# Children's & YA Fantasy - Genre: Literature genre - Date: Victorian Britain (Alice, 1865; Nesbit, 1899–1906); YA boom from the late 1990s - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/childrens-fantasy/ > The door most readers walk through first: Wonderland, Narnia, Earthsea, Prydain and Hogwarts — fantasy written for young readers that has repeatedly redefined the whole genre. **Why it matters:** Children's fantasy is where modern fantasy found its first market and where many of its masterpieces were published. From Alice to Harry Potter it has repeatedly created the readers who went on to buy adult fantasy and play roleplaying games. ## Quick answers **What is Children's & YA Fantasy?** The door most readers walk through first: Wonderland, Narnia, Earthsea, Prydain and Hogwarts — fantasy written for young readers that has repeatedly redefined the whole genre. **What are the hallmarks of Children's & YA Fantasy?** Child or teenage protagonists who gain unusual powers, allies or objects; Coming-of-age (bildungsroman) arcs: growing up is the real quest; Doors into other worlds, or magic hidden in homes, schools and villages; Moral clarity without condescension; evil is real and must be faced; Wonder and humor, with stakes that can still be life and death; Series that grow darker and longer as their readers grow older. **When did Children's & YA Fantasy emerge?** Victorian Britain (Alice, 1865; Nesbit, 1899–1906); YA boom from the late 1990s. **What are the key works of Children's & YA Fantasy?** Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Hobbit, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Chronicles of Prydain, Earthsea, The Dark Is Rising, The Neverending Story and Harry Potter. ## What it is Children's fantasy is fantasy written for young readers — and, by extension, the fantasy that young readers make their own, whatever its intended audience. Its heroes are usually children or teenagers who come into unusual powers, friends or possessions that let them face adversaries far larger than themselves: Lucy with her cordial, Taran with his oracular pig, Harry with his scar. Its deepest plot is growing up, and its best examples are anything but simple. Young-adult (YA) fantasy extends the form into adolescence, with darker themes, romance and longer series. ## Origins The genre's roots lie in folktales and fables not originally meant for children; before the Victorian era, fairy tales were often considered unsuitable for young minds. The 19th century reversed that. Charles Kingsley's *The Water-Babies* (1863), [Lewis Carroll](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/lewis-carroll/)'s [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/alices-adventures-in-wonderland/) (1865) and [George MacDonald](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/george-macdonald/)'s *The Princess and the Goblin* (1872) built a British market for children's fantasy, and America answered with L. Frank Baum's *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz* (1900). E. Nesbit, whose *Five Children and It* (1902) let magic loose on an ordinary family, is often credited as the creator of the modern form. ## Evolution Scholars place a golden age in the mid-20th century. [J. R. R. Tolkien](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/j-r-r-tolkien/)'s [The Hobbit](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-hobbit/) (1937) was written for children, and [C. S. Lewis](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/c-s-lewis/)'s [The Chronicles of Narnia](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-chronicles-of-narnia/) (1950–56) made the wardrobe the most famous door in literature; Lewis remarked that fantasy found a readier welcome in children's books, which is partly why so many fantasists wrote them. After the war, the stakes rose. Alan Garner's Cheshire fantasies and [Susan Cooper](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/susan-cooper/)'s [The Dark Is Rising](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-dark-is-rising/) (1965–77) brought ancient evil into modern Britain. [Lloyd Alexander](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/lloyd-alexander/)'s [The Chronicles of Prydain](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-chronicles-of-prydain/) (1964–68), whose final book *The High King* won the 1969 Newbery Medal, and [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/ursula-k-le-guin/)'s [Earthsea](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/earthsea/), begun with *A Wizard of Earthsea* (1968) for young readers, showed children's fantasy could be as serious as any adult novel. Diana Wynne Jones, [Michael Ende](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/michael-ende/)'s [The Neverending Story](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-neverending-story/) (1979) and Robin McKinley extended the range. The 1980s gave children a new way into fantasy: the [Gamebooks & Interactive Books](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/gamebook/). [Fighting Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/fighting-fantasy/) from [Puffin Books](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/puffin-books/) and [Choose Your Own Adventure](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/choose-your-own-adventure/) turned the