Fantasy and Science Fiction

Note: Titles marked with an * may include mature content and are recommended for olders teens.

Alternate Worlds

Coraline
by Gaiman, Neil
Looking for excitement, Coraline ventures through a mysterious door into a world that is similar, yet disturbingly different from her own. There, she must challenge a gruesome entity in order to save herself, her parents, and the souls of three others.

Everlost
by Shusterman, Neal
When Nick and Allie are killed in a car crash, they end up in Everlost, or limbo for lost souls, where although Nick is satisfied, Allie will stop at nothing--even skinjacking--to break free.

*The Eyre Affair
Book one in the Thursday Next mystery series
by Fforde, Jasper
Special operative Thursday Next must stop the evil Acheron Hades in his mission to kidnap the character Jane Eure, thus changing the plot of one of the most famous works of English literature. This madcap detective story artfully blurs the line between fiction and reality.

Inkheart
Also read the sequel: Inkspell
by Funke, Cornelia
Twelve-year old Meggie learns that he father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into the service.

Larklight
Also read the sequel: Starcross
by Reeve, Phillip
In an alternate Victorian England, young Arthur and his sister Myrtle, residents of Larklight, a floating house in one of Her Majesty's outer space territories, uncover a spidery plot to destroy the solar system.

Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo
by Skye, Obert
When fate brings fourteen-year old Leven and thirteen-year old Winter together, they discover that for mankind to continue dreaming, the gateway between reality and dreams needs to be found and demolished.
Other books in the Leven Thumps series:
Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret
Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
A book in the Chronicles of Narnia Series
by Lewis, C.S.
Four English school children find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magical land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.

The Secret Hour
by Westerfield, Scott
In Bixby, Oklahoma, time freezes for one secret hour every night. Jessica Day discovers she is one of a select group called the Midnighters who are free to move about during that special hour and must fight the ancient creatures that only exist at that time.
Other books in the Midnighters Trilogy:
Touching Darkness
Blue Noon

Un Lun Dun
by Mieville, China
Zanna and her friend Deeba find a secret entryway into the magical city of Un Lun Dun, where Zanna may be the hero of ancient prophecy. Then things go shockingly wrong...

Animal Fantasy

The Capture
Book One in the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series
by Lasky, Kathryn
When Soren is pushed from his family's nest by his older brother, he is rescued from certain death on the forest floor by agents from a mysterious school for orphaned owls, St. Aggie's. When Soren arrives at St. Aggie's, he suspects there is more to the school than meets the eye.

The Dark Portal
by Jarvis, Robin
While on a rescue mission, a few daring mice journey below to the sewers to an evil world populated by rats that peel mice before eating them and worship the Dark Lord.
Other books in the Deptford Mice Trilogy:
The Crystal Prison
The Final Reckoning

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
by O'Brien, Robert C.
Having no one to help her with her problems, a widowed mouse visits the rats whose former imprisonment in a laboratory made them wise and long lived.

Redwall
Book One in the Redwall Series
by Jacques, Brian
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.

Watership Down
by Adams, Richard
Chronicles the adventures of a group of rabbits searching for a safe place to establish a new warren where they can live in peace.

Urchin of the Riding Stars
by McAllister, Margaret
A group of animals, led by an orphaned squirrel, learns about friendship and loyalty when they band together to defend their island kingdom against evil forces.
Other Books in the Mistmantle Chronicles:
Urchin and the Heartstone
The Heir of Mistmantle

Based in Myth or Legend

Bloodtide
by Burgess, Melvin
The new hope of the Volson clan, Sigurd, battles a highly advanced, gold-hoarding dragon, resulting in his fall into the underworld. But hope remains as Sigurd encounters his true love, Bryony, and accepts his destiny to reunite England.

I am Mordred: A Tale from Camelot
Also read the follow up book:
I am Morgan le Fay : A Tale from Camelot
by Springer, Nancy
When Mordred learns the identity of his father, he struggles with feelings of hatred, but also fights the fate which determines that he will kill the good and gracious king.

In A Dark Wood
Also read the follow-up book:
Forbidden Forest: The Story of Little John and Robin Hood
by Cadnum, Michael
On orders from the King, the Sheriff of Nottingham seeks to capture the outlaw Robin Hood, but he finds him to be a tricky and elusive foe.

