How to Choose Fantasy Books for Your Kids

Kids are often drawn to the imaginary creatures, heroic deeds and larger-than-life adventures depicted in a well-crafted fantasy story. Fantasy books can help open your child's mind and help her explore the world around her, according to Scholastic. She can learn about the sciences and history while she expands her imagination. Take certain factors into consideration when selecting a book for your child.

Instructions

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      Identify which type of fantasy tale most appeals to your child. Magic and wizardry is only one subset of the fantasy genre. So, even if hocus pocus isn't your child's cup of tea, you can still find stimulating books about talking animals, alternate worlds, time or dimension travel or fantastic creatures such as dragons and fairies.

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      Consider your child's age and reading level to match her to age-appropriate fantasy books. Younger readers may enjoy shorter storybooks such as "The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister, the "Curious George" series by Margret and H.A. Rey, "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" by William Steig, "Jumanji" by Chris Van Allsburg, "The Knight and the Dragon" by Tomie dePaola or the "Magic Schoolbus" series by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. As your child's reading skills progress into first chapter books, he can travel through time with the "Magic Treehouse" series by Mary Pope Osborne, enjoy the antics of "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle" by Betty MacDonald or thrill to the adventures of "My Father's Dragon" by Ruth Stiles Gannett, "Half Magic" by Edward Eager or "The Indian in the Cupboard" by Lynne Reid Banks.

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      Graduate your child to full-length chapter fantasy novels when she is comfortably reading independently and has the attention span to stick with the longer stories over a period of days. Titles to consider include the "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling, the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," "Heroes of Olympus" and "Kane Chronicles" series, all by Rick Riordan, the "Wrinkle in Time" series by Madeleine L'Engle, the "Chronicles of Prydain" series by Lloyd Alexander, the "Oz" series by L. Frank Baum, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, "James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl, the "Redwall" series by Brian Jacques, the "Chronicles of Narnia" series by C.S. Lewis, the "Lord of the Rings" series by J.R.R. Tolkien or "Stuart Little" or "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White.

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