I think I was in my twenties before, with great sadness, I had to accept I was never going to be granted three wishes or activate my flying prowess. Any book that shows me maybe I was wrong or I just didn’t look hard enough fills me with hope. I love to be pulled into worlds that are so real and yet the magic is right there, in front of us, unseen, or where a parallel world is just a side-ways step or the opening of a door away. I read and write to reinforce my belief that it is all still possible.
Engrossed and enthralled, I was swept into the Harry Potter world from the first chapter. I didn't want to leave, I was involved, I was part of it!
A magic world is revealed to a lonely twelve-year-old Harry. A move to a boarding school for students of magic! Friends, feasts and foes, and a school year that brings him face to face with danger.
My lifelong feeling that magic, mystery, and enormous possibilities were at our fingertips was echoed in this book
nothing in this story was predictable or stale and it never became so in this amazing seven-book series.
Galloping gargoyles ... 2022 is the silver anniversary of J.K. Rowling's magical classic Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone!
The boy wizard Harry Potter has been casting a spell over young readers and their families ever since 1997. Now the first book in this unmissable series celebrates 25 years in print! The paperback edition of the tale that introduced us to Harry, Ron and Hermione has been updated and dressed in silver to mark the occasion. It's time to take the magical journey of a lifetime ...
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping…
Could there be anything more ordinary than a wardrobe?
Yet, in this novel, there's a door at the back of one which leads unsuspecting Lucy into the extraordinary world of Narnia.
A world of talking creatures, of magic and evil, a world where ordinary children can become kings.
A book where the journey from one world to another is as simple as opening a door. Published seventy years ago, the writing style can seem old-fashioned but the story is alive, exciting, and involving.
Lucy steps into the Professor's wardrobe - but steps out again into a snowy forest. She's stumbled upon the magical world of Narnia, land of unicorns, centaurs, fauns... and the wicked White Witch, who terrorises all. Lucy soon realises that Narnia, and in particular Aslan, the great Lion, needs her help if the country's creatures are ever going to be free again...
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
Although set in Oxford, in England, this book opens with eleven-year-old Lyra living in a world which has a degree of magicaliity in it already. There are the daemons, shape-changing manifestations of their inner selves that children are bonded to and can communicate with which remain with them for the rest of their lives. In common with the other books on this list, I was whirlwinded into another world. A world where everything normal was a smokescreen for the workings of power-hungry adults and where childhood friendships stand strong in the face of magic, deceit, and danger. Like the Harry Potter series, it is impossible to stop reading at book one.
Philip Pullman invites you into a dazzling world where souls walk beside their humans as animal companions and powerful forces clash over the nature of the universe.
When fearless young Lyra uncovers a sinister plot involving kidnapped children and a mysterious substance called Dust, she sets out on a daring quest from Oxford to the frozen Arctic. With armored bears, witch queens, and a truth-telling compass as her allies, Lyra must face choices that will shape not just her destiny—but that of countless worlds. A thrilling blend of adventure, philosophy, and wonder, perfect for curious minds.
This book very definitely takes a step from YA towards A. The protagonist, Quentin, is a high school student and the story contains sex, swearing, smoking, and mental health issues, and yet... It also has a letter swept by the wind into the bushes of a neglected, winter New York park and when Quentin pushes through to grab it he is now standing on the vast, sunny grounds of a Hogwartsesque college. What’s not to love? Obviously, my desire for there to be more to life than we can see made me fall in love with this book.
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
A wonderfully written Fantasy that is filled with sorcery, betrayal, war, and love. I read this book so often I had to replace it several times! In a medieval-type world, a six-year-old boy is dragged from home to live with the animals in the stables of the royal castle. Against great odds, he discovers his powers which are forbidden and have to be hidden. Royal rivalries and attacks on the country from outside lead to the boy, now named Fitz being put in a group of students being trained to use their powers (sound familiar??) to help save the kingdom.
Voyager Classics - timeless masterworks of science fiction and fantasy.
A beautiful clothbound edition of Assassin's Apprentice, the first book in the critically acclaimed Farseer Trilogy.
In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.
Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if…
What if you could make people do what you wanted simply by thinking about it? What if your grandparents disappeared so completely that even their house was gone? What if they turn up after eleven years, want you to live with them, and you're the only person in the world who remembers they were ever gone?
What if the first time you fall in love you're not sure if they're even human?
A corrupt kingdom. A rising darkness. Can a broken warrior save a world?
Mithranar is a country divided by ignorance and magic. Oppressed by their winged folk rulers, humans struggle to eke out an existence. Their only help comes from the mysterious Shadowhawk, a criminal who has evaded all attempts…
Mother of Trees is the first book in an epic fantasy series about a dying goddess, a broken world, and a young elf born without magic in a society ruled by it.
When the ancient being that anchors the world’s power begins to fail, the consequences ripple outward—through prophecy, politics,…
