Need to Choose a Fantasy Book

[nomadic myth]

I'm teaching an advanced ESL reading class, and the students and I agreed that we would read a fantasy book. The only specifics are that it can't be Harry Potter, Narnia and maybe Tolkien (students' request). I'll have to read it before them so that I can decide on the analysis and activities we'll do for it. The only problem is that my fantasy know-how is quite minimal.

I need an interesting fantasy book that is not too long and which has some sort of meaning besides mere plot. It also needs to appeal to both genders and a middle school age group. It would be better if it was relatively unknown.

Hope you can help me with suggestions.

 

[Canker]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eragon maybe

 

[Gilgamesh]

How about Ursula LeGuin's Wizard of the Earthsea.

It is a juvenile fiction and it's a fantasy, bit known though. But it does have some kind of moral.... need to face your own fears or something like that, and it's a man against himself thing. And the length is not too long. Written by a woman, but the protagonist is a man, so it should appeal to both genders.

ps.: Although, the book is 1 of 6 of a series, all stories are pretty much independent of each other.

 

[nomadic myth]

I'm going to consider both of those recommendations. Eragon has mixed reviews, but I think it might appeal to younger readers especially if they know a young person wrote it. Wizard of the Earthsea sounds like something I want to read, plus it's short. I'm also going to consider Redwall and The Golden Compass. Of those four titles, I'm going to let my students vote for one.

 

[jazz]

What about Sophie Masson's Snow, Fire, Sword? The last paragraph on the back says "Set against the backdrop of a mythical Indonesia, in a world where magic and sorcery are an everyday reality, Snow, Fire, Sword is a gripping quest that will leave fantast fans breathless"

Or there is Herbie Brennan's Faerie Wars-Eoin Colfer says about the book "An astounding blend of fantasy, mythology and science, Brennan is a master of all three" Or there is also Paul Collins "Dragonlinks"

 

[Canker]

I'm going to consider both of those recommendations. Eragon has mixed reviews, but I think it might appeal to younger readers especially if they know a young person wrote it. Wizard of the Earthsea sounds like something I want to read, plus it's short. I'm also going to consider Redwall and The Golden Compass. Of those four titles, I'm going to let my students vote for one.

Well don't let them base their votes off the movie version of Eragon. There have been lots of bad book to movie adaptations in the past but holy crap that one was really bad .

 

[The waveguide]

Ender's game?

I would suggest Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It has a meaning, it is not very long and it suits your age group.

I am not sure however where is the border between fantasy and SF genres passes. I think it is in between.

 

[nomadic myth]

They decided on A Wizard of Earthsea, but I'm going to read all the other suggestions, except maybe Eragon, since it seems a little long and will interfere with my other reading

 

[silverseason]

They decided on A Wizard of Earthsea

A good choice. And if they like Ursula Leguin they can try some of her other books. I liked The Lathe of Heaven very much.

 

[nomadic myth]

A good choice. And if they like Ursula Leguin they can try some of her other books. I liked The Lathe of Heaven very much.

I think they chose well. I'm reading it for the first time also, and it's really good. I find the learning of magic makes a good extended metaphor for learning knowledge in real life. Great for students. Interestingly, they read Demian last semester, and hated it, but I can see a connection with the Demian sparrowhawk and Sparrowhawk the character in A Wizard of Earthsea. Both have the idea of breaking out from your origin and reaching new heights of self-hood.