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Original poster

“Nothing will be interesting after Harry Potter”

30 replies

Frogusha · 23/05/2020 22:25

DD1 is 8 and is on HP5 right now. She’s read a few chapter books before but apart from one other book never really found them enjoyable. She absolutely loves (like so many others) the Harry Potter world but it worried me today for the first time that she might go back to not really “getting” other books. Of course magical creatures and adventures written in a modern language are exciting. How will she enjoy reading books like Anne of green gables, for example, when there are no thrills and excitement at every turn? If your kids are Potterheads how did they go back to reading more “real life” books? She’s currently telling me that when she finishes them all she’s going to start again from the beginning ConfusedShock

OP posts:
OneTooManyBathtimes · 23/05/2020 22:33

Finding the right book helps, so it's great that she's found Harry potter and is enjoying it. Don't worry if she wants to reread them. I've read the 3rd one 15 times, and I'm an avid reader of "other" books.

See if she likes the Percy Jackson books. My brother preferred them to HP. A series of unfortunate events is also good.

It's better that you give her the chance to look at other books, so the library will be great for this, rather than buying books and wasting money.

I have a system. Do I like the cover? Do I like the premise? Do I like the random section I've read by opening it randomly? If I tick yes in any of these I'll get it.

I did my dissertation on pride and prejudice, if you're wondering. I'm still a fantasy lover. But I also got recommendations for books I'd like based on the writing style.

I don't think most kids enjoy real life books. Fantasy can really open your eyes. It's a gateway to many many topics.

Keepyourginup · 23/05/2020 22:34

My daughter's teacher recommended Coghearts books...as I mentioned she was a big HP fan. She got some for her birthday and hasn't started them yet....but they do look good

bookmum08 · 23/05/2020 22:35

I gave up on Harry Potter on books 4. I have read a gazillion (ish) books since then. Some good. Some terrible. Some I didn't finish. And of course some that were just amazing and intense and exciting and I couldn't stop reading.
If she likes them fantasy genre of Harry Potter then she just needs to carry on with reading fantasy. There are plenty to choose from. Not a genre I especially enjoy so I can't really recommend much. I know the series of Percy Jackson books are very popular.
If she's prefers the adventure side and it then series like the Alex Rider books for example are full of adventure.
Don't worry. I am sure she will find other books to enjoy.

AlpacasUnicornsCookiees · 23/05/2020 22:36

When everything opens again I’d take her to the library. As a child I read the Harry Potter series over and over again. My parents used to take me to the library a lot as a child and I soon found Enid Blytons boarding school stories which was a bit of an opening into other genres and old classics. After that I found lots of other favourite novels and authors (although I still read the Harry Potter series over and over again!)

Keepyourginup · 23/05/2020 22:37

This is them:

“Nothing will be interesting after Harry Potter”
PorpentiaScamander · 23/05/2020 22:38

Phillip Pullmans Dark Materials might be a good follow up.
I bought ds1 the first book in a series by Angie Sage (I think). It was called Magyk. I really enjoyed it. He's not a reader so didnt finish it. There's 6 or 7 books in total. I really should read the rest!

HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime · 23/05/2020 22:39

This was a problem with Dd nothing measured up to HP, she completely missed out on the worst witch series as it was babyish in comparison which is a shame.
She then found Diary of a wimpy kid and loved those. She's reading Cogheart with school during home school g and I got the rest of the series on kindle for 99p and she seems to like them.

PorpentiaScamander · 23/05/2020 22:40

Other books he enjoyed having read to him were
The Boy who ran away from the circus.
The battle for gullywith
And there was one about a pirate(?) and a lunchbox... I'll have to look for it.

threestars · 23/05/2020 22:40

There are so many outstanding children's books nowadays - follow up books could be A Pinch of Magic, or Nevermoor or Malamander or the Nowhere Emporium ... all incredibly well written books. I would not really expect many children to read the books I did as a child, as there were not that many to choose from back then.
If she has read the HP books, I'd say it opens opportunities for her rather than closes them. She has the reading bug!

perfectpanda · 23/05/2020 22:44

My dd was hp obsessed and was lost for a while when she finished the books around age 9. Percy Jackson has been the next thing to grab her but it took a bit of time.....

HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime · 23/05/2020 22:44

Cressida Cowell Magic series were a big hit Wizards of Once

HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime · 23/05/2020 22:46

Also although Dd is a very accomplished reader she started HP 6 but found it very heavy going, it's aimed at a much older audience so it might be worth stopping your Dd at book 5. The books were designed to mature with the reader and that includes the language and structure of the later books.

TheMarzipanDildo · 23/05/2020 22:47

Well I adored both Harry Potter and then not long after Anne of Green Gables, so that’s not outside the realm of possibility!
Maybe she’s just inclined more towards fantasy (and there’s nothing wrong with that, there are plenty of brilliant fantasy/ sci fi/ dystopian books out there-she might like something like Artemis Fowl). I think I enjoyed Harry Potter for the characters more than anything though.

