This post is part of a series I’m writing in response to some parents asking me for book recommendations for their preteens.
They lamented how common it is for books for preteens to be filled with middle school drama and romance, and their kids aren’t really ready for that yet.
The book reviews in this post are dedicated to wholesome and appropriate fantasy series for preteens.
In case you missed it, find the series introduction to Wholesome Books for Preteens here.
It is no secret that I love a good fantasy book. Sometimes, I think that the books written “for kids” in this genre are even better than ones that are written for adults, especially when they can be placed in the wholesome category.
These are the series that came to mind off the top of my head that I either enjoyed as a kid or have enjoyed as an adult who still loves kid books. 🙂
Without further ado, here are my book recs and book blurbs on some fantastical fantasy titles!
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Series: Main Characters Who Overcome
Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan
I don’t remember how I got connected to this series; I only know it was the right series at the right time. After having a painful oral surgery, I was not supposed to move my mouth (no smiling, talking, chewing) for about a whole week. I was in the middle of this series and binge-read it while I recovered.
It is an easy read, yet I found it so enjoyable! I love that this book can appeal to both boys and girls (potentially more geared toward boys). The author shared that he created these stories for his son, and later ended up publishing them for others to enjoy. I’m so glad he did.
The main character is Will, who is an orphan. When he “ages out” of the orphanage, he is able to choose between some professions, with the approval of whoever will be his master. He chooses to become a ranger’s apprentice (pretty obvious from the title, yeah?). This apprenticeship is more rigorous and demanding than just about any other position in the kingdom. I loved watching Will learn, fail, have his master-mentor swoop in, reprimand him, and care for him. . . . It’s a type of rags-to-riches story, but the kind where the riches are expertise, confidence, integrity, trustworthiness, and strong friendships. Try it – you’ll like it!
Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger
One of my former 5th graders introduced me to this series during Covid lockdown. Again, it was the right series at the right time. Being stuck in my apartment for months meant that I read more than I ever have before, and I welcomed the escape that came from this series!
In fact, when I finished the 8th book and realized the 9th hadn’t been published, I was disappointed! The ninth book has since been published and I read it over Christmas break 🙂 There is supposed to be a tenth and final book coming at some point. If your reader doesn’t enjoy starting a series that is not complete, don’t let them start this one yet!
Sophie is taken away from the only world she’s ever known and thrust into a parallel world filled with elves and magic and animals she thought were only myths. Turns out, her ability to read peoples’ thoughts is an elvish one, and everything she thought she knew about herself and her family isn’t true. Sophie has an important role to play in saving her new world – and the world of humans – but she has to unravel a whole lot of mystery about herself, and, at the same time, learn in a few years what most elvish kids have been learning their whole lives.
Along the way she makes friends (and enemies), and somehow always pulls through. Triumphant, good over evil, creative thinking, and plenty of typical middle school drama to make it relatable, along with a whole lot of magic, makes this series is a great one for middle grade and middle school readers. While there’s a touch of romance, it is innocent and chaste (at least through book 9).
The Inheritance Cycle – Book 1: Eragon by Christopher Paolini
For more voracious readers with a lot of stamina, Eragon and the books following it are great good fun.
Eragon is a young farm boy, isolated from most of the rest of the empire, and his life seems unremarkable until the day he finds a unique blue stone in the forest.
Turns out, it’s a dragon egg, and all of a sudden he has a huge secret on his hands and a whole lot of danger headed his way. Without knowing exactly who to trust, and without having a whole lot of guidance, Eragon suddenly has to fulfill a role, which he has to figure out as he goes, and fight the evil ruler of the kingdom.
The author began writing these books as a teenager himself, and it shows in his writing. I had to look past the adolescent phrasings, but as Eragon grew throughout the books, so, too, did the author. There are plenty of battles, danger, intrigue, and, of course, some romance. Yet overall, the reader simply gets to follow the arc of Eragon growing up and fighting for the good of the kingdom. It takes time, but I think it’s worth it if your reader likes long books!
