“We don’t create a fantasy world to escape reality, we create it to be able to stay.” –Lynda Barry, What It Is
Fantasy has played a huge role in my life from a very young age. I was 100% that kid standing in line for the midnight release of every Harry Potter book post Prisoner of Azkaban, devouring them like a really addicting bag of chips at the dinner table, in bed, and pretty much anywhere else you can imagine.
As I got older, I threw myself into the worlds of Menzoberranzan, Earthsea, Scadrial, the Seven Kingdoms, and soooo many others (if these don’t sound familiar drop everything and check them out!). Point is, I can’t remember a time when works of fantasy weren’t present in my life. And I want to encourage the same love of all things fantasy (or sci-fi if that’s their thing) in my kids.
And not just because it’s something I’m totally obsessed with, but because I think the fantasy and sci-fi genres are super important for a kid’s overall development.
Why?
The two most obvious reasons are simple: it makes reading fun while also encouraging imagination and creativity!
Fantastical stories of faraway lands filled with magical creatures like dragons, elves, giants, orcs together with free time for outside imaginative play is an amazing combination for development. The act of reading fantasy encourages them to think outside the box (I mean hey, I’m in my late 20’s and it still does this for me), spurring them to imagine a world so different–yet so familiar to our own. Worlds of fantasy aren’t pinned down by reality’s laws, so children’s minds can go wild–the only real barrier is exactly how much they can imagine…and the more they read, the more those barriers are pushed.
But just as important is giving your kids the free time to actively foster their own imaginations. Tons of research has been done (discussed in lots of blog posts like this one) on how beneficial free play is for children. And what better time for them to play pretend and come up with their very own stories inspired by beloved characters and magical–or futuristic–creatures they have engaged with while ALSO practicing their reading skills? No denying that power combo.
Fantasy and sci-fi are also really good at helping kids (and anyone, really) understand actual real-world problems better. Like Lynda Barry said, fantasy helps us ‘stay’ in reality. Yeah, stories of elves and dragons or intergalactic alliances and aliens create a feeling of escapism we all crave in *that* moment, but we almost always come back with a better understanding of issues like bullying, racism, and fanaticism, just to name a few examples! And why does fantasy do this better than other genres?
Because these worlds are magical and “unrealistic”, the setting lets readers really examine these issues through the lens of the fantastical! Kind of like the freedom satire allows us, we are less likely to dance around hard-to-tackle issues if they’re being dealt with in another universe. The fanaticism and prejudice of high-ranking Death Eaters in Harry Potter is a great example–it’s an obvious parallel to our own society, but the mask of it being a fantasy world almost inherently lets the writer and their readers delve even deeper into these issues because ‘Oh, well it’s not our world’. It feels close to home without actually being home.
And while we’re at it, the organic ability to make this kind of connection between fiction and reality helps kids develop their critical thinking skills. But it’s not all negative parts of our society that fantasy tackles! It reinforces great life lessons that will benefit kids throughout their whole lives.
At least for me, one of the first that comes to mind is the importance of friendship. Seriously, just think about how good of a friend Samwise is to Frodo. Maybe it’s because I spend the majority of my reading time devouring fantasy books, but I can’t think of any genre that overall features such amazing friendships as fantasy does.
The protagonists are usually facing crazy insurmountable odds like fighting some massive dragon or seemingly immortal monster. World-shattering trials test these friendships and uphold traits like perseverance and inner strength.
And last (but I’m certain not least), the super diverse creatures usually featured in fantasy and sci-fi stories helps teach children empathy and tolerance from a young age. The Penvensie children exploring through Narnia nourish relationships with the talking animals to overcome the Hundred Year Winter despite them being completely different species. The Harry Potter books are packed with examples of being tolerant of others too: whether they’re muggle-born, half-giant, centaur, the list goes on. In many works of fantasy, in order to defeat the story’s main villain–our protagonists have to team up with people or beings they might not normally have associated with, usually resulting in a lasting friendship even after the evil threat has fled. The message is clear: We are stronger together.
So keep it weird, keep in fantasical, keep it magical. Tell your children stories of fairies and elves, encourage them to read without a care for others who think the genre is ‘a waste of time’ or ‘not realistic enough’. This is fantasy’s strength. And at the end of the day, it is exactly this ‘unrealisticness’ that sticks with us, helps us understand our place and what we may become. It gives us faith that we, and our world, can be better. And after all, what’s a story without a few dragons?
I’ll wrap it up with one of my favorite quotes from The Legend of Drizzt (an adult dark fantasy, so definitely not one for the little kids–at least not yet!)
“No, I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith. And that, I fear, for any reasoning, conscious being, would be the cruelest trick of all.”
What genre shaped your childhood the most? Comment below with some of your favorite books as a kid!