The Lightning Thief
by Riordan, Rick
After learning that he is the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea, twelve-year-old Percy is sent to a summer camp for demigods like himself, and joins his new friends on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.
Other books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series:
The Sea of Monsters
The Battle of the Labyrinth

The Lost Years of Merlin
Book One in the Merlin Quintet
by Barron, T. A.
A young boy who has no identity or memory of his past washes ashore on the coast of Wales and finds his true name after a series of fantastic adventures.

*Maid Marian: A Novel
by Watson, Elsa
A widow at seventeen years of age and about to undergo another arranged marriage, Marion seeks out the outlaw Robin Hood to help uncover the intentions of the fearsome Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.

*The Once and Future King
by White, T. H.
Written by a medieval scholar, The Once and Future King is the ultimate fictionalization of the life of King Arthur.

Runemarks
by Harris, Joanne
500 years after the end of the world, nobody believes in magic or goblins anymore. Maddie is not convinced that magic is extinct, and a mysterious stranger who sees her birthmark as a sign of her magical destiny must train her in the ways of the Faerie if she is to succeed.

Song of the Sparrow
by Sandell, Lisa
Living with her father and brothers in the military encampments of Arthur's army, seventeen-year-old Elaine describes her changing perceptions of war and the people around her as she becomes increasingly involved in the bitter struggle against the invading Saxons.

Troy
Also read the sequel: Ithaka
by Geras, Adèle
Told from the point of view of the women of Troy, portrays the last weeks of the Trojan War, when women are sick of tending the wounded, men are tired of fighting, and bored gods and goddesses find ways to stir things up.

Behold the Future

Among the Hidden
by Haddix, Margaret Peterson
Book One in the Shadow Children Series
In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm, until another "third" convinces him that the government is wrong.

*Blade Runner
(Originally titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
by Dick, Philip K.
Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter for the San Francisco Police Department must track down rogue androids and eliminate them.

City of Ember
by DuPrau, Jeanne
In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.
Other books in the Book of Ember Series:
The People of Sparks
The Prophet of Yonwood

The Declaration
by Malley, Gemma
In 2140 England, where drugs enable people to live forever and children are illegal, teenaged Anna, an obedient "Surplus" training to become a house servant, discovers that her birth parents are trying to find her.

The Diary of Pelly D
by L.J. Adlington
When Toni V, a construction worker on a futuristic colony, finds the diary of a teenage girl whose life has been turned upside-down by holocaust-like events, he begins to question his own beliefs.

*Fahrenheit 451
by Bradbury, Ray
Set in a future where the United States is engaged in an ongoing war, Fahrenheit 451, paints a disturbing and unforgettable picture of a society where books are not legally allowed to exist.

*Feed
by M.T. Anderson
In a future where most people have computer implants, "feeds", in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who decides to fight the "feed."

The Giver
by Lowry, Lois
Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
Companion books to The Giver:
Gathering Blue
The Messenger

The House of the Scorpion
by Farmer, Nancy
In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patrón, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.

*How I Live Now
by Rosoff, Meg
To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land.

The Last Book in the Universe
by Philbrick, Rodman
After an earthquake has destroyed much of the planet, an epileptic teenager nicknamed Spaz begins the heroic fight to bring human intelligence back to the Earth of a distant future.

Life as We Knew It
by Pfeffer, Susan Beth
Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

Mortal Engines
Also read the sequel: Predator’s Gold
by Reeve, Philip
In the distant future, when cities move about and consume smaller towns, a fifteen-year-old apprentice is pushed out of London by the man he most admires and must seek answers in the perilous Out-Country, aided by one girl and the memory of another.

Rash
by Hautman, Pete
In a future society that has decided it would "rather be safe than free," sixteen-year-old Bo's anger control problems land him in a tundra jail where he survives with the help of his running skills and an artificial intelligence program named Bork.

Uglies
by Westerfield, Scott
Tally is looking forward to her sixteenth birthday, an occasion when teens in this futuristic novel are taken into a paradise and receive an operation to make them beautiful. When her friend Shay rejects the operation, Tally must find and betray Shay in order to be admitted into New Pretty Town. What Tally discovers on her quest conflicts with everything she has been told.

