I’m extremely fond of dragons in my fiction (I once proposed a taxonomy of dragons, which still delights me even though I never got around to it). That being said, sometimes it’s nice to broaden your horizons, so here are fifteen middle grade fantasy books featuring magical creatures of the non-draconic variety.
This list is not all-encompassing, so if you have a favorite book that doesn’t appear here, I’d love to know!
Griffins
Griffin Speaker by Jan M. Flynn (2026)
As an orphan on the lowest rung of society, twelve-year-old Rain is destined for a future of hard labor—until she meets a wild griffin and bonds with him.
Griffin’s Boy by Sarah L. Thomson (2025)
Princess Lyss can’t wait another second to meet the griffin that’s joining her father’s royal menagerie, so she ditches her lessons and heads for the stables. But the griffin isn’t the only new creature she finds. A boy is hiding—or at least trying to—in the griffin’s stall. The boy is Devin, the griffin’s trainer, and he’s refusing to leave his beloved Tam.
The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones (1998)
Read and recommended!
Everyone – wizards, soldiers, farmers, elves, dragons, kings and queens alike – is fed up with Mr Chesney’s Pilgrim Parties: groups of tourists from the world next door who descend en masse every year to take the Grand Tour. What they expect are all the trappings of a grand fantasy adventure, including the Evil Enchantress, Wizard Guides, the Dark Lord, Winged Minions, and all. Now it’s up to the Wizard Derk and his son Blade, this year’s Dark Lord and Wizard Guide, not to mention Blade’s griffin brothers and sisters, to save the world from Mr Chesney’s depredations.
Tiffany’s Griffon by Magnolia Porter Siddell and Maddi Gonzalez (2024) | graphic novel
Read and recommended!
Marnie Plummer is a bookish, lonely girl with a chip on her shoulder. There’s nothing she cares about more than her favorite book series, The Griffon Riders of Crystalfall. When it miraculously turns out that the world of the books is actually real, and they need a Chosen One to come from the real world and save them from danger, Marnie is shocked and – of course – overjoyed.
There’s just one problem. The Chosen One they seek is not actually her.
Unicorns
The Unicorn Quest by Kamilla Benko (2018)
An enchanting, exciting fantasy about a real-world girl searching for her sister in a land full of magic and strange creatures.
Punycorn by Andi Watson (2023) | graphic novel
Carbuncle is a land of endless rainbows and sugar-sprinkled doughnuts—until the vile Sir Ogre unleashes his evil army on the happy kingdom. Who can stop his outsized appetite for destruction? Punycorn! Who? Punycorn. The smallest, clumsiest, and, yes, puniest of all the unicorns.
Quinnelope and the Unicorn Utopia by HF Brownfield and Kayla Coombs (2025) | graphic novel
Enchanted unicorn horns, pirate prawns, dangerous mega sea creatures, and MORE await Quinnelope and friends as they embark on an iridescent island adventure to prove unicorns are really real in the third hilarious volume from comic duo Kayla Coombs and HF Brownfield!
Pegasi & flying horses
Wildsmith: City of Secrets by Liz Flanagan (2025)
Rowan starts to embrace her gifts as a magical wildsmith who heals and speaks to animals. But saving a young pegasus brings difficult decisions. Danger comes closer than ever, threatening her family and even Rowan’s own life. When she is betrayed, which friends can she trust? With her family divided and war still raging, where does Rowan belong now?
A Song for You and I by K. O’Neill (2025) | graphic novel
Read and recommended!
Rowan knows exactly what they want: to be a ranger, protecting their village alongside their trusted flying horse Kes. But when Rowan’s eagerness to show off their worth gets Kes injured, Rowan is suddenly unsure if they’re capable of being the protector they’ve always dreamed of becoming.
Vanya and the Wild Hunt by Sangu Mandanna (2025)
Read and recommended!
When her family is attacked by a monster she believed only existed in fairytales, Vanya discovers that her parents have secrets, and that there are a lot more monsters out there. Overnight, she’s whisked off to the enchanted library and school of Auramere, where she joins the ranks of archwitches and archivists.
Other
Sourceline by Sylvia Douye (2019) | graphic novel
For as long as she can remember, Sorceline has had a knack for the study of mythical creatures. Now a student at Professor Archibald Balzar’s prestigious school of cryptozoology, she’s eager to test her skills and earn a spot as one of Balzar’s apprentices.
My Aunt is a Monster by Remeina Yee (2022) | graphic novel
Read and recommended! (cw death of parents)
Safia thought that being blind meant she would only get to go on adventures through her audiobooks. This all changes when she goes to live with a distant and mysterious aunt, Lady Whimsy, who takes Safia on the journey of a lifetime!
Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology by Angela Hsieh (2025) | graphic novel
Read and recommended!
Lu dreams of being a great adventurer, just like her ah-ma, who is a world-renowned geozoologist. Ah-ma has traveled far and wide, researching unique animals like dreamy cloud-jellies, enormous sunfish, and playful mossgoats. But when Ah-ma’s letters suddenly stop, Lu becomes worried. So when a nearby town needs a geozoologist, Lu decides to go on the journey to find Ah-ma. She charts a course with the help of Ren, an old friend turned new travel buddy.
The Magic Paintbrush by Kat Zhang and Eric Darnell (2021)
The interactive, intergenerational fantasy adventure is about a 12-year-old Chinese-American aspiring artist from Long Island who meets her immigrant grandmother for the first time and inherits a family heirloom that literally makes her dreams—and, in the wrong hands, her nightmares—come true.
By Singing Light 
