My Children's Appendix N: a fantasy book list

I just spent a lovely, hectic summer week chasing fulltime after my kids.   They have grown so much, and I wanted to share a small part of their arc, the one where my partner and I introduced them to one of our joys—reading books.

We both love to imagine other worlds through books.  When our kids finally started reading in earnest, we wanted to pass on our  love of fantasy to them, without dictating what they read.  So we cast books like breadcrumbs in their paths, and tempted them closer.  

Picking the right breadcrumbs was hard, iterative work, and I wanted to share some of the books that have resonated thus far with my elementary-school age kids.  Success has been listening to them construct their imaginary worlds from a rich scrapheap of stories: I hope they will write an inspiring Appendix N one day. 

Here are the fantasy books that are still in their library, a partial but hopefully helpful list for those transitioning to chapter books and novels and wanting to fantasy-pill their kids.  We read some to them, others they read themselves, and many a bit of both—my mom long ago taught me the fine art of falling asleep mid-read, forcing a poor kiddo to finish the chapter if they want to know what happens next. 

In this list, all the books were enjoyed, but the ones that didn’t make a big impression on me personally are grouped with an | symbol.  The // symbol denotes titles by the same author I couldn’t fit on the dining room table.  And I highlight series that make great kid-RPG transitions.

Starting with the younger books (grades 1-3+).  Examples from series are shown (e.g., Baldwin the Brave is not my favorite Mouse Guard book, but that made it easy to find)

Nobody Likes a Goblin (and other books by Ben Hatke): a great picture book, funny, and makes kids think twice about the assumptions fantasy books make about monsters.  Ben Hatke is a national goddamn treasure.

Dog Man series by Dav Pilkey.  Super hero dog-hybrid: graphic novel.  So good.  

Max and the Midknights by Pierce: fun fantasy graphic novel.

Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey.  Super hero in a diaper: what’s not to like? mix of illustrations and text. Hilariously great transition book, highly imaginative storytelling.  Also on Netflix if you want to pull in reluctant readers.  A reader’s choice award from my kids.

Hamster Princess by Ursula Vernon (T. Kingfisher).  Cracked fairy tales in a land of intelligent animals. Wonderful and funny and charming, great illustrations and medium text density.   Great Mausritter transition.

Dragon Masters | Kingdom of Wrenly: all good chapterbooks for kids that want some illustrations mixed in with their text.  Interesting stories for young readers and were devoured. 

Notebook of Doom (chapterbook series): Very engaging stories—a touch older than Kingdom of Wrenly.  It’s monster hunting in a weird small town, and is beloved by my kids. 

The Magical Unicorn Society: my daughter loves this ‘nonfiction’ book.

D'Aulaires Book of Norse Myths // Greek Myths: two illustrated books of myths that are just wonderful—kid appropriate and fascinating and well-told.  I grew up with them and they are FANTASTIC.  They regularly borrow them to re-read.  

Mythical Beast and Magical Creatures (DK): a great nonfiction collection of creatures for kids--has real variety across cultures.

Continuing with the younger books (grades 1-3+). 

Dungeons & Dragons: Behold!: a well-done seek and find across busy magical scenes.

Agents of S.U.I.T (Graphic novel): Quirky secret agents combating mysterious threats (a spinoff of Investigators). 

Hilo series (Graphic novel):  Boy superhero from another dimension, with a real twist (he’s a cyborg!).

Dragon Kingdom (of Wrenly) (comic book series): follows the life of a dragon and his friends.  Spinoff from a chapter book series, and quite good, with characters making poor choices and learning from mistakes.

The Mouse Guard series (graphic novels, start with Fall 1152): gritty heroes come small--about mice defending, and sometimes dying for, their homes.   Great Mausritter transition.

Cardboard Kingdom (graphic novel series): kids imagining a fantasy adventure. Emotional.

Mighty Jack // Zita the Spacegirl series (graphic novel series) by Hatke.  Strong male and female leads, stories intertwining as worlds collide.  Imaginative and well written, a favorite.  Great Amazing Tales transition.

Hilda series (graphic novels, also a Netflix show): incredibly imaginative and quirky.  Also a Netflix show.  A young girl faces Norwegian creatures and magic, some dangerous. 

Dreamjumper | My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish | Lightfall: All enjoyable graphic novels and mixed words/pictures. 

Dragonbreath (by U. Vernon): The book target is a bit older than Harriet Hamsterbone but is a boy lead, if that matters to your kids.  The first book has a joke about potato salad that still makes my son laugh, years later.

Now a bit older books (grades 2-4+). 

Ordering them approximately by maturity level:

Return of Zita the Space Girl by Hatke (graphic novel): just out of order here, should be in previous section.  great book they read and re-read it.

Monsters Beware! (graphic novels) by Rosado and Aguirre.  A deeply wonderful and funny trilogy about a plucky girl and her amazing family and friends, fighting monsters in a French-flavored medieval world.  Amazing and beloved.  Great transition to Amazing Tales.

Dungeoneer Adventures // Rickety Stitch series by Costa and Parks.  Rickety Stitch is a graphic novel; Dungeoneer Adventures are mixed words/text.  Both series are gripping stories for young tweens, well plotted and written, set in the Land of Eem.  Great transition to Land of Eem (no surprise, given the authors).

