Books Like Land of Stories: Middle Grade Fantasy Books Kids Will Love
Our family fell in love with Chris Colfer’s Land of Stories book series when our now 18 year old was just nine! The series is a real page turner, loved by readers of all ages around the world, and our own copies have been read and re-read until the covers are tatty and the pages dogeared.
What is The Land of Stories book series about?
For those yet to discover The Land of Stories stories, the series begins with The Wishing Spell, where we meet Alex and Connor, twins who are about to discover that their grandmother is really The Fairy Godmother in an alternative world of fairy tale characters called The Land of Stories.
The six book series follows Alex and Conner through a series of quests and adventures as they help a wide cast of engaging fairy tale characters, think Goldilocks, Cinderella and Red Riding Hood, within the fairy tale realm fight evil villain characters who are trying to assume control of the land.
What Makes a Great Middle Grade Fantasy Book?
As our teenager has been fixated with fantasy fiction since she was young, I recruited her to help me collate a collection of books like The Land of Stories. The result is a collection of great middle grade fantasy books and novels.
Some are fractured fairy tales – stories that provide a twist on a traditional tale, often taking a familiar fairy tale character and dropping them into a whole new adventure, others re-imagine a known character’s back story, and still others introduce a whole new world of interesting characters with the challenge of overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
What they all have in common is great storytelling featuring wonderful characters experiencing extraordinary events, that are sure to spark creativity and imagination in middle grade readers.
If you also have older children who love to read fantasy fiction, check out our collection of YA Fantasy Books for Teens.
Books Like Land of Stories: Middle Grade Fantasy Books
As with all of the lists in our Best Chapter Books for Kids collection, each title in this list links to an Amazon page (these are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you) where you can find more information and reviews for titles you might not be personally familiar with.
The Book Wanderers by Anna James
Imagine being able to walk within the pages of your favorite stories, or getting to know your favorite book characters in person!
11 year-old Tilly has lived above her grandparents’ bookshop ever since her mother disappeared. One day in the bookstore, Tilly realizes that classic book characters are crossing over from their book pages into real life!
With the help of some of her favorite characters, Tilly is on a mission to uncover what happened to her mother all those years ago.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis
In Lewis’ fantasy classic, siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy step through an old wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia – a land frozen in an eternal winter thanks to the power of an evil White Witch.
Can the four children help the true leader of the land, the great lion Aslan, save the land of Narnia from the White Witch’s evil, when betrayed by one of their own?
Half Upon a Time by James Riley
A hilarious tale about the son of the famous Jack who climbed the beanstalk. This Jack, however, is failing hero training classes and just doesn’t see the point as them anyway – after all there aren’t that many princesses left to rescue these days.
Until one day a girl wearing a ‘Punk Princess’ shirt (almost) falls straight into his arms! May is the granddaughter of Snow White but, as she is from the human world, she doesn’t quite understand Jack’s fairytale land or its magic. But May does need Jack’s help – a huntsman is chasing her, and her grandmother has been kidnapped! Jack thinks it’s all because of the Wicked Queen, and the two set off on a very funny adventure in this first book of a wonderful new fractured fairy tale book series.
Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtlif
In a world where your name is your destiny, orphaned Rump believes he is not bound to accomplish anything in his life – until he discovers he can spin straw into gold and starts questioning his name and his past.
His best friend, Red Riding Hood, warns him that magic is dangerous, and she’s right! With each thread he spins, he weaves himself deeper into a curse that could make Rump one of the most despised of names in the whole kingdom.
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson is a good kid but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse – when Percy’s pre-algebra teacher turns into a monster and tries to kill him, no one even believes him!
As a result, Percy’s mother decides it’s time that he finally knew the truth and sends him to the one place he’ll be safe – Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods, where Percy learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with new friends—a satyr and the demigod daughter of Athena – Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.
A Tale of Magic by Chris Colfer
This list would be incomplete without Colfer’s prequel trilogy to the Land of Stories books.
In A Tale of Magic, we are introduced to fourteen year old Brystal Evergreen, a maid working in a local library. Brystal hides away a few titles when no one is looking, as in the oppressive Southern Kingdom of the Land of Stories, it’s illegal for women to read. One day Brystal discovers a secret section of the library and there she finds a book that will change her life forever – a book of magic.
When she discovers that she is capable of magic, Brystal practices more and more but her abilities soon become hard to hide and she is forced to leave everything she has ever know to begin her new life – as a fairy.
The Grandest Bookshop in the World by Amelia Mellor
Pearl and Vally Cole live in a bookshop. And not just any bookshop: Cole’s Book Arcade is the grandest bookshop in the world, brimming with every curiosity imaginable. Each day brings fresh delights for the siblings: voice-changing sweets, talking parrots, a new story written just for them by their eccentric father.
