FANTASY FICTION

Retold Favorites | Epics & Mythological Creatures | Dragons, Wizards, & Elves | Humor

RETOLD FAVORITES

• Beauty by Robin McKinley-- Kind Beauty grows to love the Beast at whose castle she is compelled to stay and through her love releases him from the spell which had turned him from a handsome prince into an ugly beast.
• Just Ella by Margaret Haddix-- In this continuation of the Cinderella story, fifteen-year-old Ella finds that accepting Prince Charming's proposal ensnares her in a suffocating tangle of palace rules and royal etiquette, so she plots to escape.
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine-- In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her.
• Briar Rose by Jane Yolen-- Becca's grandmother tells her that she is a princess, and after her death, Becca investigates her grandmother's mementos and discovers her harrowing teenage years, including survival in a mass grave and Nazis killing her husband.
• Fanuilh by Daniel Hood-- When the wizard Tarquin is murdered in his own bed, his two mourners--scholar Liam Rhenford and Fanuilh, his miniature dragon familiar--set out on a vengeful quest to find the assassin.
• Moonheart by Charles De Lint-- Sara Kendall and Kieran Foy become trapped in the midst of the eternal battle between good and evil, in a tale of magic and romance that moves from ancient Wales to modern Canada
• Breath by Donna Jo Napoli-- Elaborates on the tale of "The Pied Piper," told from the point of view of a boy who is too ill to keep up when a piper spirits away the healthy children of a plague-ridden town after being cheated out of full payment for ridding Hameln of rats.

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EPICS & MYTHOLOGICALCREATURES

• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien-- Presents the epic depicting the Great War of the Ring, a struggle between good and evil in Middle Earth.
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan-- The escapades of the Greek gods and heroes get a fresh spin in the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, about a contemporary 12 year old New Yorker who learns he's a demigod.
• The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan-- In this second installment in the series, Percy, Poseidon's 13 year old demigod son, is desperate to rescue his friend Grover, captive of the bloodthirsty Cyclops Polyphemus, and to retrieve the healing Golden Fleece.
• Redwall by Brian Jacques-- When the peaceful life of ancient Redwall Abbey is shattered by the arrival of the evil rat Cluny and his villainous hordes, Matthias, a young mouse, determines to find the legendary sword of Martin the Warrior which, he is convinced, will help Redwall's inhabitants destroy the enemy. (Book One in the Redwall Series)
• Sabriel by Garth Nix-- Sabriel, daughter of the necromancer Abhorsen, must journey into the mysterious and magical Old Kingdom to rescue her father from the Land of the Dead. (Abhorsen Trilogy, Book One)
• Shannara by Terry Brooks-- Banished from Paranor because of his study of forbidden arcane arts, the Druid Bremen discovers that Brona, the evil Warlock Lord, and his dark forces are once again on the move, destroying everything in their path, and only a powerful weapon wielded by a united Four Lands can stop them. (Book One of Shannara series)
• The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan-- Relates a tale of the bestial Trollocs, the witch Moiraine, and three boys, one of whom is fated to become the Dragon--the World's only hope and the sure means of its destruction. (Book One of Wheel of Time Series)
• Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz-- Charissa, a full-blooded Deryni trained in the disciplines of sorcery and necromancy, threatens the rulership of Kelson and the life of his chief advisor Morgan. (Chronicles of Deryni, Book One)
• The Runelords: The Sum of All Men by David Farland-- A young prince-wizard embarks on a journey to a far-flung fiefdom to marry a princess, a journey that soon becomes a matter of life and death. (Runelords, Book One)
• Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce-- Alianne must call forth her mother's courage and her father's wit in order to survive on the Copper Isles in a royal court rife with political intrigue and murderous conspiracy. (Daughter of the Lioness, Book One)
• Watership Down by Richard Adams-- In a constant struggle against oppression, a group of rabbits search for peaceful co-existence.
• Time Stops for No Mouse by Michael Hoeye-- After meeting lively aviatrix Linka Perflinger, watchmaker mouse Hermux Tantamoq falls desperately in love, so when she disappears, he sets out to search for her and finds himself in way over his head. (Hermux Tantamog Adventures, Book One)

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DRAGONS, WIZARDS, & ELVES

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling-- Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. (Harry Potter, Book One)
• The Merchant of Death by D. J. MacHale-- Bobby Pendragon is a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy. He has a family, a home, and even Marley, his beloved dog. But there is something very special about Bobby. He is going to save the world. ...Before he can object, he is swept off to an alternate dimension known as Denduron, a territory inhabited by strange beings, ruled by a magical tyrant, and plagued by dangerous revolution. (Pendragon Series, Book One)
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini-- In Aagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into an intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters. (Inheritance, Book One)
• Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo-- Charlie Bone's life with his widowed mother and two grandmothers undergoes a dramatic change when he discovers that he can hear people in photographs talking. (Children of the Red King, Book One)
• Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins-- When eleven-year-old Gregor and his two-year-old sister are pulled into a strange underground world, they trigger an epic battle involving men, bats, rats, cockroaches, and spiders while on a quest foretold by ancient prophecy. (Underland Chronicles, Book One)
• The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman-- Accompanied by her shape-shifting demon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North. (His Dark Materials, Book One)
• The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart-- Merlin spends his childhood in the court of his grandfather, the King of Wales, where he keeps secret his ability of "second sight."
• Wizard’s Hall by Jane Yolen-- A young apprentice wizard saves the wizard's training hall by trusting and believing in himself.
• Sandry’s Book by Tamora Pierce-- Four young misfits find themselves living in a strictly disciplined temple community where they become friends while also learning to do crafts and to use their powers, especially magic. (Circle of Magic, Book One)
• The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett-- A talking cat, intelligent rats, and a strange boy cooperate in a Pied Piper scam until they try to con the wrong town and are confronted by a deadly evil rat king.
• The Lost Years of Merlin by T.A. Barron-- A young boy who has no identity nor memory of his past washes ashore on the coast of Wales and finds his true name after a series of fantastic adventures. (Lost Years of Merlin, Book One)
• Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey-- . The story of Lessa, rescued by the dragonriders and the last of the noble bloodline of Ruatha Hold. Set on the planet Pern, where deadly "thread" falls from the sky and puts all living creatures at risk. The symbiotic relationship of dragon and rider is the planet's only hope for survival. (Dragonriders of Pern, Book One)

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HUMOR

• Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer-- When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll. (Artemis Fowl Series, Book One)
• The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams--Chronicles the journeys, notions, and acquaintances of reluctant galactic traveler Arthur Dent.
• Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia Wrede-- In 1817 in England, two young cousins, Cecilia living in the country and Kate in London, write letters to keep each other informed of their exploits, which take a sinister turn when they find themselves confronted by evil wizards.
• Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin-- Sheeve is an apprentice to magician Galkin, who is killed by Isstvan's assassins as he's calling up his demon friend Aahz. Aahz has lost his powers, so he must coach Sheeve to develop his, as they journey to take revenge on Isstvan. They travel through other dimensions, worlds, and places, adding to their troop with dragon Gleep and female assassin Tandra, not to mention demon- hunter Quigley, who's a statue for the better part of the book. (Myth Adventures, Book One)
• The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett-- A slightly disorganized and somewhat naive interplanetary tourist named Twosome joins up with a bumbling wizard and embarks on a chaotic voyage through a world filled with monsters and dragons, heroes and knaves (Discworld, Book One)

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