Popular YA Scifi & Fantasy Novels

• The Ropemaker by Peter Dickinson

For 19 generations, the prosperous Valley has been tucked away from the outside world. It's been kept safe by powerful enchantments, but when these powers begin to weaken, it's up to Tilja, her grandmother Meena, along with Tahl and his grandfather Alnor, to journey forth in search of a magician powerful enough to protect their home again. In the course of this pilgrimage, Tilja learns that she possesses not a jot of the hereditary magic that would entitle her to inherit her beloved family homestead. However she comes to understand more about the unique and valuable gift she does possess.


• The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
  Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who lives an ordinary life in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. One night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language, nor does she know why she has been chosen. Corlath does. Harry is to be trained in the arts of war until she is a match for any of his men.
  
  
• Walk in Wolf Wood by Mary Stewart
  Two children are picnicking with their parents when they see a strange man in odd clothing disappear into the woods. When they decide to follow him, they are swept away into medieval Germany. Here, in the 14th century the children wonder if they have the courage to save the kindly werewolf they have befriended, and will they ever be able to get back home to the present.
  
  
• Watership Down by Richard Adams
  Fiver, a small rabbit, has a premonition something terrible is going to happen to their Sandleford warren. Fiver tells his friend Hazel and together they try to warn their aging Chief Rabbit, the Threarah, to no avail. Hazel and Fiver decide they must leave, and are joined by other males of the warren. The little band takes off across the countryside. Along the way they encounter many obstacles such as a stream, a bean field, and a road. Hazel leads the rabbits to safety high on Watership Down. They are joined by Holly and Bluebell, who fled the destruction of their old warren. But there's a problem - for their new warren to succeed they need female rabbits.
  
  
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
  Bilbo Baggins is, like most of his kind, well off, well fed, and best pleased when sitting by his own fire with a pipe, a glass of good beer, and a meal to look forward to. Certainly this particular hobbit is the last person one would expect to see set off on a hazardous journey. When Gandalf the Grey stops by one morning, looking for someone to share in an adventure, Baggins fervently wishes the wizard elsewhere. No such luck, however; soon 13 fortune-seeking dwarves have arrived on the hobbit's doorstep in search of a burglar, and before he can even grab his hat or an umbrella, Bilbo Baggins is swept out his door and into a dangerous adventure.
  
  
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman
  Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.
  
  
• The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
  A Unicorn, alone in a lilac wood, discovers that she is the last unicorn in the world. Mustering all her courage, she sets off to find the others. Along the way she meets Schmendrick the Magician--whose magic seldom works, and never as he intended--when he rescues her from Mommy Fortuna's Midnight Carnival, where only some of the mythical beasts displayed are illusions. They are joined by Molly Grue, who believes in legends despite her experiences with a Robin Hood wannabe and his unmerry men. Ahead waits King Haggard and his Red Bull, who banished unicorns from the land.
  
  
• Acorna by Anne McCaffrey
  Three young space prospectors recover a small survival pod containing a toddler with strange hands and feet, silvery curls, and a tiny horn in the center of her forehead. They decide to name her Acorna and together they learn she has some unusual powers, such as abilities to purify water and air, to make plants grow, and to heal injuries. When the three take her "planetside," Acorna is commandeered by scientists who want to study her as an anomaly.
  
  
• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
  Richard Mayhew, learns the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. He ceases to exist in the ordinary world of London Above, and joins a quest through the dark and dangerous London Below, a shadow city of lost, forgotten people, places, and times. His companions are Door, the Marquis of Carabas, and Hunter, a mysterious lady who guards bodies and hunts only the biggest game.
  
  
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
  Aliens have attacked Earth twice and almost destroyed the human species. To make sure humans win the next encounter, the world government has taken to breeding military geniuses -- and then training them in the arts of war... The early training, not surprisingly, takes the form of 'games'... Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games... He is smart enough to know that time is running out. But is he smart enough to save the planet?