reader into the hero, and for many future roleplayers were the gateway to D&D. Then came the boom. [J. K. Rowling](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/j-k-rowling/)'s [Harry Potter](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/harry-potter/) (1997–2007) became a global phenomenon, prompting *The New York Times* to split off a children's bestseller list in 2000 and reviving interest in older authors. [Philip Pullman](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/philip-pullman/)'s [His Dark Materials](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/his-dark-materials/) (1995–2000), a darker, philosophically ambitious answer to Narnia, won the Carnegie Medal for its first book, and *The Amber Spyglass* won the overall Whitbread Book of the Year — a first for a children's book. The YA market that followed produced Rick Riordan's mythic adventures, Stephenie Meyer's *Twilight* and the young-adult roots of today's [Romantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/romantasy/). The traffic between children's fantasy and the rest of the genre runs both ways. Tolkien acknowledged that the goblins of *The Hobbit* owed a good deal to the goblin tradition as it appears in [George MacDonald](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/george-macdonald/)'s *The Princess and the Goblin*, and the children who read Narnia, Prydain and Earthsea became the first generation of D&D players and fantasy novelists. Adaptations extended the reach: the Harry Potter films (2001–11) and the Narnia films of the 2000s carried children's fantasy to cinema audiences worldwide. ## How to tell it apart - **Children's fantasy vs. [Portal Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/portal-fantasy/) and [Low Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/low-fantasy/):** these are structures; children's fantasy is an audience. Many children's classics are portal or intrusion fantasies, but plenty are not (Earthsea, Prydain). - **vs. [High / Epic Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/high-fantasy/):** *The Hobbit* and *The Lord of the Rings* share a world; the difference is voice and scale. Children's fantasy centers a young protagonist's growth and usually keeps its cast and length manageable. - **vs. [Fairy-Tale Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/fairy-tale-fantasy/):** fairy tales were once for everyone; fairy-tale fantasy today often targets adults. Children's fantasy is defined by its intended readers, not its sources. - **YA vs. adult fantasy:** YA keeps a teenage protagonist and a coming-of-age arc at the center, even when the content is dark. - **vs. [Comic Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/comic-fantasy/):** Nesbit, Dahl and Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books are funny, but children's fantasy is defined by its audience rather than its tone. ## Where to start - [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/alices-adventures-in-wonderland/) — the beginning of it all. - [The Hobbit](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-hobbit/) — Tolkien's bedtime story that became a world. - [The Chronicles of Prydain](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-chronicles-of-prydain/) — Welsh legend and a boy who wants to be a hero. - [Earthsea](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/earthsea/) — *A Wizard of Earthsea*, a short masterpiece. - [His Dark Materials](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/his-dark-materials/) — *Northern Lights* (*The Golden Compass* in the US). - [Harry Potter](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/harry-potter/) — the series that remade publishing. ## Hallmarks - Child or teenage protagonists who gain unusual powers, allies or objects - Coming-of-age (bildungsroman) arcs: growing up is the real quest - Doors into other worlds, or magic hidden in homes, schools and villages - Moral clarity without condescension; evil is real and must be faced - Wonder and humor, with stakes that can still be life and death - Series that grow darker and longer as their readers grow older ## Facts - Before the Victorian era, fairy tales were widely thought ill-suited to children; a British market for children's fantasy grew in the 19th century. - E. Nesbit, author of Five Children and It (1902), is commonly cited as the creator of modern children's fantasy. - [C. S. Lewis](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/c-s-lewis/) observed that fantasy was more accepted in juvenile literature, so writers of fantasy often wrote for children to find an audience. - Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) was commissioned as a book for young readers. - [Philip Pullman](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/philip-pullman/)'s The Amber Spyglass (2000) became the first children's book to win the overall Whitbread Book of the Year award. - The New York Times introduced a separate children's bestseller list in 2000, a change widely linked to the dominance of Harry Potter. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia — Children's fantasy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_fantasy) - [Wikipedia — Children's literature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_literature) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.