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American Museum of Natural History

Mythic Creatures Booklist: Middle & High School

  • Beasts!
    By Jacob Covey (editor)
    The art director for cartoon publisher Fantagraphics assembled more than a hundred envelope-pushing artists and cartoonists to illustrate this mythological menagerie. 
    Fantagraphics, 2007. ISBN: 156097768X
  • The Book of Imaginary Beings
    By Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Andrew Hurley, illustrated by Peter Sís
    Borges’ lauded, whimsical bestiary gets a new translation and spectacular art in this edition. More than a hundred unconventional animals walk, fly, and swim through its sweep of world mythology and literature. 
    Viking, 2005. ISBN: 0-670-89180-0
  • Cryptozoology A To Z : The Encyclopedia Of Loch Monsters, Sasquatch, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature 
    By Loren Coleman & Jerome Clark
    An encyclopedia editor and a cryptozoologist teamed up to create the first encyclopedia of its kind. Its nearly 200 entries include drawings and photographs from eyewitness accounts of unusual animal sightings. Observational methods and discovery tales abound. 
    Fireside, 1999. ISBN: 0684856026
  • Greek Gods, Human Lives: What We Can Learn from Myths
    By Mary Lefkowitz
    Lefkowitz dives into Greek epics such as The Iliad and The Odyssey to explore how these ancient tales speak to aspects of humanity still relevant today. 
    Yale University Press, 2005. ISBN: 0300107692
  • The Unicorn Treasury: Stories, Poems, and Unicorn Lore  
    By Bruce Coville
    Madeleine L'Engle, Jane Yolen, C. S. Lewis, Myra Cohn Livingston, and the author himself, among many others, relate original poems and stories as well as folktales about the mystical unicorn. 
    Magic Carpet Books, 2004. ISBN: 015205216X
Additional Recommendations
  • Chronicles of Prydain series, Lloyd Alexander
  • Dragonriders of Pern series, Anne McCaffrey
  • Eldest, Christopher Paolini  
  • Eragon, Christopher Paolini
  • Mythology, Edith Hamilton
  • A Wizard of Earthsea series, Ursula K. LeGuin
  • For additional high school books, see the Mythic Creatures Booklist for Adults.

 

© 2007 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.

  • More About This Resource...

    • This Mythic Creatures reference list has five books that are recommended for learning more about the fantastical beasts of land, sea, and air. A short description is given for each title along with author, publisher, and publishing date information. In addition, six other related fiction titles are given.

    • Teacher Tip

      Supplement a study of mythology with a classroom project that uses this list of kid-friendly books.

      1. Print copies of the reference list for students or send them to the booklist online.
      2. Have each student select a book to read and review.
      3. In two or three pages, have them write a detailed review of the book. Students should describe what they liked most and least about it, the most interesting thing they learned, and whether they would recommend the book to others.

    • Topic

      Anthropology

    • Subtopic

      Magic, Ritual, and Belief