The teens/twenties swords-and-magic fantasy genre can often include a lot that is unwholesome and even immoral. But I think that is a fault of authors such as Anne Mcaffrey and Stephen Lawhead, not of the genre itself. In the right hands, the world of faerie can prime the imagination for wonder and a subconscious belief in the supernatural, especially for children. Here are a few of my favorites. Even the few that don't fit into "fairy tale" certainly are more concerned with developing a moral imagination than with encountering drugs, bullying, and the other 'real' issues faced by adolescents. Incidentally, I like these better than most grown-up books I've read:
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
The Princess and the Goblin by George McDonald
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Happy Prince and other tales by Oscar Wilde
Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Anybody like to add anything?
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