Series with Allegorical Parallels
– and Christian undertones – some more obvious than others.
A Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L’Engle
While I don’t recommend the 4th and 5th books, the first three are fabulous fantasy/sci-fi reads. Meg and her little brother Charles Wallace, along with their somewhat nerdy neighbor end up traveling through time and space by “tessering.” They find Meg and Charles Wallace’s father fighting against a force of evil to save the universe itself. There are strong Christian undertones and its worldview seeks to combine science with faith.
While some Goodreads reviewers criticize this book saying its characters are one-dimensional and the topics L’Engle attempts to address (like uniting science and faith) aren’t developed well, I find myself in the camp of I’m-a-fan. When I was a kid, the darkness and evil in this book were so palpable to me that I couldn’t really finish it well. Yet at the same time, I loved the main characters, their odd family, and the fact that some things, though we try to explain them, still are ultimately unexplainable. When I reread it as an adult, it didn’t feel as intense, but I still appreciated the fact that love is described as the ultimate power in the world and the struggle it takes to resist evil.
This would be a great book/trilogy to read aloud with your middle grade readers or to introduce to your teen reader. The reason I don’t like the final two books is that the theology gets a little weird (she attempts to explain the “Nephilim” from Genesis chapter 6) and her portrayal of the sinfulness on earth before the flood is a tad too explicit for my taste. She also seems to veer away from the storyline introduced in the first few books.
Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
Oh, the Chronicles of Narnia. I can still remember how I didn’t read book #5 for years after I’d read all the other ones because it was sitting in the car next to a can of bug spray that leaked and glued all the pages together in our copy. I was mad at my brother for leaving it in there and (accidentally) ruining it before I could read it! 🙂
Nevertheless, this was one of the first fantasy series I read and loved. I couldn’t get enough of Aslan and the talking animals and the struggle of good over evil. The fact that the kids were whisked away from the normal world into a kind of alternate dimension just made it seem even more magical. My favorite for the longest time, though decidedly a bit creepy, was The Silver Chair. The most accessible ones to start with are The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Prince Caspian is as well, especially since it’s been made into a movie.
One of the reasons I love this series is how C.S. Lewis took spiritual truths and theological ideas and brought them to life – in a way, it was a bit how Jesus did in his parables. I could relate to the pain that Eustace had to experience when Aslan stripped him of his dragon self to make him into a new Eustace. And the words that Aslan answered to Jill when she asked him if he was safe are forever branded in my mind. Because no, God Himself isn’t “safe” – but He is, indeed, good.
If you want to provide good conversation fodder about spiritual truths for your kids, read through this series together.
Note: the final book, The Last Battle, definitely shows Lewis’s theological standpoint on the end times; however, if you don’t agree with them, it’s still a great opportunity to talk about how biblical interpretation can vary between people who all love the Lord!
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (and Lord of the Rings trilogy)
How many of you have read the book and not just seen the movie?
I’ll be the first to admit that the movie producers did a fabulous job; however, I still think the book is better!
Bilbo Baggins is chosen by the wizard Gandalf to accompany a group of dwarves on a journey to defeat the dragon Smaug. Bilbo is quite comfortable in his hobbit-hole life, and takes some convincing. Once he goes along, he essentially becomes the one who saves the day – in part because of the magic ring he finds and doesn’t tell anyone else about. This book is better than good, mostly because it points to deeper truth, but doesn’t appear to be trying too hard to do so. It’s inspiring and based on a lot of mythological influences that Tolkien had learned about. It is beautiful, and, though long, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The Wingfeather Saga series by Andrew Peterson
I love how un-obvious the Christian parallels are in here – at least until the end. It was tickling my brain as I read, and I kept thinking, “hmm, seems like maybe this was purposefully written to talk about God’s redemption story.” Now I can’t unsee it – and wouldn’t want to.
The Wingfeather children have lived on the edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness for as long as they can remember, though they know that they don’t exactly belong. They are cared for by their mom and grandpa, but their father is tragically not around anymore. Unfortunately, their relatively safe town becomes unsafe when the Fangs of Dang arrive, and the family has to flee from all sorts of dangers. For some reason, these children are wanted by the terrible rulers, but they don’t know exactly why – though their mom and grandpa do.