Avatar the Last Airbender (comic books): These books answer questions the animated series leaves behind, like what happened to Zuko’s mom?  The original animated series was fine for my kids starting around 6-7, provided I stayed nearby for the scary parts.  Series is great for adults and kids, INCREDIBLY well done—features one of the best character arcs I have encountered. 

Quest Kids (mixed words/text book):  Good humor, a quest, and kids facing hard choices. 

Greeking Out (nonfiction): Greek myth book, nice depth and engaging, also a podcast.

Minecraft books (nonfiction and fiction): honestly, if your kid gets into Minecraft, it's great.  A video game that encourages them to create, memorize, and play together?  And the books around it are uniformly solid—they will get pulled in and read.

Fart Quest (mixed words) | Lightning Thief (graphic novel): both of these skew a bit older, but have been liked.  I don’t think Lightning Thief the novel is right for kids until middle school—just a very angry young man at first.

More a bit older books (grades 2-5+), with some things we read to them, to right

Things they read:

Wings of Fire (graphic novels, novels): Young dragon rebels.  The story is a bit brutal in terms of violence, but my eldest elementary schooler loves it.

Beasts and Behemoths (D&D gamebook): The entire young adventurer’s guide series is beloved: we started with this one.  DnD boiled down to the good stories.

Tomb of the Everstar Sisterhood (CYOA) by Sersa Victory: A good introductory choose-your path RPG playbook, with great dungeon design.  Hints are obvious and non-diagetic early on, but quickly gets harder. 

Complete the Quest series (CYOA): Pick your party, and use their skills to imagine your way around illustrated obstacles.  Great re-playability, hours imagining.

Mystery Under Magi-Mart (CYOA): Absolutely adorable, hilarious, and tricky choose-your-path book.  Everyone in the family liked it, and the catalogue of creative magic items for sale I got from kickstarting it was poured over by my youngest.  The physical is pocket size and I highly recommend.

Amulet series (graphic novel): Don’t ask me what these are about, my kids devoured them and then we bought all of them from the secondhand store because they insisted they wanted to re-read them.

Witches of Brooklyn (graphic novel): My tween daughter loves this graphic novel series about young witches mastering their powers (and emotions).

Hooky | Okay Witch (graphic novels): I grouped these because my daughter reads these, there are so many good young-witch series out there and these hooked her.

 

Books we read to them (at first, at least):

The Wizard of Oz (novels):  Still amazing after all this time, and fresh in its strangeness. 

The Tale of Despereaux (novel): One would think a story of a mouse and a rat torturer would be completely inappropriate for young kids, but the author deftly threads the needle and what results is an enchanting story that has been read and re-read.  Great Mausritter transition.

Tuesdays at the Castle (novel): A Castle that changes by the day, the series kept going and we had happy weeks of reading.  Has not been re-read however. 

My Neighbor Totoro (novel): I think Totoro is my daughter’s spirit animal.  This book is worn from my wife reading it to her and then her reading it.

The Superpower Field Guide: Moles (nonfiction series): These books convey amazing natural history at a level that is incredibly engaging to kids as young as 4 or 5.  Deeply fun, well-illustrated, and now being read by them all over.  Never look at moles, beavers, ostriches, or eels the same way.   It shows the normal for what it is: fantastic. 

Dragonsinger by A. McCaffery) (novel trilogy): When your tweens are ready for a heroine who runs away from uncaring parents, this one is a charmer.  Pet fire-lizards, songs, and finding your home. 

Ms. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (novel): Unlike the movie, and very well written, the best books about alien intelligence for kids.  Great Mausritter transition.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (novel): Despite the religious overtones, which are easily ignored, story pulls them along.

I ran out of table, so I moved some over…

More things we read to them:

Howl’s Moving Castle (novel): Unlike the movie, a gentle engaging magical mystery with little violence.  Great series, but space them out if you start young, ends at tween-age.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy (novel): This book is awesome, who doesn’t like sass?

Impossible Creatures (novel): Beautiful book physically, and engaging—she read this without me. 

Just So Stories (illustrated novel): Rudyard Kipling’s story of how the Armadillo came to be is the truth, I don’t care what evolution says.  The illustrations and stories are warm soup on a rainy day.

The Hobbit (illustrated novel): This is the version that got my kids to sit through the story, which has a plodding pace at times.  What?  There’s an illustration?  Show me dad!  But they are still sad and angry about the dwarves who didn’t make it. 

Harry Potter series (illustrated novels): Giving money to this transphobic witch is like going to Disneyworld: many parents do not want to, but it's hard to avoid.  This series arrived, like many of the graphic novels above, via kind grandparent, and I try to not look in the mouths of gift horses.  But the best part?  They stopped reading the series in book 5, complaining that the book was too meandering (I explained what happens when a star author can ignore her editors, and then about her views on trans folks).  And we still have managed to avoid Disneyworld, but we will see.

The Rithmatist by B. Sanderson (novel): For f&^k’s sake Sanderson, it’s been 20 goddamn years, finish this series already.  A wonderful drawing-based magic system, a clockwork world with a mystery that pulls kids in.  There’s a special place in hell for an author who starts a great kid’s book series and then goes off to write Shardbearer books #1-209.  Dude. All that said, still worth it.