ALEXANDER, Lloyd  The book of three quintet 
Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper, sets out to save Prydain from the forces of evil. An orphan, through heroic deeds, he achieves a strong identity. Based on the Welsh Mabinogion legend.
Book of three, The black cauldron, The castle of Llyr, Taran wanderer, The high king

ALMOND, David  Skellig  1998    (Carnegie Medal and Whitbread Book of Year)
When Michael finds a 'being' in the crumbling garage of his new house, he worries that it appears to have given up on life. With a new friend, Mina, he cares for Skellig, at the same time as awaiting the recovery of his baby sister. The two become intertwined in this 'supernatural' story.

ASHTON, Charles   Jet smoke and dragon fire  1993

BABBIT, Natalie  Tuck everlasting
The Tuck family have drunk from a magical spring which bestows the gift of everlasting life. They aim to live without drawing attention to themselves, but Winnie Foster discovers their secret, following which there is a kidnapping, a murder and a jailbreak.

BANKS, Lynne Reid The Indian in the cupboard  series
When Omri puts his toy Indian in the old bathroom cabinet and turns the key, he is drawn into a world of 'real life' Wild West adventure as exciting as it is occasionally dangerous.

COLFER, Eoin  Artemis Fowl (first of a trilogy) 2001 
Diehard with fairies! Artemis has devised a plan to recoup the family’s lost fortune. It required the help of the Butler. ‘At the age of ten, Butler children were sent to a private training centre in Israel, where they learnt cordon bleu cooking, marksmanship, a customised blend of martial arts, emergency medicine and information technology.’ The plan was to capture a fairy and hold it for ransom. Unfortunately Artemis  captured the first female fairy admitted to the Lower Elements Police Reconnaissance Police Force; a test case, who needed to prove herself. 
 

COOPER, Susan   Over sea, under stone
Three children holidaying in Cornwall with their Great Uncle Merry discover a Grail. In The dark is rising (series title) Will Stanton finds, on his eleventh birthday, that he has a special destiny; to help the Old Ones defeat the forces of the Dark, by seeking the six magical Signs.. Followed by Greenwitch, The grey king, Silver on the tree
 

ELBOZ, Stephen  Temmi and the flying bears

ENDE, Michael   The neverending story
A quest is undertaken when the reader enters the story he is reading. Film also recommended.

ENDE, Michael   Momo

FIENBERG, Anna Power to burn 95
‘La magia’ is a magic power. What can a family do to protect itself when some family members inherit it? Roberto finds out when he meets his mothers’s family in Italy. JB

FLEISCHMAN, Sid The 13th floor; a ghost story

GARNER, Alan   The owl service
A group of adolescents find themselves re-enacting a story from the past. Set on a farm in Wales, this novel incorporates episodes from the Mabinogian legend, in which a man makes a woman out of flowers, and then is destroyed by her. The flower-woman becomes an owl. 11-13 CK

GARNER, Alan   The weirdstone of Brisangamen, The moon of Gomrath
On a farm holiday, Susan and Colin discover underground caves. They are seized by a tribe of goblins, the Svarts, who seem to want something from them. Saved by Cadelin, a powerful wizard, they learn that the crystal in Susan's bracelet is a stone of great magic, and become involved in saving it from the forces of great evil. 9-12 CK

GEE, Maurice  Under the mountain
In Auckland on holiday, the Matheson twins find they have been chosen to save the world from monsters waking from a spellbound sleep of thousands of years.

IBBOTSON, Eva  Island of the aunts
Aunts Etta, Coral and Myrtle are caretakers of an island where they tend to mermaids, selkies and other magical creatures who seek refuge. This is hard work and the aunts are getting old. They kidnap two children to train as assistant caretakers.

JACQUES, Brian   Redwall series
A community of mice in the medieval abbey of Redwall have their preparations for a special feast disrupted by the news that the evil, on-eyed rat Cluny is advancing with his battle scarred mob ...

JUSTER, Norton   The phantom tollbooth
Milo is bored, until he unwraps a mysterious package containing the Phantom Tollbooth. Through it he travels to the Kingdom of Wisdom, off the Coast of the Sea of Knowledge, bordered by the Mountains of Ignorance and the Foothills of Confusion.With the assistance of the Watchdog, Milo travels from Dictionopolos, where everybody speaks in dictionary definions, to Digitopolos, run according to the laws of mathematics, meeting the untrustworthy Humbug, the pedantic Spelling bee, the sinister Doctor Dischord and the princess Rhyme and Reason, learning along the way that the world is actually a very interesting place, and the more you know, the more interesting it becomes. 9-12 CK

KELLEHER, Victor  Master of the Grove
When Derin sets out on a quest to save his father, the mysteries of Derin's past and old Marna's real motives unfold.

