Fantasy Coming To Life In John Flanagan's 'House Of Legends'

Fantasy Coming to Life

Ethos: Credibility of the Author Publisher Robyn Sheahan-Bright wrote a packet called “House of Legends: Teaching Support Kit”. In this text John Flanagan, Australian author of the series called Ranger’s Apprentice is mentioned. Sheahan-Bright discusses Flanagan’s work of fantasy along with several other brilliant authors who have created different types of fictional novels. Sheahan-Bright “was inaugural director of and is a Life Member of the Queensland Writers Centre, and was co-founder of Jam Roll Press” (Sheahan-Bright, 2015, p. 2). She has also recently published a book called Paper Empires: A history of the Book in Australia. In her PhD thesis she discovered the expansion of the Australian children’s publishing

In the House of Legends Teaching Support Kit it describes fantasy as a “genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting” (Sheahan-Bright, 2015, p. 4). The book is exhilarating and fast paced, packed with action, battles, boar hunts, inhuman enemies and loyal friends. The characters in this book come to life as the reader gets thrown into the story by their imagination. I know that I am reading an excellent fantasy novel when the story literally takes me from my world and puts me into the story line. While reading this book my imagination was able to go wild. I was allowed to envision the entire story in my head. In the book Will, the main character, goes on a boar hunt and saves his ward mate Horace’s life (Flanagan, 2004). This scene was intense and detailed keeping me hooked the entire time. During this scene I was able to picture exactly what happened. The whole book kept my imagination running throughout each adventure Will took part

The creativity of the author and imagination of the reader made this book humorous, exciting, serious, and exhilarating all at the same time. In fantasy novels, “magic is the matter of myths and folktales, the problem becomes exciting rather than painful or intractable and the imagination is available to come to grips with the problem” (Sheahan-Bright, 2015, p. 4). This allows readers to enjoy the storyline rather than focus on the negativity that could arise.

Pathos: Appeal for the Audience Sheahan-Bright produced this article with a specific purpose. From this work, Random House Australia (Publishing company) aspires to create an online community for all readers so they can chat about specific books, read and watch author interviews, participate in competitions, and talk to other fans and sign up for newsletters with exclusive content (Sheahan-Bright, 2015). This packet is meant to involve the readers as much as possible and give them an edifying and enjoyable time on this website. The House of Legends Teaching Support Kit is a package for teachers and librarians to help guide students through the many alternate worlds on offer, and inspire more and more children to read and rejoice in the world of books and to encourage their imaginations to soar. (Sheahan-Bright, 2015, p.