A universal truth lies under the metaphor of a good fantasy story. When the story is well written, the truth teaches itself. The friendship and character interaction of the Winnie the Pooh stories will spill out into your daily conversation when you and your children have made friends with them reading the Milne books a few times. White's Charlotte's Web teaches more about the meaning of friendship than an explicit realistic story ever could. In Jeri Massi's Bracken Trilogy, good always triumphs over evil and leaves the reader with a sense of how good right is.
Modern realism can support Christian values directly or indirectly.
Patricia St. John's Treasures of the Snow teaches a child about bitterness and Christ's forgiveness in a way that he will not forget. The laughter and play that permeate Jeri Massi's Peabody series turns the growing-up struggles of the characters into lessons that can be learned. Animal realism appeals to nearly all children. Meindert DeJong's Hurry Home, Candy and Julie Nye's Scout are both compelling stories in this category. Eleanore Estes's The Hundred Dresses, a b piece of writing from a secular author, combines a compelling story and an urgently needed lesson in tolerance.