Fantasy
Characteristics of Fantasy Books
Magic
Imaginary Worlds
Non-human Characters: mythical creatures and/or talking animals
Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
Thirteen-year-old Amari, an African American girl, gets an invitation from her missing brother to join the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs and join in the fight against an evil magician. Watch Trailer!
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelli Barnhill
Newbery Award Winner 2017. A fantasy about a young girl raised by a witch, a swamp monster, and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, who must unlock the powerful magic buried deep inside her.
Nightmares! by Jason Segal and Kirstin Miller
Twelve-year-old Charlie and his friends must stop nightmares from taking over their town before it's too late. Watch Trailer!
Watch Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTrU6ZL8BE4
The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox
Magic, mystery, history and horror all mixed together! 1940, during the Blitz, Katherine, Robbie and Amelie Bateson are sent north to a private school in Rookskill Castle in Scotland, a brooding place, haunted by dark magic from the past--but when some of their classmates disappear Katherine has to find out if the cause is hidden in the past or very much in the present.
Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder
A group of orphans wait each year for a boat to arrive on the island, replacing the eldest with the youngest, never to be seen again, as each remaining child learns what it means to say goodbye to childhood forever.
The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielson
In the country of Carthya, a devious nobleman engages four orphans in a brutal competition to be selected to impersonate the king's long-missing son in an effort to avoid a civil war.
Doll Bones by Holly Black
Newbery Honor Book. Zach, Alice, and Poppy, friends from a Pennsylvania middle school who have long enjoyed acting out imaginary adventures with dolls and action figures, embark on a real-life quest to Ohio to bury a doll made from the ashes of a dead girl.
The Magnificent 12: The Call by Michael Grant
Mack MacAvoy, a seriously average twelve-year-old boy, is faced with a difficult decision when a three-thousand-year-old man appears in the boys' bathroom and informs him that he is one of the Magnificent Twelve and is needed to find his eleven teammates and save the world.
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
Best friends Sophie and Agatha discover their true identities when they enter The School for Good and Evil, a school where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains.
The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeThe Chronicles of Narnia (series) by C.S. Lewis
Four English school children find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.
The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series by Heather Brewer
Thirteen-year-old half-vampire Vladimir Tod struggles to navigate the ups and downs of eighth grade while keeping his untested powers and impulses under control.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (series):The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Percy, expelled from six schools for being unable to control his temper, learns the truth from his mother that his father is the Greek god Poseidon, and is sent to Camp Half Blood where he is befriended by a satyr and the demigod daughter of Athena who join him in a journey to the Underworld to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt and prevent a catastrophic war.
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
If you haven't read it, you really should! All Harry Potter knows is a miserable existence at the home of his horrible aunt and uncle, the Dursleys. Then a mysterious message arrives by owl post, a letter with an invitation to attend a school for wizards. There he finds friends, aerial sports, and magic around every corner -- if Harry can survive the encounter.
The Ranger's Apprentice (series): The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan.
When fifteen-year-old Will is rejected by battleschool, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger.
Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull.
Fourteen-year-old Jason Walker is transported to a strange world called Lyrian, where he joins Rachel and a few rebels to piece together the Word that can destroy the malicious wizard emperor, Surroth.
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
In a world where dragons and humans coexist in an uneasy truce and dragons can assume human form, Seraphina, whose mother died giving birth to her, grapples with her own identity amid magical secrets and royal scandals, while she struggles to accept and develop her extraordinary musical talents.
Entwined by Heather Dixon
Confined to their dreary castle while mourning their mother's death, Princess Azalea and her eleven sisters join The Keeper, who is trapped in a magic passageway, in a nightly dance that soon becomes nightmarish.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to share in an adventure from which he may never return.
Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley.
Orphans Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with an eccentric grandmother that they have always believed to be dead.