Life after Harry Potter

aratsarse101

My daughter, 9, is coming to the end of a marathon 2 months reading Harry Potter series. It’s been a wonder to watch her so immersed. Any recommendations for what to introduce next?

otnomart

Have red the first in the Artemis Fowl series and found it very good !
Have also been enjoining His Dark Materials on the BBC; haven't red the books yet, they must be amazing.

New Home

I can't recommend "Skellig" by David Almond highly enough, and, also by him, "My Name is Mina" and "Kit's Wilderness" (although that's a tad darker - still excellent, though), and to a certain extent "Heaven Eyes". Lots of his other books by him aren't really suitable for someone your daughter's age and are very dark and slightly disturbing indeed. "Skellig", though, is sublime.

By Garth Nix: "The Old Kingdom" series: "Sabriel", "Lirael", "Abhorsen", "Clarien".

By Philip Pullman, aside from "His Dark Material" which otnomart mentioned, which are indeed amazing, "The Ruby in the Smoke", "The Tiger in the Well", The Shadow in the North" and "The Tin Princess" are all excellent.

bonzothedog

9 years old - ****ing hell, I was still reading Secret Seven/Famous Five. Percy Jackson.

confusticated

My fourth class teacher started me reading the Hobbit and the Chronicles of Narnia, I would have been around 9. Oldies but good! Harry Potter followed on as the first one was only just published around then.

miamee

The Nine Lives trilogy is gret and set in Ireland: https://www.mercierpress.ie/irish-books/book_of_learning/

It's been a while since I read any of the Skulduggery Pleasant books but they might also be suitable.

Mr.Nice Guy

I used to love the Goosebumps series as a kid. Not sure how popular they are these days.

gogo

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I used to love the Goosebumps series as a kid. Not sure how popular they are these days.

They are quiet hard to get, my youngest is into them, had to buy the bulk off them off eBay or Amazon, picked up a box set in TK max as well.. but not too popular anymore.

gogo

My 11 year old is devouring Percy Jackson at the moment, I love to hear a ‘please.. can I just finish this chapter before turning off the light’ at night! Always a good sign, and the answer is always, yes!

_Godot_

Would Nevermoor be suitable?

BobbyMalone

otnomart wrote: »

Have also been enjoining His Dark Materials on the BBC; haven't red the books yet, they must be amazing.

Would recommend the books - particularly the first one, but the other two are great ... I think there's a further trilogy after that, and a couple of standalone books featuring characters from that universe.


I'm not sure about how suited they would be for a 9 year old, but if she's devouring Harry Potter, then she should be able to make the step up (in terms of writing quality and content).

ILoveYourVibes

Terry Pratchet.

two wheels good

On the fantasy theme: Ursula Le Guin, Earthsea. She's written others for children's/teens too.
Jack London maybe?

Black Sheep

This is an old threat, but I'm resurrecting it without apology to recommend a couple that haven't been mentioned:-

1. Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence

It's quite dark in parts, but still a young adult fantasy series. It begins with Over Sea, Under Stone... Three child protagonists go on the train to Cornwall, and meet their uncle, a kind of Merlin / Dumbeldore figure.

The titular The Dark is Rising is the second book in the sequence, the scariest and best of the lot. It was made into a dreadful movie.

1. Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen

Quite similar to The Dark is Rising in some respects... Two child protagonists, abroad in the country, facing evil forces. Garner drew on a local legend for the plot outline, and there's a kind of dark British pagan element that is in Susan Cooper's books as well in parts.

I feel like these could be good options to follow Harry Potter in that they are as adult or perhaps more adult in tone, but still YA. They might bridge the gap to Phillip Pullman. I like His Dark Materials but for a 9 year old it is probably thematically too adult (Reading difficulty less likely to be the issue). I'd suggest Terry Prachett likewise was obviously not writing for 9 year olds, despite the covers. Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea is a great shout though.

I presume you've considered The Hobbit also.

NIMAN

My son was similar to the OPs child, I think he read the series 3 times.

After HP, he did LOTR and The Hobbit. Then it was a case of me trying to find series that he might enjoy.

Appreciate he is a male and maybe some of these books might not interest a girl, but he has since read all these series:

• The Rangers Apprentice
• Brotherband
• Skullduggery Pleasant
• Alex Rider
• Keys To The Kingdom
• Gargantis/Malamander
• mix of Eoin Colfer
• Time Riders
• Secret Breakers
• Magisterium
• The Gateway Hotel series
• Fenn Haflin

All these seemed to be enjoyed by him, so perhaps she might find something there to go to next?

Talisman

Our 9 year old has been devouring everything in the Rick Riordan universe since May of this year.

• Percy Jackson and The Olypians (5 books + 4 related)
• The Heroes of Olympus (5 books)
• The Kane Chronicles (3 books)
• Demigods and Magicians (3 books)
• Magnus Chase And The Gods Of Asgard (3 books + 2 related)
• The Trials of Apollo (5 books)

He has two books remaining from The Trials of Apollo, so some time after Halloween we'll be on the hunt for something new. I'm thinking of introducing him to the Discworld novels, hopefully they'll keep him away from the Xbox for another 12 months. 😀

Other recommendations :

• Larklight Trilogy (Philip Reeve)
• Mortal Engines (Philip Reeve, 4 books)
• Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer, 7 books)
• The Fowl Twins (A spin-off of Artemis Fowl) - Third book in the series is due to be published October 21st, 2021.
• Timmy Failure (Stephan Pastis, 7 books)