Z for Zachariah
by O’Brian, Robert C.
Seemingly the only person left alive after a nuclear war, a sixteen-year-old girl is relieved to see a man arrive into her valley until she realizes that he is a tyrant and she must somehow escape.

Fairytales Re-imagined

Beastly
by Flinn, Alex
A modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" from the point of view of the Beast, a vain Manhattan private school student who is turned into a monster and must find true love before he can return to his human form.

Birdwing
by Martin, Rafe
Prince Ardwin, known as Birdwing, the youngest of six brothers turned into swans by their stepmother, is unable to complete the transformation back into human form, so he undertakes a journey to discover whether his feathered arm will be a curse or a blessing to him.

Book of a Thousand Days
by Hale, Shannon
Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress, the Lady Saren, shares Saren's years of punishment locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the lands of her true love, where both must hide who they are as they work as kitchen maids.

Bound
by Napoli, Donna Jo
In a novel based on Chinese Cinderella tales, fourteen-year-old stepchild Xing-Xing endures a life of neglect and servitude, as her stepmother cruelly mutilates her own child's feet so that she alone might marry well.

East
by Pattou, Edith
A young woman journeys to a distant castle on the back of a great white bear who is the victim of a cruel enchantment.

Ella Enchanted
by Levine, Gail Carson
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.

*Enchantment
by Orson, Scott Card
In a Russian forest, a New York scholar awakens a sleeping princess with a kiss and she takes him to the 9th century. They are forced to return to the present, pursued by a witch who hijacks an airliner.

Just Ella
by Haddix, Margaret Peterson
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.

Pay the Piper
Also read the sequel: Trollbridge
by Yolen, Jane
When Callie interviews the band, Brass Rat, for her school newspaper, her feelings are ambivalent, but when all the children of Northampton begin to disappear on Halloween, she knows where the dangerous search must begin.

Red Rider’s Hood
by Shusterman, Neal
After learning that there are werewolves in his city, a sixteen-year-old is even more surprised to discover the identities of the hunters who drove them out decades earlier, but he soon infiltrates the Wolves gang to help destroy them for good.

Straw into Gold
by Schmidt, Gary D.
Pursued by greedy villains, two boys on a quest to save innocent lives meet the banished queen whose son was stolen by Rumpelstiltskin eleven years earlier, and she provides much more than the answer they seek.

Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird
by Vande Velde, Vivian
Presents thirteen twisted versions of such familiar fairy tales as Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Hansel and Gretel, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Invaders and Warfare

The Dark Side of Nowhere
by Shusterman, Neal
Fourteen-year-old Jason faces an identity crisis after discovering that he is the son of aliens who stayed on earth following a botched invasion mission.

Ender's Game
by Card, Orson Scott
The fate of the world rests upon six year old Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a genius who may be able to defeat the insect-like aliens invading Earth.

*Freedom’s Landing
by McCaffrey, Anne
The escaped human slave Kristin Bjornsen is captured and sent to an unexplored planet for colonization duty where she falls in love with an aristocrat from the race that is oppressing Earth.
Other books in the Freedom Series:
Freedom’s Choice
Freedom's Challenge

Grease Monkey
by Eldred, Tim
Cadet Robin Plotnik is assigned to work under the command of a rapidly evolved gorilla on a space station designed to help defend against another attack by alien invaders who wiped out 60 percent of human life.

Interstellar Pig
by William, Sleator
Barney's boring seaside vacation suddenly becomes more interesting when the cottage next door is occupied by three exotic neighbors who are addicted to a game they call "Interstellar Pig."

A Matter of Profit
by Bell, Hilari
Sick of the horrors of conquering beings on other planets, Ahvrem will end his service as a soldier and save his sister from an unhappy marriage if he can discover who is behind a rumored plot to assassinate the Emperor.

Tomorrow, When the War Began
by Marsden, John
Seven Australian teenagers return from a camping trip in the bush to discover that their country has been invaded and they must hide to stay alive.

War of the Worlds
by Well, H.G.
The classic tale of Man vs. Martian.