Prinstress · 23/05/2020 22:49

The Maximum Ride series by James Patterson is incredible

RedRed9 · 23/05/2020 22:49

I remember feeling like that. Leave her be and she’ll move on.

She’s currently telling me that when she finishes them all she’s going to start again from the beginning
Let her! Re-reading them when you know what to look for is part of the fun: there are so many hints and clues to find that you’d never spot without knowing the plot.

monkey4nuthin · 23/05/2020 22:50

Percy Jackson a big hit after HP here. DC are eagerly awaiting the tv show on Disney plus

CMOTDibbler · 23/05/2020 22:53

Why would she have to read Anne of Green Gables though? I've got nothing against it at all, but its not exactly an example to live your life by is it - when you're 8, reading should be about excitement and finding joy through books. I let ds have free reign in Waterstones/ the library / our books and its taken us in some very interesting places at times (and at times I hated his choices) but he's still a very avid reader at 13. These days he has a kindle linked to my account so I can let him have books I own (you specifically allow a child books you buy, he doesn't get everything ) and so he has free rein over all sorts to read or not as he chooses

lazylinguist · 23/05/2020 22:57

The Percy Jackson books are great - fun and exciting. My dc are both prolific readers of a lot more than just Harry Potter, but they certainly wouldn't have been interested in reading Anne of Green Gables or anything similar.

Gibbonsgibbonsgibbons · 23/05/2020 22:57

Let her re read as many times as she wants!

Diana Wynne Jones is a good bet the Chrestomanci series in particular is amazing (you can get the whole set fairly cheaply)

Or Susan Cooper’s Dark is rising series

Original poster
Frogusha · 24/05/2020 12:05

Thank you all, what wonderful comments!

Re: why does she have to read Anne of green gables at all, not specifically this book but eventually she’ll need to read books set in real life with not that much happening in terms of the plot (by comparison to the density of events of HP series). I wonder if people who get into reading via fantasy root spoil their literary tastebuds and can’t take plainer books. It sounds like many of you went through the same and turned out just fine :) I will look up all wonderful book suggestions, thank you. And yes, we’ll try libraries once they open. We used to go a lot when she was little but as with chapter books it takes longer to read and she has a good library at school we haven’t been for a couple of years.

OP posts:
lazylinguist · 24/05/2020 12:37

she’ll need to read books set in real life with not that much happening in terms of the plot

I'm not sure that really follows. Books don't have to be fantasy to have an action-packed plot, plus fantasy vs 'real life' is really more of a continuum than an either/or in fiction imo. For example there is plenty of fiction set in real life places/situations and with normal human characters, but with plots which are not credible from a real-life pov. Most children's fiction is fantast to a certain extent. 'Plain books' wouldn't appeal to me and I'm in my late 40s with a largely literary degree!

Zilla1 · 26/05/2020 11:16

My DC has re-read the HP series c20 times (genuinely) (not a stealth boast) though also reads lots of other books (also not a stealth boast) so there's hope, OP. She enjoyed all the Rick Riordan series' (there's more than Percy Jackson's series), Unladylike Murders, Artemis Fowl, and lots of others though the HP series is the only one that seems to get re-read quite so much.

Try not to worry and just introduce new books when you can to see what your DC enjoys (which is what I try to do to prevent a new re-reading of the HP series) which is what I can see is what you want to do anyway.

Good luck, OP.

halcyondays · 27/05/2020 14:20

What was the one other book that she did like? And what were the ones she didn’t?

My dd1 has read all the HP books many times but has never really been keen on any other fantasy type books. She read real life type books like Jacqueline Wilson and Jean Ure many times.

Most libraries have ebooks and audiobooks that you can borrow, she might find something she likes.

Pinkblueberry · 27/05/2020 14:30

I was and still am a ‘Potter Head’ Grin JK Rowling in an interview interestingly talked about how she knows she probably won’t ever create something as impactful as HP again, she’s not putting pressure on herself to ‘top’ it, it was a phenomenon of its time and is what it is. I think it’s the same with reading it - no book is ever going to feel like reading HP when I was a child/teenager. Even reading them second (third, fourth in your late twenties Blush) time round isn’t the same! That’s ok - other books don’t need to be the same to be enjoyable. I also loved Anne of Green Gables by the way! They’re completely different genres - and you can be a fan of many different genres.

merryhouse · 27/05/2020 14:42

Well, if she starts from the beginning again one of two things will happen.

(a) she won't find them as interesting as she thought she would, and she'll want to read a book with a different plot

(b) she'll continue to find them interesting - presumably because she notices more on the next read-through, the use of language or the foreshadowing or whatever; which is a Good Thing in terms of reading and literature. She might decide to read them a third, fourth... nth time

Once she gets to (a) have some suggestions. Percy Jackson (or How to Train your Dragon or Chrestomanci or Earthsea or the Dark is Rising) if she feels like extra powers and magical creatures are the way to go; Mr Gum if she wants a good giggle.

The Exiles by Hilary McKay is about a family of sisters who all love reading. She's also written a series starting with Saffy's Angel which I loved but I think is probably better for slightly older children.

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