Fantasy. The mere word summons up images of wizards and witches, elves and goblins, and warriors with their trusty blades, and it has always been one of my all-time favorite genres. It's full of impossible people, places, and items, but what's great about fantasy is that a good book can make those impossible things seem real. A fantasy novel can make casting a spell, flying on a broomstick, or just bashing someone with a sword not only seem possible, but likely, and though in reality none of those things are possible, a fantasy novel can whisk us away to a place where they are. However, the best thing about fantasy often isn't the magic, but the ordinary people living in a world full of it. Those ordinary people are the ones who make even those of us in the real world hope that maybe magic can be real after all. So please enjoy a few of my favorites, and within them find worlds different from ours in many ways, but populated with people who aren't so different from you and me.
-Logan
Plot summaries from publisher.
The Book of Three
by Lloyd Alexander
Taran wanted to be a hero, and looking after a pig wasn't exactly heroic, even though Hen Wen was an oracular pig. But the day that Hen Wen vanished, Taran was led into an enchanting and perilous world. With his band of followers, he confronted the Horned King and his terrible Cauldron-Born. These were the forces of evil, and only Hen Wen knew the secret of keeping the kingdom of Prydain safe from them. But who would find her first?
Available Digitally:
Overdrive/Libby (ebook and audio book)
Artemis Fowl
by Eoin Colfer
Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius, and above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories—they're dangerous!
Available Digitally:
Cloud Library (audiobook)
Hoopla (ebook)
Overdrive/Libby (ebook and audiobook)
The Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
Available Digitally:
Cloud Library (audiobook)
Hoopla (ebook and audiobook)
Overdrive/Libby (ebook and audiobook)
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
by Andrew Peterson
Once, in a cottage above the cliffs on the Dark Sea of Darkness, there lived three children and their trusty dog Nugget. Janner Igiby, his brother Tink, their crippled sister Leeli are gifted children as all children are, loved well by a noble mother and ex-pirate grandfather. But they will need all their gifts and all that love to survive the evil pursuit of the venomous Fangs of Dang who have crossed the dark sea to rule the land with malice and pursue the Igibys who hold the secret to the lost legend and jewels of good King Wingfeather of the Shining Isle of Anniera.
Available Digitally:
Cloud Library (ebook and audiobook)
Overdrive/Libby (ebook)
The Bark of the Bog Owl
by Jonathan Rogers
Twelve-year-old Aidan Errolson comes from a long line of adventurers. His grandparents were among the first settlers of Corenwald’s Eastern Frontier. His father had been one of the kingdom’s greatest warriors. Aidan, on the other hand, lives the quiet, comfortable life of a nobleman’s son. He never has any real adventures, and that, he believes, is the one great injustice of his otherwise happy life. All that will change the day he first hears the bark of the bog owl and meets Dobro Turtlebane. Dobro is one of the feechiefolk—a tribe of half-civilized swamp dwellers who fight too much, laugh too loud, cry too easily, and smell just terrible. But another meeting on that remarkable day may change Aidan’s life even more profoundly. Bayard the Truthspeaker arrives with a startling pronouncement: Aidan Errolson will grow to be the Wilderking—the long-prophesied wild man who will come out of Corenwald’s forests and swamps to lead the kingdom back to its former glory. There’s just one question: Is Bayard the Truthspeaker a prophet or a madman?
Check in Catalog
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman
by Brian Jacques
A boy and dog trapped aboard the Flying Dutchman, are sent off on an eternal journey by an avenging angel, roaming the earth throughout the centuries in search of those in need. Their travels lead them to Chapelvale, a sleepy nineteenth century village whose existence is at stake. Only by discovering the buried secrets and solving the dust-laden riddles of the ancient village can it be saved.
Available Digitally:
Hoopla (audiobook)
About the Author
Logan is a Circulation Clerk and started working at EPL in May of 2021. He is studying History at SIUE, and he enjoys reading Fantasy and Sci-Fi in particular, but will give pretty much anything a try.