Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I am a huge fan of Fantasy Fiction. It’s probably my second favorite genre of literature (Historical Fiction being my 1^st love). But growing up as a kid, reading fantasy novels was not something that you advertised out to your friends. Often times I would be labeled a Bookworm or Nerd because I couldn’t help but keep my face in a book all the time.

There’s been a shift in society obviously. As I mentioned in my previous article about how the Harry Potter Series is having a positive influence on worldwide literacy, kids are walking around with Harry Potter books even though they cannot yet read at the level by which the books demand. They want to look cool and to do so, they needed to buy in to the Harry Potter craze.

Not only that, but Soccer Moms have been caught with books from the Twilight Series and the The Hunger Games series. Parents are totally buying into the craze as well. How much of this is just wanting to be conscious of what their kids are being exposed to, is unknown.

In honor of my fellow Fantasy Fiction fans out there, I’ve created a list of the 5 most popular Fantasy Fiction Series today:

1. 

   The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) – The futuristic story of a 17 year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen who volunteers to take place in an annual ritual of her country and fight to the death with 23 other kids ages 12 – 18. Little does she know that her victory in The Games will ultimately change her life and the world in which she lives forever.

2. 

   The Twilight Series (Stephenie Meyer) – Bella is a 17 year-old girl who moves to up-state Washington to live with her dad and ends up falling in love with Edward, a local vampire moonlighting as a high school student with his 4 other vampire siblings. Like a modern day Romeo and Juliet, the love that Edward and Bella share threatens to expose Edward’s world and put the lives of Bella and everyone she knows in danger. Will this Romeo and Juliet get their happily ever after?

3. 

   The Harry Potter Series (J.K. Rowling) – Harry is a small boy who was taken in by his aunt and uncle after the untimely death of his parents. Harry is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and is introduced to a whole new world of wizards, magic and evil. The wizard who killed Harry’s parents is back and wants to destroy him. Together with the help of his friends and teachers, Harry battles it out with the most powerful wizard in the world and has quite the adventure along the way.

4. 

   The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkein) – 7 friends from Middle Earth are sent on a journey to destroy a ring that has the power to rule the earth. Along the way they are separated and each has their own perilous adventure in which not everyone survives the journey. The story comes to an end with an epic of battle of man vs. beast and a little hobbit who defies temptation to do the right thing – destroy the ring.

    

5. 

   The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis) – 4 children are sent to live with their grandfather during WWII because their own home is being bombed regularly. The children unlock a parallel world called Narnia while playing hide and seek and from there the adventure begin. Each book allows a glimpse of the life the children had while visiting Narnia or a glimpse of the lives of the ones they meet and become friends with while there.

    

Did I mention one of your favorite Fantasy Fiction series? If not, tell us what it is!