Fantasy books for children and teens
Fantasy books for kids and teens pull readers into worlds where magic feels real and anything can happen. Young heroes stumble through wild adventures, face down monsters, and figure out what it really means to be brave or kind. For kids, these stories spark creativity and help make sense of big feelings. For teens, they’re a way to explore identity, fairness, and courage. At their best, fantasy stories remind us that hope can survive almost anything. This list features books by Rick Riordan, Leigh Bardugo, Ursula K. Le Guin, Sarah J. Maas, Cressida Cowell, Angie Thomas, Cornelia Funke, Grace Lin, Madeleine L’Engle, and Terry Pratchett.
Fantasy books for children and teens – our recommendations
Fantasy books for children
Journey by Aaron Becker. 
Tuesday by David Wiesner. 
Harold and the Purple Crayon Board Book by Crockett Johnson. 
The Night Librarian: A Graphic Novel by Christopher Lincoln. 
Wildwood by Colin Meloy, illustrated by Carson Ellis. 
The Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton. 
Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston. 
Nic Blake and the Remarkables: the Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas. 
The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. 
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. 
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. 
Warriors Graphic Novel: The Prophecies Begin by Erin Hunter. 
The Lost Property Office by James R. Hannibal. 
The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell. 
Lalani of the Distant Sea by Erin Entrada Kelly. 
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. 
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. 
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell. 
Here in the Real World by Sara Pennypacker. 
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera. 
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi. Fantasy books for teens
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. 
Caraval by Stephanie Garber. 
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron. 
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. 
Trickster’s Choice by Tamora Pierce. 
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. 
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. 
Eragon by Christopher Paolini. 
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan. 
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. 
Legend by Marie Lu. 
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. 
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. 
Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke. 
Markless by C. G. Malburi. Click the buttons below to purchase all of the books in this fantasy book list, as well as classroom sets of any of these books and many more, from Bookshop.org. Or buy the 20 most popular titles from this list from Amazon – ideal for gifts or stocking your school library. If you are ordering from outside the US, have a look at our ‘worldwide orders’ page which makes this process easy.
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Fantasy genre resources for teachers
- MIT OpenCourseWare: Genre Fiction Workshop – Fantasy offers lecture notes and writing assignments on worldbuilding, magic systems, and revision for advanced middle/high school creative writing.
- ReadWriteThink: Enchanting Readers with Revisionist Fairy Tales is a standards-aligned lesson using mentor texts to help students craft original fantasy retellings.
- Library of Congress: Classroom Materials provides ready-to-use primary-source tasks you can adapt for fantasy units (setting, archetypes, hero’s journey) and research skills.
- David Rumsey Historical Map Collection supports fantasy cartography projects and setting studies with 140k+ digitized maps students can analyze and remix.
- Ursula K. Le Guin Papers (Archives West/U. Oregon) supplies archival context, drafts, and notes useful for author studies on Earthsea, voice, and worldbuilding.
- Marion E. Wade Center (Wheaton College) holds US research collections for Tolkien, Lewis, and George MacDonald – background for genre conventions and intertexts in modern YA fantasy.
- Baldwin Library (UF): Grimm’s Fairy Tales Digital Collection lets students compare classic motifs with contemporary middle-grade/YA fantasy and practice textual transformation.
- Yale National Initiative: Teaching Fantasy (unit) is a complete classroom unit on genre elements with writing tasks to create original fantasy picture-story books.
- A Wrinkle in Time – Curriculum Guide (Wheelock Family Theatre) supplies discussion prompts and activities that bridge character, ethics, and speculative concepts for grades 6–10.
- Smithsonian Learning Lab: Writing Inspiration uses museum objects to spark character, setting, and conflict — a quick on-ramp to fantasy world creation.
- ReadWriteThink: Genre Study – A Collaborative Approach supports explicit teaching of fantasy conventions and student-curated evidence of genre features.
- PBS LearningMedia: Grace Lin (author profile & interview) offers clips and discussion starters for author study and cultural context tied to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.
BISAC JUV037000 – JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy, YAF019000 – YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Fantasy | Thema YFH
