Modern Fantasy themes grew from traditional folktales and the human mind. Today’s fantasy has an identifiable author. In most stories the reader contemplates the struggles between good and evil in the world and thus considers the true meaning of life. Modern fantasy often has a commentary of today’s society interwoven in the themes. Modern Fantasy is similar to Science Fiction but science fiction explores what may happen if today's knowledge of science is used in a certain way.
Books for Kindergarten - Grade 2
Written and Illustrated by: Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Publisher: Knopf ,Distributed by Random House, p2005.
ISBN13: 978-0-375-82429-6
Fiction
Interest Level: K-3/Reading Level 1.6
Lexile Level: 490
Description: At the end of the day, while Farmer Joe gets ready for bed, his animals tune their instruments to perform in a big concert as a rock band called Punk Farm.
Fair Cow*
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children, p2010.
ISBN13:978-0-7614-5684-1
Fiction
Interest Level: K-3/Reading Level: 1.6
Lexile Level: 430
Description: Effie the cow dreams of winning a blue ribbon at the state fair, while her best friend Petunia the pig advises her to give up all that she truly enjoys in order to prepare for the big day.
Interrupting Chicken*
Publisher: Candlewick Press, p2010
ISBN13: 978-0-7636-4168-9
Fiction
Interest Level:K-3/Reading Level: 2.1
Lexile Level: 300
Description: Little Red Chicken wants Papa to read her a bedtime story, but interrupts him almost as soon as he begins each tale.
Written and Illustrated by: Leigh Hodgkinson
Publisher:Tiger Tales, p2008.
ISBN13:978-1-58925-071-0
Fiction
Interest Level: K-3/Reading Level: 2.3
Lexile Level: 650
Description:While taking a nap in a box, a cat named Boris is accidentally packaged and mailed around the world.
Written and Illustrated by Daniel Kirk
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children, p2004.
ISBN13: 978-0-7868-1942-3
Fiction
Interest Level: K-3/Reading Level: 2.9
Description: Nick and Kara build a little snow dude that comes to life and races through town attracting attention everywhere he goes.
Lawn to Lawn*
by Yaccarino, Dan
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, p2010
ISBN-13: 978-0-375-85574-0
Fiction
Interest Level: K-3/Reading Level: 3.0
Description: When their family moves away and leaves them behind, a group of lawn ornaments sets out on a dangerous trek across the country to try to find them.
Books for Grade 3 - Grade 5
The Girl with the Broken Wing
Illustrated by: Peter Bailey
Publisher: Scholastic, p2005.
ISBN13: 978-0-439-74827-8
Fiction
Interest Level: 3-6/Reading Level: 4.2
Lexile Level: 720
Description: Twins James and Amanda do not know where to turn for help when an small angel with a broken wing knocks on their window one rainy night, looking for shelter and a little respite from the hymn singing and do-gooding of her heavenly home.
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane*
Illustrated by: Bagram Ibatoulline
Publisher: Candlewick Press, p2006.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7636-2589-4
Fiction
Interest Level: 3-6/Reading Level: 4.8
Lexile Level: 700
Description: Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories.
The Secret of Zoom*
Publisher: Holt, 2009p.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8856-4
Fiction
Interest Level: 3-6/Reading Level: 4.8
Lexile Level: 770
Description: Ten-year-old Christina lives a sheltered life until she discovers a secret tunnel, an evil plot to enslave orphans, and a mysterious source of energy known as zoom.
100% Wolf
Illustrated by: Victor Rivas
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, p2009.
ISBN13: 978-1-41697-474-1
Fiction
Interest Level: 3-6/Reading Level: 5.0
Lexile Level: 680
Description: At the time of his first transformation, a young werewolf of noble and proud ancestry, is driven from his pack when, instead of turning into a fierce wolf, he changes into a little black poodle.
Written by: Kate DiCamillo
Illustrated by: Yoko Tanaka
Publisher: Candlewick Press, p2009.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7636-4410-9
Fiction
Interest Level: 3-6/Reading Level: 5.5
Lexile Level: 730
Description: When ten-year-old orphan Peter Augustus Duchene encounters a fortune teller in the marketplace one day who tells him that his sister, who is presumed dead, is in fact alive, he embarks on a remarkable series of adventures in an attempt to find her.
Books for Grade 6 - Grade 9
Written by: Rebecca Stead
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books, p2009.
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-90664-7
Fiction
Interest Level: 5-8/Reading Level: 4.6
Lexile Level: 750
Description: As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.
Gossamer
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, p2006.
ISBN13: 978-0-618-68550-9
Fiction
Interest Level: 5-8/Reading Level: 4.9
Lexile Level: 660
Description: While learning to bestow dreams, a young dream giver tries to save an eight-year-old boy from the effects of both his abusive past and the nightmares inflicted on him by the frightening Sinisteeds.
The Graveyard Book*
Written by: Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by:Dave McKean
Publisher: HarperCollins, p2008.
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-053093-8
Fiction
Interest Level: 5-8/Reading Level: 5.3
Lexile Level: 820
Description: The orphan Bod, short for Nobody, is taken in by the inhabitants of a graveyard as a child of eighteen months and raised lovingly and carefully to the age of eighteen years by the community of ghosts and otherworldly creatures.
Spellbinder*
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends, p2009.
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-38763-1
Fiction
Interest Level: 5-8/Reading Level: 5.9
Lexile Level: 840
Description: Twelve-year-old Belladonna Johnson, who lives with the ghosts of her parents in the north of England, teams up with an always-in-trouble classmate to investigate why all of the ghosts in the world have suddenly disappeared.
Princess Academy*
Publisher: Bloomsbury Children's Books ,Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers, p2005.
ISBN13: 978-1-58234-993-0
Fiction
Interest Level: 5-8/Reading Level: 6.2
Lexile Level: 890
Description: While attending a strict academy for potential princesses with the other girls from her mountain village, fourteen-year-old Miri discovers unexpected talents and connections to her homeland.
