So Your Kids Liked Harry Potter: Now What?

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle—and its sequels—tell the remarkable story of Meg Murray and her family.  They are stepped in a combination of science and magic, and undergo a number of remarkable adventures.  The books are clean, with just a hint of romance and no revision required for young ears.Shannon Hale’s Princess Academy is an adorable fairy tale that will appeal to primarily younger girls—especially those who have ever dreamed of becoming a princess.The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is a great book that is designed for a much younger audience than Lord of the Rings.  The movie is not for a young audience; the book is perfectly appropriate for pre-teen readers.  Bilbo’s journey is not nearly as exacting as Frodo’s, and the book is written less as a travel narrative (which is the problem that many have with Lord of the Rings:  it was designed to tell all about the world Tolkien had created, and the story simply happened to fit within the world) and more as an adventure story.View the list »
Diana Wynne Jones’s Chrestomanci books (the first one is The Lives of Christopher Chant) are a fascinating new world, well-developed and appropriate for a contemporary young adult audience.

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When you ask about fantasy books for kids at a bookstore, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that they’re going to point you in the direction of the Harry Potter series. They’re popular; they’re almost universally beloved by fantasy enthusiasts; they even have their own cult following, a following that has become no less intense in spite of the fact that it has been several years since the last book came out.
So when your kids started showing interest in books about magic, of course you pulled them out! After all, they’re wonderful books; they’re free of sex or excessive violence; and their primary themes circle around the battle between good and evil. How can you lose? There’s just one problem: there are only seven of them.
Luckily, the last four books are long. And there are a few supplemental books that go along with the series (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, QuidditchThrough the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard). Not so luckily, it must eventually come to an end—and then you have children clamoring for new books to read and no idea what to give them.
What fantasy titles will appeal to young readers without shoving either romance (complete with sex) or violence down their throats? Are there classics that will be easy enough for a younger reader to understand, or will the language be so boring and outdated that it’s impossible for them to get to the story beneath it?
There are some amazing fantasy books out there, both new and classic. Check out the list for some suggestions.

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View the list
  • Diana Wynne Jones’s Chrestomanci books (the first one is The Lives of Christopher Chant) are a fascinating new world, well-developed and appropriate for a contemporary young adult audience.
  • The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is a great book that is designed for a much younger audience than Lord of the Rings.  The movie is not for a young audience; the book is perfectly appropriate for pre-teen readers.  Bilbo’s journey is not nearly as exacting as Frodo’s, and the book is written less as a travel narrative (which is the problem that many have with Lord of the Rings:  it was designed to tell all about the world Tolkien had created, and the story simply happened to fit within the world) and more as an adventure story.
  • Shannon Hale’s Princess Academy is an adorable fairy tale that will appeal to primarily younger girls—especially those who have ever dreamed of becoming a princess.
  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle—and its sequels—tell the remarkable story of Meg Murray and her family.  They are stepped in a combination of science and magic, and undergo a number of remarkable adventures.  The books are clean, with just a hint of romance and no revision required for young ears.
  • Of course, no roundup of excellent fantasy reads would be complete without Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series—or its follow-up series, Heroes of Olympus.  These richly woven fantasy tales take the reader into an entirely different world—but again one that exists right alongside our own world, with magic that normal people have never even imagined.
  • The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis is an excellent fantasy series at any age.  They're clean; they're free of excessive violence; and they have Christian and moral themes appropriate for young readers.  If your child does not particularly enjoy classic fiction, starting with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is recommended over beginning with The Magician's Nephew.  In spite of the fact it occurs first chronologically, even Lewis often preferred for it to be read after other books in the series.
View the list

, Knoxville Homeschooling Examiner

My older two kids have been virtual schooled since January of 2012. My eldest will be going back to a traditional public school for middle school; my middle son intends to wait until high school. We do a mixture of the Virtual Academy curriculum and our own supplemental material.

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