This book provides an illuminating guide to literature that creates alternative worlds for young readers. Focusing on the work of Ursula Le Guin, Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman, the book considers both the genre of 'alternative worlds' and the distinctiveness of these authors' texts, including Philip Pullman's The Amber Sypglass. Peter Hunt is Pofessor of English at Cardiff University. Millicent Lenz is Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Albany.