The White Mountains
by Christopher, John
Unwilling to become the slaves of the Tripods, fearsome machines that could have been created by man or could be extraterrestrial, two boys escape to the mountains in order to join a group of men preparing for retaliation.

Magic and Magical Creatures

Artemis Fowl
Book One in the Artemis Fowl series
by Colfer, Eion
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.

The Black Unicorn
by Lee, Tanith
With her talent for mending things, sixteen-year-old Tanaquil reconstructs a unicorn which, brought to life, lures her away from her desert fortress home and her sorceress mother to find a city by the sea and the way to a perfect world.

The Blue Sword
Also read the prequel: The Hero and the Crown
by McKinley, Robin
Harry, bored with her sheltered life in the remote orange-growing colony of Daria, discovers magic in herself when she is kidnapped by a native king with mysterious powers.

A Great and Terrible Beauty
by Bray, Libba
After the suspicious death of her mother in 1895, sixteen-year-old Gemma returns to England, after many years in India, to attend a finishing school where she becomes aware of her magical powers and ability to see into the spirit world.
Other books in the Gemma Doyle Series:
Rebel Angels
The Sweet Far Thing

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Book One in the Harry Potter Series
by Rowling, J. K.
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches.

Ingo
Also read the sequel: The Tide Knot
by Dunmore, Helen
After their father disappears at sea, Sapphire and Conor visit the alluring Mer-kingdom of Ingo.

Magyk
Book One in the Septimus Heap series
by Sage, Angie
Septimus Heap is stolen the night he is born by a midwife who pronounces him dead. In his place, his parents raise an abandoned newborn baby girl. Ten years later an evil wizard named Dom Daniel appears to search for the baby girl, who is actually a princess.

Sorcery and Cecelia, or, the Enchanted Chocolate Pot
by Wrede, Patricia C.
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.

Stormwitch
by Vaught, Susan
In Pass Christian, Mississippi in 1969, sixteen-year-old Ruba, trained by her Haitian grandmother in both voodoo and Amazonian warrior tactics, uses her skills to fight against racism and the African witch Zashar, now coming ashore in the form of Hurricane Camille.

The Turning
by Chan, Gillian
After his mother’s death, Ben is sent to England to live with a father he hardly knows. When he learns that he has his grandfather’s “hero blood” which allows him to communicate with beings of the other world, his life changes forever.

Tricksters Choice
Also read the sequel: Tricksters Queen
by Pierce, Tamora
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.

The Wee Free Men
by Pratchett, Terry
A young witch-to-be named Tiffany Aching teams up with the Wee Free Men, a clan of six-inch-high blue men, to rescue her baby brother and ward off a sinister invasion from Fairyland.
Other books about Tiffany Aching:
A Hat Full of Sky
Wintersmith

Quests and Adventures

Airborn
(Also read the sequel: Skybreaker)
by Oppel, Kenneth
Matt, a young cabin boy aboard an airship, and Kate, a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creates reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth's surface.

The Conch Bearer
(Also read the sequel: The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming)
by Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee
In India, a healer invites twelve-year-old Anand to join him on a quest to return a magical conch to its safe and rightful home, high in the Himalayan Mountains.

*Dune
Book One in the Dune Chronicles
by Herbert, Frank
8,000 years in the future, Paul’s father takes a position as governor of the desert planet, Arrakis (Dune). After his father is killed, Paul and his sister Jessica rise to power when the natives believe they are saviors.

Eragon (Also read the sequel: Eldest)
by Paolini, Christopher
in Aagaesia, a fifteen-year-old boy of unknown lineage called Eragon finds a mysterious stone that weaves his life into a intricate tapestry of destiny, magic, and power, peopled with dragons, elves, and monsters.

The Fellowship of the Ring:
Being the First Part of the Lord of the Rings
by Tolkien, J. R. R.
Frodo Baggins, a humble Hobbit, is Middle-Earth’s last hope as he makes a dangerous journey to destroy the Ring of Power. With the assistance of his friends and some noble warriors, Frodo takes on terrifying orcs and the Dark Lord Sauron in this epic battle of good and evil.
Other books in Lord of the Rings Trilogy:
The Two Towers
Return of the King

Grimpow: The Invisible Road
by Abalos, Rafael
Grimpow finds a stone on a dead knight and begins a quest that will change his life forever.