So when Pearl and Vally learn that Pa has risked the Arcade – and himself – in a shocking deal with the mysterious Obscurosmith, the siblings hatch a plan and they are soon swept into a dangerous game with impossibly high stakes: defeat seven challenges by the stroke of midnight and both the Arcade and their father will be restored, or not only will they lose Pa- they’ll forget that he and the Arcade ever existed!
The Menagerie by Tui T. & Kari Sutherland
In a small town in Wyoming lies The Menagerie, a top secret facility filled with unicorns, dragons, phoenixes, and other fairy tale creatures. At least, it was a secret – until six griffin cubs escaped!
Now it is up to classmates Logan and Zoe to get the cubs back fast and work out who is sabotaging the facility, because, if they don’t, the entire magical menagerie will be shut down forever.
Middle graders and teens who enjoy fantasy fiction, should be sure to also check out Tui T. Sutherland’s popular Wings of Fire series.
A Tale Dark and Grim by Adam Gidwitz
In this harrowing yet humorous series, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into other classic tales!
An irreverent, witty narrator leads them through encounters with witches, warlocks, dragons, and the devil himself, as the siblings learn the true story behind the famous tales, as well as how to take charge of their own destinies to create their own happily ever after.
The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley
For Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, life has not been a fairy tale. After the mysterious disappearance of their parents, the sisters are sent to live with their grandmother – a woman they previously believed was dead! Granny Relda reveals that the girls have two famous ancestors, the Brothers Grimm, whose classic book of fairy tales is actually a collection of case files of magical mischief!
Now the girls must take on the family responsibility by becoming the next generation of fairy tale detectives tasked with solving mysteries for a cast of fairy tale characters.
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Siblings Kendra and Seth have no idea that their grandfather is the caretaker of Fablehaven – a refuge where mystical creatures gather together to prevent their own extinction.
Inside the gated woods, ancient laws keep the peace between trolls, satyrs, witches and fairies. However, when those very same rules are broken, powerful forces of evil are unleashed. Now, to save their family, Fablehaven, and perhaps even the world, Kendra and Seth must find the courage to do what they fear most.
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
Each year two children are taken from Gavaldon, one good, and one evil. This year, when best friends Sophie and Agatha are taken, they discover where all the lost children go: the School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes…or villains!
As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good, and graduate a fairy tale princess: with her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she’s certain she’ll have no trouble fitting in. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.
But when the two girls are swept away they find their fortunes reversed: Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Death Curses and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication. Can this mistake be reversed? Or could it actually be the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are?
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Miri’s simple, village life is interrupted when the priests of her country mystically divine that the prince is to marry a girl from their village. The king’s ministers, appalled that the prince must marry a rough, unsophisticated village girl, force all the marriageable teenage girls to leave their families to live and be tutored in a harsh princess academy for a year.
While there is competition between the girls, especially in the beginning of the story, they learn that the most important thing is to support each other so they can all succeed, in this wonderful story exploring the power of friendship, support and communication.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson
In this new take on the classic tale of Cinderella, Ella is ‘gifted’ the gift of obedience. Ella must obey any order, whether it’s to hop on one foot or chop off her own head!
After losing her mother, her father weds again and Ella is determined to survive both her new step-mother and her horrible step-sisters who take every advantage of Ella’s terrible curse of obedience! Tired of being taken advantage of, Ella sets out to break the curse that binds her.
Straight On Til Morning (The Twisted Tale series) by Liz Braswell
Sixteen-year-old Wendy Darling’s life is not what she imagined it would be. The doldrums of an empty house after her brothers have gone to school, the dull parties where everyone thinks she talks too much, and the fact that her parents have decided to send her away to Ireland as a governess-it all makes her wish things could be different. Wendy’s only real escape is in writing down tales of Never Land.
After nearly meeting Peter Pan four years earlier, she still holds on to the childhood hope that his magical home truly exists. So when an opportunity to travel to Never Land via pirate ship presents itself, Wendy makes a deal with the devil. But Never Land isn’t quite the place she imagined it would be. Unexpected dangers and strange foes pop up at every turn, and a little pixie named Tinker Bell seems less than willing to help. But when Captain Hook reveals some rather permanent and evil plans for Never Land, it’s up to the Wendy and Tinker Bell to save Peter Pan-and his world.
Fairest of All (Villains series) by Serena Valentino
For anyone who’s seen the movie Snow White you’ll know that the Evil Queen is one wicked woman. What you might not know is the story of how the queen became so evil!
This book follows the backstory of the queen herself, and tells the tale of how an enchanted mirror turned a sweet young woman into a terrible, wicked queen.
Best Chapter Books for Kids Collection
Discover more great books for children in middle and high school grades in our Best Chapter Books Collection, including;
