked if we'd pull together our favorite books: no more than 50 titles were to be included. For avid bibliomaniacs that was a pretty tall order, but we managed, and in consequence you have less than 200 books to scroll through. If the limit hadn't been set, a couple of us would still be hunched over computer screens searching the Exodus catalogue for items to add.

Oh, and the bios at the top of each list? Those are just so you can know what we're into, how we evaluate a good versus a bad book, whether we have a sense of humor (a rare commodity these days), etc. It's like we're chatting about our favorite books with you, though certainly the conversation is a bit one-sided and we can tend to run at the mouth. To prevent that, we'll simply leave you now to browse.

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57 Items found Print
Active Filters: Hardcover
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Sterling Classics
by Jules Verne, translated by Lewis Page Mercier and illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 5th-10th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Sterling Classics
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 7th-12th grade
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Sterling Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$14.95
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Sterling Classics
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Realistic Fiction for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Around the World in Eighty Days
Sterling Classics
by Jules Verne, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Adventure for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Asimov's Foundation Trilogy
by Isaac Asimov
Book Club Edition from Doubleday & Company
Science Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
At the Back of the North Wind
by George MacDonald, Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from David McKay Company
Fairy Tale for 4th-Adult
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Bear Called Paddington
by Michael Bond
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.99
Bear Called Paddington
by Michael Bond
50th Anniversary Edition from Houghton Mifflin
Animal Fantasy for 2nd-4th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Bedtime for Frances
by Russell Hoban
from HarperCollins
Animal Fantasy for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99
Bounty Trilogy (School Edition)
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall
from Globe Book Company
Nautical Fiction for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bounty Trilogy - Wyeth Edition
by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Little, Brown & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Cheaper By the Dozen
by Frank Gilbreth & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
1st edition 1st printing from HarperCollins
Family Stories for 4th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Children of Odin
by Padraic Colum, illustrated by Willy Pogany
from Macmillan
Norse Mythology for 3rd-8th grade
$40.00 (1 in stock)
Chronicles of Prydain
by Lloyd Alexander
Revised 1999 Edition from Henry Holt and Company
Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
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)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Books of Wonder
by Mark Twain (illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman)
from HarperCollins
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Dandelion Wine
by Ray Bradbury
Reprint from Avon Books
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Dune
Dune Chronicles Book 1
by Frank Herbert, introduction by Brian Herbert
Second Ace hardcover, 2019 from ACE Publishing
Science Fiction for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$40.00
Dune Trilogy - Hardcover Boxed Set
by Frank Herbert
from ACE Publishing
Science Fiction for 10th-Adult
in Boxed Sets & Literature Packages (Location: FIC-BOX)
$150.00
Eleventh Hour
by Graeme Base
from Scholastic Inc.
for 5th-Adult
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Farmer Giles of Ham
by J. R. R. Tolkien, Pauline D. Baynes
50 Anv from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$20.00
Giver
by Lois Lowry
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 7th-10th grade
1994 Newbery Medal winner
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter Book 2
by J. K. Rowling
First American Edition from Arthur A. Levine Books
for 4th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$26.99
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter Book 2
by J. K. Rowling
Illustrated from Arthur A. Levine Books
for 4th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$39.99
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter Book 7
by J. K. Rowling
1st edition from Arthur A. Levine Books
for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$34.99 $16.00 (1 in stock)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter Book 4
by J. K. Rowling
1st American Edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$29.99 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter Book 6
by J. K. Rowling
1st American Edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$29.99 $16.00 (1 in stock)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter Book 5
by J. K. Rowling
1st American Edition from Arthur A. Levine Books
for 4th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$29.99
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter Book 3
by J.K. Rowling
1st edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$29.99 $15.00 (2 in stock)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter Book 1
by J. K. Rowling
from Arthur A. Levine Books
for 4th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$39.99
Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
from Houghton Mifflin
Fantasy for 5th-9th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$19.99
Jungle Book
Sterling Classics
by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
Animal Stories for 4th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo, translated by Charles Wilbour
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$42.00
Little House - Hardcover Set
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$139.11
Little Princess
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 4th-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Women
Sterling Classics
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott, illustrated by Dinah Dryhurst
Reprint from Breslich & Foss
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$12.00 (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
$16.95
Little Women
Penguin Clothbound Classics
by Louisa May Alcott, edited and introduced by Elaine Showalter, with notes by Siobhan Kilfeather and Vinca Showalter
Unabridged from Penguin Classics
Realistic Romantic Fiction for 5th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Lost Executioner
by Nic Dunlop
1st edition from Walker and Company
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Moby-Dick
Everyman's Library
by Herman Melville
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$35.00
Moby-Dick
Calla Editions
by Herman Melville
from Dover Publications
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Mutiny on the Bounty
by Charles Nordhoff & James Normal Hall
Book Club Edition from Little, Brown & Company
Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.50 (1 in stock)
Our Mutual Friend
Everyman's Library
by Charles Dickens
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan
from Pilgrim's Progress Publishing
for 10th-adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Series of Unfortunate Events - complete set
Series of Unfortunate Events
by Lemony Snicket
from HarperCollins
Humor for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Stories of Edgar Allan Poe
Sterling Classics
by Edgar Allen Poe, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Sterling Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 7th-10th grade
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
by William Steig
from Simon and Schuster
Animal Fantasy for Kindergarten-3rd grade
1970 Caldecott Medal winner
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Tales of Edgar Allan Poe
Books of Wonder
by Edgar Allen Poe (illustrated by Barry Moser)
from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
The Trial
by Franz Kafka
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
35 Anv from HarperTrophy
Realistic Fiction for 9th-Adult
1961 Pulitzer Prize winner
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$26.99
Villette
Everyman's Library
by Charlotte Bronte
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Watership Down
by Richard Adams
Reissue from Atheneum
for 10th-Adult
1972 Carnegie Medal
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$29.99
Wind in the Willows
Children's Classics
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Paul Bransom
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
Historical Fiction for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)