Mimus
by Thal, Lilli
As a father, the king of Moltovia, is held as a prisoner of war, Florin is forced to be the apprentice to Mimus, court jester of King Theodo of Vinland. His father's life depends on Florin's ability to amuse King Theodo.

The Naming
by Croggon, Alison
Sixteen-year-old slave-girl Maerad unexpectedly discovers that she is the only remaining survivor from the destruction of a Bard school, where magic and music and healing are taught to special people. She joins the learned Cadvan on a journey to discover just how strong her powers are, only to find that she is inextricably linked to the survival of the Light in the Kindgom of Annar.
Other books in the Pellinor series:
The Riddle
The Crow

Revenge of the Witch
by Delaney, Joseph
Young Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, starts work as an apprentice for the village spook, whose job is to protect ordinary folk from "ghouls, boggarts, and all manner of wicked beasties."
Other books in The Last Apprentice Series:
Curse of the Bane
Night of the Soul Stealer

The Ropemaker (Also read the sequel: Angel Isle)
by Dickinson, Peter
When the magic that protects their Valley starts to fail, Tilja and her companions journey into the evil Empire to find the ancient magician Faheel, who originally cast those spells.

Sabriel
by Nix, Garth
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.
Other books in Old Kingdom Series:
Lirael
Abhorsen

Skulduggery Pleasant
by Landy, Derek
When twelve-year-old Stephanie inherits her weird uncle's estate, she must join forces with Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton mage, to save the world from the Faceless Ones.

Spacer and Rat
by Bechard, Margaret
Jack's predictable existence on Freedom space station is transformed when Kit, the Earthie rat, enters his life and enlists him and a sensitive robot in an effort to outwit the Company.

*Stardust
by Gaiman, Neil
In order to win his sweetheart’s affection, Tristan Thorn vows to bring her a fallen star. When he enters the land of Faerie to retrieve it, Tristan finds himself in competition with others who want the star for their own ends.

A Wizard of Earthsea
by Le Guin, Ursula K.
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an apprentice to the Master Wizard.

Scientific Experiments Gone Bad

Eva
by Dickinson, Peter
After a terrible accident, a young girl wakes up to discover that she has been given the body of a chimpanzee.

*Flowers for Algernon
by Keyes, Daniel
Charlie Gordon, a gentle janitor and delivery boy with an I.Q. of 68, is transformed into a genius thanks to experimental neurosurgery. When the lab mouse that has undergone the same surgery begins to deteriorate, Charlie struggles to find a way to save himself from the same fate.

House of Stairs
by Sleator, William
Five fifteen-year-old orphans of widely varying personality characteristics are involuntarily placed in a house of endless stairs as subjects for a psychological experiment on conditioned human response.

*The Island of Dr. Moreau
by Wells, H. G.
Edward Prendick is washed ashore a mysterious island following a shipwreck. The island is inhabited by a scientist called Dr. Moreau, who provides Edward with food and shelter. When Edward discovers the nature of Dr. Moreau’s horrifying experiments, he must escape the island.

*Jurassic Park (Also read the sequel: Lost World)
by Crichton, Michael
It was to be the greatest amusement park of all time; an attraction where actual cloned dinosaurs roamed in a reconstructed natural environment. Chaos ensues as the dinosaurs manage to escape from their enclosures and the scientists and children invited for a weekend must survive against the greatest predators of all time.

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
by Patterson, James
After the mutant Erasers abduct the youngest member of their group, the "birdkids," who are the result of genetic experimentation, take off in pursuit and find themselves struggling to understand their own origins and purpose.
Other books in Maxiumum Ride Series:
School's out--Forever
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

Running Out of Time
by Haddix, Margaret Peterson
When a diphtheria epidemic hits her 1840 village, thirteen-year-old Jessie discovers it is actually a 1996 tourist site under unseen observation by heartless scientists, and it's up to Jessie to escape the village and save the lives of the dying children.

Short Stories

Time, Space, and Inter-dimensional Travel