She loves Harry Potter and the Land of Stories

[3bunnies]

I am looking for a new series to inspire dd1 (and to fill the book present for Christmas gap).

She didn't like Percy Jackson as much, didn't like the girl who circumnavigated fairyland, hates Enid Blyton. She enjoyed the Helen Moss books and Roman Mysteries but says they are too easy. I have an Eva Ibbotson on reserve for her at the library and my eye on Finding Serendipity when it comes out in paperback next year. She likes fantasy books but seems still quite selective.

I would really like to find another book series which I have to prise out of her hands at mealtimes!

Ideally I would like a (cheap) series as she is fairly 'discerning' and I would like to get her to read the first in the series so that I know whether it is worth ordering more of them.

How old is she? Would she like the Charlie Bone series (more like the early HP than the later dark ones)? Or maybe the Snow Spider also by Jenny Nimmo (only 3 of them though). Has she tried the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series? Ribblestrop series is funny dark school stories.

12 y/o DD is HP mad, (but also likes Percy Jackson). She reads loads of dystopian/fantasy stuff, so Hunger Games, Uglies, Divergent, that sort of thing. All of those three are available cheap (fiver for the trilogy) from The Works and/or Book People.

Or what about some older ones - The Dark is Rising series (titular book very Christmassy too), Diana Wynne Jones (Chrestomanci series maybe good place to start if she's younger, if a bit older maybe any of The Homeward Bounders / Power of Three / Ogre Downstairs)

Sorry forgot to say she is 9 will be 10 after Christmas. She can read well but doesn't like the darker side of HP so much, which is where I think Percy Jackson didn't quite hit the spot. I will look into your suggestions for younger readers I think.

I'd definitely look at the Charlie Bone series and also Ribblestrop.

Great thanks. I have found them in the library so will try them out on her.

Second "The Dark is Rising". Try "The Children of Green Knowe" - first one is also Christmassy. Also, how about "Wings & Co", Fairy Detective Agency?

Finally, Elizabeth Goudge's "The Little White Horse" or Masefield's "The Box of Delights".

A Wizard of Earthsea might also be worth a punt.

The School for Good and Evil. A twist on fairy tales, very funny and very popular with my reading groups.

My dd loves those in the op and the Fabelhaven series.Has enjoyed some Judy Blume recently too.

She lived all the Eva Ibbotson books.

I would recommend 'The Edge Chronicles', fantastic fantasy with amazing illustrations the whole way through. And there's about 9 of them I think so will keep her going a while if she likes them!

The Djinn series by Linda Davies.

How about Skulduggery Pleasant? There are lots in the series.

for all the suggestions.

I managed to get the first Charlie Bone and judging by last night she really likes it. She was reading it by torchlight when I told her she really had to go to sleep. She is almost half way through the book though in a couple of hours so might need something a little longer/ harder.

She is very keen to read the school for good and evil but unfortunately I got the second one (which had been hard enough to find in the library) but didn't realise until later so I will need to go back and look for the first one.

I will try to sit down with her tonight and look through some of the blurbs for some of the other books suggested here

She is enjoying the school for good and evil and reading the Charlie Bone ones from the school library. Have ordered her some Ali Sharpe books for Christmas, she has read two and loved those so hopefully these will hit the spot. Have a few more lined up for her from the library to try.