Beginner Fantasy Books for Young Readers
I’ve been reading fantasy stories for as long as I’ve been able to read. Heck, I’ve technically been influenced by fantasy stories for even longer than that, since fantasy stories were read to me before I could really read them. So I thought to myself: Self, why don't I make a post recommending books to help ensnare readers into wanton devotion to the fantasy genre? Here I am, doing just that! I’m going to do a series of posts like this, targeting various reading levels. In today’s post, I’m going to focus on very young readers (or completely illiterate humans who can barely keep their heads upright, let alone pass a simple Hooked on Phonics flashcard test).
Links to buy all of these will be in the post itself! They’re affiliate links, so I get a few cents when you buy through those links, which is greatly appreciated. You don’t have to, of course, but it’d help me out. Tea is expensive.
Fantasy for People Who Can’t Read
If you can’t read, it’s probably because you’re less than five years old and you need people to read to you. First of all, you really shouldn’t be reading this post if that’s you. I deliberately check the “not for kids” box in all my YouTube videos, and my posts are no different. Also, if you can’t read, how are you reading this post? I’m confused. So moving forward, I’m going to assume that you are someone who can read and you’re just looking for a recommendation for something to read to someone else (or to buy for someone else to read to that person). I’ve got a couple of suggestions here!
ABCs of D&D
by Ivan Van Norman and Caleb Cleveland
Look, I’ve got to suggest this one. This is one that I bought for my nieces last Christmas, and I can tell you from experience that it’s a pretty solid book. Absolutely riveting. A compelling story with incredible character development—truly, unheard of in books at this reading level.
Okay, not really. There isn’t a story in this book, but there is a vast collection of fantasy-related terms. So if you’ve got someone who’s pretty small but needs to start learning fantasy terminology (and their ABCs), then I recommend grabbing this one.
Also, while I’m not really familiar with Caleb Cleveland, I can attest to the fact that Ivan Van Norman is an all-around awesome nerd. He’s been popping up all over the place in nerd culture for as long as I can remember, so the fact that he co-wrote this book is a testament to how excellent it is.
Dragon Rider
by Cornelia Funke
If the person you’re reading to has a little more comprehension than the previous suggestion allows, I would suggest Cornelia Funke’s 1997 Dragon Rider book as an ongoing fantasy read. This is a really straightforward, sweet book that features a dragon seeking safety for himself and all of dragonkind. He befriends a human reincarnation of a former dragon rider, and they work together to ensure safety for all of the dragons.
It’s a really excellent story that’s pretty easy to follow, so if you read a chapter each night, this will keep you and the illiterate person you’re reading to busy for quite some time. There’s also a sequel, but it was released long after the first one, so I never read it. It’s Cornelia Funke, though, and she does excellent children’s books.
Fantasy for People Who Can Kinda Read
So that person you’ve been reading to has finally started reading with minimal assistance. That’s excellent! Now you’re free to do other things, like read Evan Winter’s The Rage of Dragons, as any fantasy lover should. Before you can sit down with a glass of kombucha and a good book, you need to provide some literature to that small person who has only just emerged from illiteracy. Boy, have I got suggestions for you. I was a vivacious reader—wait, that’s not what vivacious means…
Or is it?
I was an avid reader who consumed as many books as possible once I learned how to read. These weren’t all fantasy, but many of them were, so I have some great fantasy chapter book recommendations for you! Beginning with…
The Magic Treehouse Series
by Mary Pope Osborne
The Magic Treehouse series was my jam. Super short chapter books, kids teleporting to different worlds through books in a magic treehouse? Yes, please; I want to go to there. Mary Pope Osborne’s works were wonderful for me as an early reader, and I continued to consume them for several years before eventually accepting that I had outgrown them.
While there is an overarching story that threads through each book, they are largely episodic and you can just grab whichever book is available at the library and give it a read. At least, that’s what I remember—the later books I didn’t read may not be that way.
The best part about this series? There are thirty-six books in this series, with the thirty-sixth book having just been released this year in 2022. She’s still writing the series! That’s absolutely insane to me. That’s a lot of good content, so if your semi-literate human being enjoys the first book, there is plenty where that came from.
Or, why not grab the entire collection if you think your young reader will love it?
How to Train Your Dragon
by Cressida Cowell
This series is just fun. Before a How to Train Your Dragon movie, there was a series of books. While I think the first movie was pretty good, it was vastly different from the books, which I still find to be a cut above the movies (especially the later ones). These books are a lot of fun, hilarious, have dragons, and are written in an incredibly engaging way. I tore through these books as a kid and strongly recommend passing them on to someone who’s an early reader looking for a challenge that’s engaging and enjoyable.
