A Wizard of Earthsea is a fantasy novel that tells the story of Ged, a young magician with great power. Overly confident in his abilities, Ged accidentally summons a dark Shadow into the world when trying to perform a difficult spell. After recovering from the Shadow's initial attack, Ged spends his days working to become wise enough to defeat the Shadow once and for all, saving Earthsea from the evil the Shadow means to inflict.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is the story of the title character, a seagull named Jonathan who dislikes fighting over food and prefers to perfect his powers of flight. Becoming estranged from seagull society, Jonathan finds a society of like-minded birds and eventually attains enlightenment with their help. This forms a metaphor for death, with Jonathan moving back and forth between his new idealized home and the world he left behind in order to help others make the journey.