My favorite books to explore the imagination

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated by fantasy as a young adult reading Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Never Ending Story. I find fantasy interesting because it explores the imagination and lets us escape. I also enjoy fantasy movies such as Avatar. It's full of adventure and the film is full of special effects. I studied science when I left school but my heart was into writing.


I wrote...

Witch's Apprentice and Argon's Labyrinth

By Kathryn Leo,

Book cover of Witch's Apprentice and Argon's Labyrinth

What is my book about?

My book is an easy to read fantasy with adventure and many twist and turns through out the story. It features Bethany Hardings who is the protagonist human who has to train as a witch to save her villiage from the evil warlock. She goes through many dangrous obticals in order to achieve her goal and falls in love in the process.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Neverending Story

Kathryn Leo Why did I love this book?

I pick this book as my favorite because it’s a young adult book about looking inside ourselves for inner strength. It explores ourselves as a person and it teaches values like believing in ourselves. It helped me overcome my fears about my self-worth and to believe what is important.

I think it's important to have values included in young adult books.

By Michael Ende, Ralph Manheim (translator),

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Neverending Story as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

Read the book that inspired the classic coming-of-age film! From award-winning German author Michael Ende, The Neverending Story is a classic tale of one boy and the book that magically comes to life.

When Bastian happens upon an old book called The Neverending Story, he's swept into the magical world of Fantastica--so much that he finds he has actually become a character in the story! And when he realizes that this mysteriously enchanted world is in great danger, he also discovers that he is the one chosen to save it. Can Bastian overcome the barrier between reality and his imagination…


Book cover of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Kathryn Leo Why did I love this book?

I personally recommend this story because it is a fun read that teaches the reader personal values and inner strength that leaves the reader feeling positive about themselves.

This is my favorite young adult book and it inspired me to write my book because I find the characters in the story quirky and they have flaws. The protagonist is able to defy all odds and win in the end. I found the story pretty inspirational that leaves me feeling positive.

By Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A splendiferous new hardback of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, part of a collection of truly delumptious classic Roald Dahl titles with stylish jackets over surprise printed colour cases, and exquisite endpaper designs.

Mr Willy Wonka is the most extraordinary chocolate maker in the world.
And do you know who Charlie is? Charlie Bucket is the hero. The other children in this book are nasty little beasts, called: Augustus Gloop - a great big greedy nincompoop; Veruca Salt - a spoiled brat; Violet Beauregarde - a repulsive little gum-chewer; Mike Teavee - a boy who only watches television.
Clutching their…


Book cover of The Lord of the Rings

Kathryn Leo Why did I love this book?

This book teaches the reader about defying all odds and achievements and doing what is right. It explores the imagination by taking the reader into a different world with hobbits, elves, and dwarfs. It provides escapism and teaches about values included in day-to-day living which connects with the reader, for example the destruction of greed and the destruction of the environment and the power of friendship.

By J.R.R. Tolkien,

Why should I read it?

52 authors picked The Lord of the Rings as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of…


Book cover of The Secret Garden

Kathryn Leo Why did I love this book?

The Secret Garden is one of my favorite books. It's my favorite classic that explores the imagination and takes you on an adventure of self-discovery to a personal place where you can be free to be yourself. It connects to the reader because we all want a place in which we can be free. 

By Frances Hodgson Burnett, Tasha Tudor (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked The Secret Garden as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a magical novel for adults and children alike

'I've stolen a garden,' she said very fast. 'It isn't mine. It isn't anybody's. Nobody wants it, nobody cares for it, nobody ever goes into it. Perhaps everything is dead in it already; I don't know.'

After losing her parents, young Mary Lennox is sent from India to live in her uncle's gloomy mansion on the wild English moors. She is lonely and has no one to play with, but one day she learns of a secret garden somewhere in the grounds that no…


Book cover of Mary Poppins

Kathryn Leo Why did I love this book?

Mary Poppins explores self-discovery and captures the imagination of the use of magic.

I love Mary Poppin because it’s the best feel-good story for children. I find the characters sweet and Mary Poppins is so energetic and with strong values. I found it inspiring to help me write my own book. I think it has inspired a few classics.

By P. L. Travers, Mary Shepard (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mary Poppins as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

Discover the joy and wonder of Mary Poppins in the classic adventures!

The original best-loved classic about the world's most famous nanny - Mary Poppins.

When the Banks family advertise for a nanny, Mary Poppins and her talking umbrella appear out of the sky, ready to take the children on extraordinary adventures.

Mary Poppins is strict but fair, and soon Michael and Jane are whisked off to a funfair inside a pavement picture and on many more outings with their wonderful new nanny!

Needless to say, when at last 'the wind changes' and she flies away, the children are devastated.…


You might also like...

American Flygirl

By Susan Tate Ankeny,

Book cover of American Flygirl

Susan Tate Ankeny Author Of The Girl and the Bombardier: A True Story of Resistance and Rescue in Nazi-Occupied France

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Susan Tate Ankeny left a career in teaching to write the story of her father’s escape from Nazi-occupied France. In 2011, after being led on his path through France by the same Resistance fighters who guided him in 1944, she felt inspired to tell the story of these brave French patriots, especially the 17-year-old- girl who risked her own life to save her father’s. Susan is a member of the 8th Air Force Historical Society, the Air Force Escape and Evasion Society, and the Association des Sauveteurs d’Aviateurs Alliés. 

Susan's book list on women during WW2

What is my book about?

The first and only full-length biography of Hazel Ying Lee, an unrecognized pioneer and unsung World War II hero who fought for a country that actively discriminated against her gender, race, and ambition.

This unique hidden figure defied countless stereotypes to become the first Asian American woman in United States history to earn a pilot's license, and the first female Asian American pilot to fly for the military.

Her achievements, passionate drive, and resistance in the face of oppression as a daughter of Chinese immigrants and a female aviator changed the course of history. Now the remarkable story of a fearless underdog finally surfaces to inspire anyone to reach toward the sky.

American Flygirl

By Susan Tate Ankeny,

What is this book about?

One of WWII’s most uniquely hidden figures, Hazel Ying Lee was the first Asian American woman to earn a pilot’s license, join the WASPs, and fly for the United States military amid widespread anti-Asian sentiment and policies.

Her singular story of patriotism, barrier breaking, and fearless sacrifice is told for the first time in full for readers of The Women with Silver Wings by Katherine Sharp Landdeck, A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell, The Last Boat Out of Shanghai by Helen Zia, Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown and all Asian American, women’s and WWII history books.…


5 book lists we think you will like!

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