From Saturday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Friday, Apr. 03, 2009 10:00AM EDT
The Globe and Mail asked booksellers, a 13-year-old reader, and one of our own critics to recommend some post-Potter reading for fans, once they've devoured the series' seventh and final book.
They all recommended:
His Dark Materials, a trilogy by Philip Pullman (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass); a darker and more adult fantasy series.
Booksellers also recommended:
Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton, a magical tale for younger teen readers set in contemporary Oxford and medieval Germany.
Sarah Prince, 13, suggested:
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, a Gothic horror story and fantasy set in a Victorian boarding school, with a 16-year-old heroine.
And the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, stories for children about peace-loving rodents in a medieval setting.
The staff at Bryan Prince Bookseller in Hamilton recommended:
Un Lun Dun, a first title for young adults from fantasy writer China Mieville, in which two girls explore a bizarre and magical nether London.
The Goodfellow Chronicles by J.C. Mills, a children's fantasy series featuring the Sages, miniature creatures who live to be hundreds of years old.
The Book of Dead Days by Marcus Sedgwick, a British fantasy novel for teens, set in 18th-century Europe.
The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart, a British fantasy series for children, now numbering eight titles; full of magical creatures who live on the edge of the clouds.
The staff of McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg recommended:
The New Policeman by Kate Thompson, a young-adult fantasy title set in Ireland; a 15-year-old travels to the land of eternal youth.
The Tuesday Next series by Jasper Fforde, about a time-travelling detective in London.
The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher's nine-title adult series about a wizard/detective in Chicago.
The Bonemender — first book in a teen series about a mythical princess with magical healing powers, by Canadian Holly Bennett, an editor at Today's Parent magazine.
The Blue Girl or anything else by Charles de Lint, a Canadian writer specializing in gritty, urban fantasy tales.
The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay — five University of Toronto students travel to a mythical world for epic adventures. An adult series, and Canada's best-known works of fantasy.
The staff of Granny Bates, a children's bookstore in St. John's, recommended: several young-adult fantasy titles.
The Navigator, a first young adult title from adult-fantasy writer Eoin McNamee; about a boy who travels back to a mystical past. A series is planned.
East by American writer Edith Pattou — a mythic story for young adults set in a northern land.
The Stravaganza series by Britain's Mary Hoffman. In the first book, City of Masks, a contemporary teen struggling with cancer visits 16th-century Venice.
The Globe and Mail children's book columnist, Susan Perren, thought Potter readers were ready to take on adult classics, and recommended:
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens — the original big book, a page-turner set during the French Revolution; or Dickens's Great Expectations.
The World According to Garp by John Irving; or Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany.
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