Fantasy Books for Kids

The cursed emerald won’t stop tormenting its owner - every time they try to reach the Nether and destroy it, the gem teleports them somewhere else entirely. Now Jake has been frozen to stone twice, the curse is growing stronger, and twelve clever plans have already crumbled. Can they brew a potion powerful enough to finally hurl the gem through the portal - before the Consumed claim one more victim? A decodable reader practising words like “stumbled,” “chattered,” “shovelling,” and “announced.”

The cursed emerald must be destroyed - but anyone who touches it turns to stone. Can two friends pull off a wild plan using mine carts and fire resistance potions in the terrifying Nether? What happens when the potion tastes like nothing at all? And what do you do when your best friend becomes a statue you have to push into the lava? Readers will practise multi-syllable words such as ‘resistance,’ ‘portal,’ ‘crumbled,’ and ‘scrambled’ in this decodable adventure.

Indlovu is the biggest, boldest elephant anyone has ever seen, and she wants everyone to know it. But when she dares to shout that she is stronger than the rain, the sky falls silent and the waterholes crack dry. Can a tiny hornbill teach the mightiest creature on the plain that even the greatest must learn to ask? Will the rain ever return before it is too late? This Bookbot level practises the ‘ph’ sound in words like ’elephant’, ’triumphant’, ‘prophecy’ and ‘phew’.

Juma is the unluckiest fisherman on the whole waterfront, hauling up empty nets while every other boat comes home full. But one morning his net drags up something strange in the deep water past the reef. What is trembling inside the little sealed jar? And when a spirit offers three wishes, what will Juma choose when his last wish arrives? This Bookbot GN level practises the /n/ sound in words like ‘sign’, ‘foreign’, ‘gnarled’, ‘benign’, and ‘signs’.

Everyone laughed when eight year old Thandi said “Let me try.” How could a small girl stop a cattle stealing giant that had defeated the bravest men in the valley? While her whole village stayed distraught and afraid, Thandi walked the giant’s hill alone, watching, thinking, and carrying one shiny secret. Can clever really beat big and strong? This Bookbot level practises the ‘augh’ sound with words like ‘caught’, ’laughed’, ‘distraught’, ‘daughter’, and ’taught’.

Kind words open a path no force ever could, but will a nine-year-old boy learn that in time? When Sifiso’s grandmother falls ill across a deep green pool guarded by a great serpent, three grown men have already tried and failed to cross. Can a gift succeed where courage alone cannot? Sifiso ‘knows’ he must try, even as his ‘knees’ shake and his ‘knuckles’ turn white. In this Bookbot level, young readers practise the ‘kn’ words ‘knows’, ‘knees’, ‘knuckles’, ‘knock’, and ‘knot’.

When the Moon fades to nothing and stays away, the nights over the hills turn black and the crops grow pale. Who will climb the high peaks to carry the people’s thanks to the sky, and what will the Moon say to a small hare who braves the crossing? This Bookbot level practises the ‘wr’ spelling for the /r/ sound with words like ‘wren’, ‘wrinkled’, ‘wriggled’, ‘wrung’, and ‘wrenched’.

‘Gnarled’ roots, ‘gnats’ hum, a ‘benign’ voice, a djinn who ‘gnaws’… The rains have failed and the animals have vanished, so when an ancient spirit offers hunter Demba a single gift, what will he choose? Not gold, not grain, but something his sharp young daughter Awa can carry all her life. Will his unusual wish be enough to feed twelve hungry families? This Bookbot level practises the ‘gn’ spelling making the /n/ sound, with words like ‘gnarled’, ‘gnats’, ‘benign’ and ‘gnaws’.

The King of the Waters flows deep and green along the Thukela River, and everyone says a king lives at its bottom, watching all who pass. When most children throw stones and run, a quiet girl named Zintle sits by the bank and wonders what the king eats. So what happens when the river rises and sweeps her family’s seeds away? Could three small kindnesses change everything? This Bookbot level practises the ‘augh’ sound with words like ‘caught’, ’taught’, ‘distraught’ and ’laughter’.

The rains have not come for months, and Njoki must find water each morning for her sick mother and hungry brothers. Then she digs up a strange gourd in the dry riverbed, warm in her hands, with water that never seems to run out. But what happens when a greedy neighbour learns its secret? Can Njoki mend what has been broken? This Bookbot book practises the ‘ui’ sound in words like ‘fluid’, ‘fruit’, ’nuisance’, ‘pursuit’, and ‘suits’.