Millions of people enjoy fantasy books. They stretch the imagination and inspire people to delve into their creative sides. There’s also a community around fantasy books. People come together over this common interest and build meaningful relationships.
This can happen within your family too, if you’re able to share your love for fantasy books with them in a positive way. That said, the fantasy genre isn’t for everyone. So, getting your entire family to love these books will take some finesse. We’ll offer tips later in this post to help you with this.
But first, how would sharing your love of fantasy books with your family be beneficial?
Why Share Your Love of Fantasy Books With Your Family?
One of the main reasons you should share your love of fantasy books with your family is it offers an opportunity to build stronger, healthier relationships with your family members.
As you read these books together, you spend more quality time with one another. You learn more about each other’s interests. You start communicating better, discussing ideas and theories. And that, in turn, leads to stronger individual relationships as well as a stronger family unit.
In addition, sharing your love of fantasy books with your family may bring them closer to who they are. You discover things about yourself when reading books, like your core values, insight into your behaviors, and how you can best navigate trauma.
In introducing your family to fantasy books, they may take to it and start a path to self-discovery they hadn’t engaged in before.
Ultimately, sharing your love of books with your family can bring you all closer together.
Tips for Getting Your Family Into Fantasy Books
As mentioned above, the fantasy genre isn’t for everyone. If you want the best chance of people liking the books you recommend, being flexible and patient in the process is a must. Start with a gentle, positive introduction to the genre.
Introduce your family to the fantasy genre
As much as you want to talk your family’s ear off about fantasy and throw a long list of must-read books their way, this approach probably won’t resonate with them. An overload of information upfront may turn them off. It also takes away from them having their own experience with fantasy books.
Instead, be tender when introducing your family to the fantasy genre. For example, if you’re already in the habit of reading to your young children at bedtime, incorporate more kid-friendly fantasy books into the rotation, like The Night Dragon by Naomi Howarth or Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn by Shannon Hale.
You could also start with movies and video games based on fantasy books. Use your next family staycation to introduce them to fantasy-related multimedia through movie nights and video game tournaments. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, for example, was turned into a film series. Young kids up to adults can enjoy these movies as an intro to fantasy.
The same applies to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, which are both family-friendly. Have a video game tournament featuring Middle-earth games. You can then read the books if your family’s interest grows.
Find ways to gently introduce the fantasy genre to your family to ensure it’s a positive experience that could potentially lead to more.
Find books together
The books you’re interested in may not be the ones the rest of your family will be interested in. This is totally okay considering how many books and authors make up the fantasy genre. The whole point is to get them to love fantasy, whether they fall in love with the books you’re reading or discover a series all on their own.
You can make finding books a family affair. For example, everyone can go to the library together and pick a fantasy book they want to read on their own and one you can all read together. You could take a once-a-month trip to a big bookstore and give everyone an amount to spend on a fantasy book. You could even go to garage sales or markets to look for books.
Make finding fantasy books a fun event, and your family will be more likely to start growing fond of the genre.
Let fantasy books inspire other creative activities
If we’re honest, not everyone is a fan of reading or makes time for it. A Pew Research Center survey revealed that 23% of U.S. adults hadn’t read a book in the year leading up to the survey. And if we’re talking about kids, getting them to read outside of what’s required at school isn’t always the easiest task.
However, reading, especially fantasy books, can expand your imagination and help you tap into your creativity. Let fantasy books inspire other creative activities to help spark your family’s interest in the genre. If they can see it isn’t just about reading, but about something bigger in inspiring their creativity, it could lead to a genuine interest in fantasy books.
Not only will these activities inspire creativity and improve memory and concentration, but they can also help your family better grasp the books they’re reading:
- Draw and paint scenes from your favorite books
- Have your family make songs about the book or fantasy genre
- Learn the language of the characters in the book
- Create maps of the worlds in your favorite books
- Start a book club and rotate who leads meetings
- Do creative writing prompts related to the book you’re reading
Make it a point to attach creative activities to the books you’re reading to further tap into the fun, imaginative foundation of the genre.
If a family member isn’t a fan, that’s okay
We’ll say this once more: Not everyone will be a fan of fantasy books. Even if you do everything right in introducing your kids or spouse to fantasy, it still may not interest them. And that’s okay. They may not be a fan of fantasy books now, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be in the future.
Continue to express your love of fantasy books and let your family’s curiosity about it unfolds naturally.
What Are Some Of The Best Family-Friendly Fantasy Books?
Here’s a list of some popular and highly regarded family-friendly fantasy books:
- “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling
- “The Chronicles of Narnia” series by C.S. Lewis
- “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien
- “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle
- “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series by Rick Riordan
- “The Secret of Platform 13” by Eva Ibbotson
- “The Princess Bride” by William Goldman
- “The Land of Stories” series by Chris Colfer
- “The Spiderwick Chronicles” series by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
- “The Neverending Story” by Michael Ende
- “Howl’s Moving Castle” by Diana Wynne Jones
- “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster
- “The Fairyland” series by Catherynne M. Valente
- “The Magician’s Elephant” by Kate DiCamillo
- “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman
- “Ella Enchanted” by Gail Carson Levine
- “Inkheart” trilogy by Cornelia Funke
- “The Wrinkle in Time Quintet” by Madeleine L’Engle
- “The Mysterious Benedict Society” series by Trenton Lee Stewart
- “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum
These books offer captivating stories, magical worlds, and memorable characters suitable for readers of all ages.
About The Author
Charlie Fletcher is a freelance writer from the lovely “city of trees”- Boise, Idaho. Her love of writing pairs with her passion for social activism and search for the truth. You can find more of her writing on her Contently.
Most nights you can find him up into the wee hours scribbling away or watching the NBA.
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