LeGUIN, Ursula  The wizard of Earthsea  (trilogy)
Ged is a sorceror's apprentice studying magic at a college for magicians, who unknowingly sets loose a destructive spirit. Only after he has learned wisdom, and can control his own powers, is he able to restrain the force. Followed by: The tombs of Atuan, The farthest shore

MASEFIELD, John Box of delights (1935)
The perfect adventure: a group of children snowed in over Christmas in a rambling old house, no adults present. A mysterious Punch and Judy man entrusts Kay with the box of delights, a device which allows time travelling, shape shifting and telekinetic powers. With it, Kay is able to eavesdrop on a gang of ruffians who are planning to get the box for their own evil ends. Kay meets mythological figures such as Hermes and witnesses the Battle of Troy. 9-12 CK

McCAFFREY, Anne  Dragonsong
Forbidden to indulge in music, a girl on the planet Pern runs away, taking shelter with the planet's fire lizards who, along with her music, open a new life for her.

McKINLEY, Robin   The hero and the crown
In a kingdom where the royal family has magic powers, Aerin feels like a total failure. However she invents a recipe for rendering humans and animals, resistant to dragon fire. She is helped to find and use her own powers, and battles the evil wizard, Asgded, whose strength comes not only from his art but from the hero's crown of Dalmar, the loss of which has gradually been eroding the power of her country for hundreds of years. Newbery medal 84 12-15

Nicholson, William  The wind singer 2000? Sequel Slaves of the mastery
Three young people have gotten themselves into some seriously hot water. Unhappy with the strict authoritarian rule of Amaranth, they refuse to play along with the system of tests needed to pass into a higher level of society. Their family is blacklisted, busted down to the lowest level, and Kestral is sent to a ‘special school’. They leave in search of the ‘voice’ of the Wind singer, an ancient instrument needed to restore tolerance and freethinking, now disregarded. They meet the Mud People underground, war hungry Chakas and Barakas, and the terrible Morah and its army of smiling deadly Zars in their quest.

NIX, Garth The fall (The seventh tower 1) 2000
Tal lives in the Castle, in a class-based society, where sunstones are the only light. This is the story of his quest to find a powerful sunstone. Look at the website with an animated movie clip,- fantastic design.

OBRIEN, Robert C. The silver crown

PIERCE, Tamora  The first test

PRYOR, Michael   The house of many rooms  Part 1 of the The doorways trilogy  1998
Saul's father's toolshed becomes a doorway into another world. When the Princess and her Followers stumble into his world, he becomes involves in their struggle against the hollow men.

PRATCHETT, Terry The colour of magic (Discworld series)
Popular with teen readers for a blend of surreal fantasy, magic and humour, this series follows the adventures of witches and wizards, heroes and barbarians, who all live on a huge disc, supported by four large elephants standing on the shell of Great A'Tuin, a turtle of unimaginable size, the whole contraption hurtling through space. Rincewind, a failed wizard, is commissioned to act as a guide for a tourist named Twoflower from the other side of the Disc, and the adventures begin. 12-16 CK

PULLMAN, Phillip I was a rat

PULLMAN, Philip  The dark materials trilogy: Northern lights 1995 The subtle knife, The amber spyglass
Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the far North.

RODDA, Emily   Deltora quest series

RODDA, Emily   Rowan of Rin series
When the water to his village dries up, Rowan reluctantly becomes one of a group that challenges the Mountain in order to restore the stream.

ROWLING, J.K.  Harry Potter series
On his eleventh birthday, Harry learns that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards, possessing unique magical powers of his own. Rescued from the neglect of his aunt and uncle, he is summoned to attend Hogwart's, an English boarding school for wizards. There he makes close friends who help him discover the truth about his parent's mysterious deaths and their powerful enemy.

SCOTT, Bill  Boori
A post-Dreamtime quest telling how Boori travels across the ancient continent to combat forces that would upset its equilibrium and destroy the harmony. Sequel Darkness under the hills

SCOTT, Bill  Shadows among the leaves
Aboriginal 'Old Things' come to a rainforest's aid when a greedy would-be developer tries to buy.

SHAN, Darren  Cirque du freak
Darren Shan is just an ordinary school boy - until he gets an invation to visit the Cirque du freak … until he meets Madame Octa … until he comes fact to face with a creature of the night. Soon, Darren and his friend Steve are caught in a deadly trap. Darren must make a bargain with the one person who can save Steve. But that person is not human and only deals in blood. 

STORR, Catherine   Marianne dreams
When Marianne is ill in bed, she begins to dream and draws what she dreams. They become part of a whole and her dreaming becomes reality.
 

SWINDELLS, Robert World-eater

TOLKEIN, J.R.R. The Hobbit 1937
Needs no introduction. See also The annotated Hobbit with illustrations from various editions.

WAGNER, Jenny  Message from Avalon  1990
Kelly's

WRIGHTSON, Patricia   The book of Wirrun trilogy:
The ice is coming, The dark bright water, Behind the wind
Wirrun, aboriginal hero, makes a journey to save the country form the ice-spirits

WRIGHTSON, Patricia  A little fear
Mrs Tucker moves into an isolated cottage by a river in northern New South Wales. The njimben, an ancient spirit of the land, resents the intrusion. Three awards.

WRIGHTSON, Patricia   The Nargun and the stars
Classic award winner