This thesis examines the way children’s and young adult literature deals with play and intimacy. Using Georges Bataille’s conception of intimacy, this thesis posits that intimacy, deriving from play, allows for a deeper understanding of self and a deeper connection with others. Within children’s and young adult literature, various issues become approachable and relevant. Issues that are inappropriate in other contexts make appearances in literature, offering excellent introductions to these issues. Intimacy offers one such issue, and Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle imagines intimacy as fostering a deeper connection with other forms of life. Paolini’s novels bring intimacy deriving from play to the foreground, creating a fantastical story of intimacy triumphing over evil. Through examining the Inheritance Cycle, the usefulness of studying play and intimacy in children’s and young adult literature should become apparent. Both play and intimacy offer ways of interacting with the world and others, forming unique bonds. Play does offer a category often studied in relation to children and adolescents, but intimacy does not present a category of study for these groups. Both, though, appear in literature written for these age groups, making both integral categories of scholarly inquiry. As such, intimacy, deriving from play, offers another avenue in understanding the elements found in the books children and young adults read.