I feel sorry for people who don’t understand the value of imaginary worlds. For those who think a story is superior because it takes place “in the real world” or because “it’s more believable than a story in a pretend world,” I feel sorry for you. I’d go so far as to extend that to those who don’t understand the value of any fiction, but that’s not my focus.

Some people need platitudes thrown upon them, need understanding to come without effort. I feel sorry for these people, but I’m not surprised in the least that they don’t understand the amazing value and real-life depths of imaginary worlds.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying you have to read every single story out there where some parallel or alternate world presents itself. Nor would I agree that reading one or two of them means you’ve read them all.

Frankly, there are so many books out there that you ultimately have to either pick a genre preference, dabble in multiple genres or not read at all (maybe also some other option I’m not listing). Never should you pretend to yourself, however, that one genre is “more important” or “better” or “more valuable” than another because it’s “truer” or “more believable” or “more realistic” (or any other excuse you can pretend to hold to).

Some of the most popular, deepest-hitting parallel worlds that have the widest and most meaningful impact on people are the first worlds they learn about, that is, the ones directed to children (try and devour that sentence). These powerful worlds, shown to us through the writing of magnificent authors such as C. S. Lewis, L. Frank Baum and Phillip Pullman, introduce us to a larger world where almost anything is possible when we put our minds to it and find the working way.

There are many genres “out there” within the broad categories of fiction and non-fiction, but it’s this narrow field of parrallel-world stories that I want to highlight. To further narrow, I wish to direct you to those parallel worlds children are most likely to discover (I write for kids, after all).

Let’s clarify something: stories such as Harry Potter or Percy Jackson are not parallel-world stories, they are overlapping, or hidden worlds, not actual worlds, but places right outside our vision’s periphery. The worlds I address are separate from our own, but they can be reached and are lived in by visiting characters from our world.

Without further ado, let me present the imaginary worlds whose powerhouses shake the foundations of reality:

• Neverland – J. M. Barrie can’t have known what he’d stumbled upon. This is the world of worlds, a place without time, a land with no set form.
• Oz – Oh the colors of L. Frank Baum!
• Wonderland – Are you late? Are you late for a very important date? Did you have a very happy unbirthday? Can anyone understand Lewis Carroll?
• Fantastica (Neverending Story) – Years before Stephen King became a part of his own books, Michael Ende showed us a world where creator becomes his own story.
• Narnia – C. S. Lewis’s edenic woods between worlds lead a girl and boy to the beginning of time.
• Imaginarium Geographica universe – Guardian authors collide with fantasy worlds at the Archipelago of Dreams. Here there be story lands familiar to James Owen.
• Islands of Abarat – These are the islands of hours, but Clive Barker could call me a liar if I claimed to know much more. I haven’t yet read more than a few chapters of the first book.
• Cittagazze (Golden Compass) – In a world much like ours, Philip Pullman leads children and daemons to their northern lights where worlds will be opened beyond “our” own.
• Lyrian – Sorry Brandon Mull, I haven’t visited Lyrian at all, but someday I will, for it’s on my always-growing reading list. I imagine Lyrian is quite a spell.
• Foo – A dreamworld that threatens to enter our own, this tale of good versus evil is brought to you by Obert Skye.

Lacking time in this life to read every book written, I’ve surely overlooked a world or two. Can you think of any I missed? What’s your favorite world outside of earth?