The Book of Three. The Chronicles of Prydain 1

Alexander, Lloyd
H. Holt, 1999
J ALE

Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper to a famous oracular sow, sets out on a hazardous mission to save Prydain from the forces of evil.

The Dark Hills Divide. The Land of Elyon 1

Carman, Patrick
Orchard Books, 2005
J CAE
When she finds the key to a secret passageway leading out of the walled city of Bridewell, twelve-year-old Alexa realizes her lifelong wish to explore the mysterious forests and mountains that lie beyond the wall.

Artemis Fowl. Artemis Fowl 1

Colfer, Eoin
Miramax Books/Hyperion Books for Children, 2001
J COL
When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll.

The Dark is Rising

Cooper, Susan
Atheneum, 1973
J COO
On his eleventh birthday will Stanton discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, destined to seek the six magical Signs that will enable the Old Ones to triumph over the evil forces of the Dark.

Revenge of the Witch. The Last Apprentice 1

Delaney, John
Greenwillow Books, 2005
J DEL
Young Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, starts work as an apprentice for the village spook, whose job is to protect ordinary folk from “ghouls, boggarts, and all manner of wicked beasties.”

The Field Guide. The Spiderwick Chronicles 1

DiTerlizzi, Tony
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003
J DIT
When the Grace children go to stay at their Great Aunt Lucinda’s worn Victorian house, they discover a field guide to fairies and other creatures and begin to have some unusual experiences.

The Ruins of Gorlan. The Ranger’s Apprentice 1

Flanagan, John
Philomel Books, 2005
J FLA
When fifteen-year-old Will is rejected by battleschool, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger.

Inkheart

Funke, Cornelia Caroline
Scholastic/The Chicken House, 2003
J FUN
Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can “read” fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.

The Merchant of Death. Pendragon 1

MacHale, D.J.
Aladdin Paperbacks, 2002
J MAC
Bobby Pendragon is a seemingly normal and somewhat reluctant 15-year-old boy who is swept into an amazing five-year quest.

Fablehaven. Fablehaven 1

Mull, Brandon
Shadow Mountain, 2006
J MUL
When Kendra and Seth go to stay at their grandparents’ estate, they discover that it is a sanctuary for magical creatures and that a battle between good and evil looming.

Midnight for Charlie Bone. Children of the Red King 1

Nimmo, Jenny
Orchard Books, 2003
J NIM
Charlie Bone’s life with his widowed mother and two grandmothers undergoes a dramatic change when he discovers that he can hear people in photographs talking.

Mister Monday. Keys to the Kingdom 1

Nix, Garth
Scholastic Press, 2003
J NIX
Arthur’s life is saved by a key shaped like the minute hand of a clock, but bizarre creatures from another realm are determined to take the key even if it means killing him.

The Magic Thief. The Magic Thief 1

Prieas, Sarah
HarperCollins, 2008
J PRI
A young thief is drawn into a life of magic and adventure after picking the pocket of the powerful wizard Nevery Flinglas, who has returned from exile to attempt to reverse the troubling decline of magic in Wellmet City.

The Lightning Thief. Percy Jackson and the Olympians 1

Riordan, Rick
Miramax Books/Hyperion Books for Children, 2005
J RIO
After learning that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea, Percy Jackson is transferred from boarding school to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods, and becomes involved in a quest to prevent a war between the gods.

Rowan of Rin

Rodda, Emily
Greenwillow Books, 2001
J ROD
Because only he can read the magical map, young, weak and timid Rowan joins six other villagers to climb a mountain and try to restore their water supply, as fears of a dragon and other horrors threaten to drive them back.

Ordinary Magic

Rubina-Bradway, Caitlen
Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2012
J RUB
In a world where everyone possesses magical abilities, powerless twelve-year-old Abby, an Ordinary, is sent to a special school to learn how to negotiate a magical world with her unmagical “disability”–and to avoid becoming a victim of kidnappers, carnivores, and goblins ready to prey upon the Ords.

Magyk. Septimus Heap 1

Sage, Annie
Katherine Tegen Books, 2005
J SAG
After learning that she is the Princess, Jenna is whisked from her home and carried toward safety by the Extraordinary Wizard, those she always believed were her father and brother, and a young guard known only as Boy 412–pursued by agents of those who killed her mother ten years earlier.

The Emerald Atlas. The Books of the Beginning 1

Stephens, John
Alfred A Knopf, 2011
J STE
Kate, Michael, and Emma have passed from one orphanage to another in the ten years since their parents disappeared to protect them, but now they learn that they have special powers, a prophesied quest to find a magical book, and a fearsome enemy.

The Amulet of Samakan. the Bartimaeus Trilogy 1

Stoud, Jonathan
Hyperion Books for Children, 2003
J STR
Nathaniel, a magician’s apprentice, summons up the djinni Bartimaeus and instructs him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician Simon Lovelace.

The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again

Tolkien, J.R.R.
Houghton Mifflin, 2007
J TOL
Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.