Much like the movies, you follow Hiccup, the useless Viking. Unlike the movies, his dragon, Toothless, is also pretty useless. Hiccup gets stuck with a runt of a dragon who can’t do much of anything, but he cares about him and can still make a difference with his clan despite so many factors working against him. It’s a sweet, uproarious tale that anyone is sure to love!
This one has a complete collection available if you'd like every How to Train Your Dragon book all at once.
Fantasy for People Who Can Really Read
Now we’re getting to the good stuff. The stories are a little more challenging, they’ve got more depth, they’re a little longer, and they’re finally becoming more fantastical than what was accessible at earlier reading levels. I’ve got a lot of suggestions for this level, but I’m going to keep it to just my top three suggestions. I know, I know: there's no Ranger's Apprentice on this list. I know. It was hard to pick three, but I did it.
The Chronicles of Prydain
by Lloyd Alexander
Arrogantly, I want to recommend The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander purely because the main character has the same name as me. Well, all right, that isn’t the only reason. This is a series I remember being read to me by my father many years ago. I then went and read it on my own later on. This is a really solid fantasy story that’s accessible for young readers!
The Chronicles of Prydain takes heavy inspiration from Welsh mythology for its high fantasy setting, which aids in its uniqueness compared to many modern fantastical works. Even the geography of the series is loosely based on Wales! So the setting is excellent, but the story is also pretty sound. You follow Taran (yeah, I just like saying my own name) as he graduates from being a farm boy tending to a prophetic white pig to confronting the Death-Lord. He travels the world, meets royalty, and all the classic fantasy things (plus some unexpected ones). This classic children’s high fantasy series is well worth checking out (for children and adults).
You can grab the collection of all five books for cheap if you want to get everything at once!
The Bromeliad
by Terry Pratchett
You didn’t think I was going to go through this list without including some Terry Pratchett, did you? Terry Pratchett actually has several stories suitable for these young reading ages, but I’m going to stick with one of my favorites: The Bromeliad, also called The Nome Trilogy, or just Truckers, Diggers, and Wings. This series of three books follows a group of tiny beings called Nomes as they seek a new home after their prior one—a convenience store—is no longer habitable. I always enjoy a good hidden world-style fantasy story, and The Bromeliad fits that bill! It’s like The Borrowers, but far more magical.
The Bromeliad, as expected, features Pratchett’s usual unparalleled wit throughout the series. Don’t be daunted by how large the collected works are if you get the trilogy as a single book—any young reader will easily tear through this book. I believe I read through it over a weekend when I was a kid, and I’ll bet I could get through it in a day now. These books are so much fun, and I really think that everyone should read them if they haven’t already.
Inkheart Trilogy
by Cornelia Funke
Unsurprisingly, Cornelia Funke is making another appearance on this list. She was really a staple of my young reading years. I loved The Thief Lord, but that isn’t a fantasy story, so I’m not recommending it in this list. This is purely about fantasy! So instead, I’m strongly suggesting the Inkheart Trilogy. This is a whimsical, bizarre, incredible ride for young readers. This is really a story and setting developed for people who absolutely love books.
In Inkheart, some people have the power to read things out of stories. They can read a character right out of a book! The consequence, though, is that when you take something out of a story, you have to put something into it, too. As expected, there are awful people out there who want to use this power for themselves. This setting makes for a fantastic story that is memorable and exciting.
I will caution you that there are some harrowing moments in this book. It’s nothing for those of us who are veterans of the fantasy genre, but I would recommend Inkheart for kids who might not be ready for some of the darker content and themes in the books. The Inkheart stories are a little more violent than most children’s fantasy works, so I would suggest looking up a content warning to make sure it’s appropriate for your kid before you hand it off. Just my suggestion! I’m fine with you traumatizing your child if you like. Not like I’ll have to deal with the consequences.
Unless, of course, that child knows you watched this video and seeks me out to do every awful thing listed in the Inkheart trilogy…
You can grab the trilogy in paperback for one price here at the link below. I'm not a fan of the covers for this particular collection, so if you care about appearances, you may consider grabbing individual copies instead.
Conclusion
There you have it! My suggestions for early readers. This is an excellent jumping-off point if you want to start your young reader off on the right note (fantasy, cough). Yeah, I love a lot more than just fantasy books, and there are tons of books in other genres I’d recommend for this reading level, but we’re talking about fantasy today! These fantastical works are sure to get the reader itching for more fantasy. Before you know it, the fragile human who was slogging through The Magic Treehouse will be devouring Mistborn while you shed a proud tear.