Though it took me a bit to wrap my head around the world Peterson built, once I got going, I couldn’t stop. I love all the layers and potential for discussion. This would be a great one to read as a family! It is so rich in heart, humor, and hope. I may have shed a few tears near the end of the series because it touched me so deeply.
Books That Are Parts of Series
– but I’ve only read the titles listed here, so I don’t want to give a blanket-recommendation to the entire series
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
By the same author as Hunger Games came a middle grade book that is fearsome and fascinating.
During summer vacation, Gregor is in charge of watching his toddler sister Boots and his granny while his mom is at work. His father mysteriously disappeared years ago, and things have been tough for the family ever since.
One day, Boots disappears through the laundry chute. Gregor follows her and falls – literally – into the underworld: a place filled with humans who have survived away from the sunlight, giant cockroaches who can actually be allies, bats big enough for humans to ride on and fly, and spiders that are, well, huge and scary. He has to find his sister, and then they are forced to stay in the underworld because others recognize that there was a prophecy about his arrival. He has to decide if he’s going to help the people he met or just get his sister and go home. If he can figure out how to get home.
I have no qualms about recommending this book to any kiddo, unless they have a severe fear of the creatures mentioned above. I will say that I started the second book and it didn’t capture my attention like the first, so I DNF’d it. But it was a satisfying stand-alone read anyway.
The Flame of Olympus by Kate O’Hearn
Adventurous and imaginative are two words that come to mind for this story. It’s a bit Percy Jackson-esque, but without some of the darkness of those books.
Emily is fairly self-sufficient, given her mother’s death and her father being busy working. So at first, hiding Pegasus when he crashes onto the roof of her apartment building in NYC during a storm isn’t too bad. It is, however, hard to believe, since she thought Pegasus was myth.
Though difficult to wrap her head around, things become even stranger when strange warriors made of rock start to pour into the city. With a small motley crew that gathers around her, Emily goes on a quest to both keep Pegasus safe and save Olympus before it’s too late.
The reading experience was just intense enough to keep me turning pages, but not so intense that I was scared spitless. I also kept reading because I wanted to figure out who was actually on the “good” side as well as how the characters would escape the grasp of all who were trying to stop them from returning to Olympus. It’s a fun read and an enjoyable introduction to some of Roman mythology!
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Steward
An advertisement for tests being given for children of high ability is seen by Reynie, who is an orphan, and he decides to try it out. The tests are very strange, and definitely aren’t “normal” school-type tests. At the end of the tests, only he and three other children have passed. They are invited to help Mr. Benedict figure out what the evil headmaster is planning at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened.
The book is full of danger and humor. The author tells it like it is but in the best sense of that phrase – and I appreciated his keen understanding of how children think. He has such a high view of children and their abilities, and he writes in a way that celebrates the quirks of the people around us, which often end up being just the trait needed in a moment of difficulty. If your reader enjoys books that require critical and resourceful thinking, this is for him/her!
The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst by Jaclyn Moriarty
The main character of this book is an ordinary girl named Esther, who doesn’t have the talents of her sister. In the kingdom where she lives, there are ogres, shadow mages, water sprites, and prince who has been missing since birth, but has since been rescued and is being returned to the King and Queen. However, something strange is happening at Esther’s school, and it seems that danger is all around! It’s up to Esther and a couple of her friends to help.
This book is ripe for promoting thought and discussion of all sorts of deeper themes. Here are a few I noticed: the nature of truth, fighting evil with good, and what to do when the adults in our lives fail us. It can also be relatable for kiddos who struggle with strained parent and teacher relationships, or even those who compare themselves to their siblings and find themselves lacking. If your preteen loves imaginary worlds and connecting with characters, this would be a great book!
Part two (stand-alone fantasy books) is coming out next, but what series do you think of as “wholesome fantasy” for preteens? Let us know in the comments!
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