The Harry Potter series

If You Like the Harry Potter series…
Try These Authors or Titles

The release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in July 2007 marks the end of this phenomenally popular youth fantasy series.

Readers eager to experience still more tales featuring magic, magical creatures, battles between Good and Evil, fantastic adventures, and young people growing up and finding their place in a new way of life, may enjoy some of the authors and or titles in this list. While not all of these books capture the entire essence of the Harry Potter titles, each of them features elements that should appeal to fans of J.K. Rowling’s teenaged wizard.

Titles are hotlinked to the items’ holdings in our catalog, so that you may check on the current availability of each book.

Tony Abbott’s The Secrets of Droon series, starting with The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet
The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander, starting with The Book of Three
Going Through the Gate by Janet S. Anderson
Several books by Avi, including Bright Shadow and Midnight Magic
The Myth-adventures series by Robert Asprin, which includes Myth Conceptions
Lynne Reid Banks’ Omri series, which includes The Indian in the Cupboard
The Thief of Always, a youth book by horror writer Clive Barker
The Lost Years of Merlin series by T.A. Barron, starting with The Lost Years of Merlin
The classic Oz books of L. Frank Baum, which start with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Two series by John Bellairs — the Lewis Barnavelt series that begins with House With a Clock in Its Walls and the Anthony Monday series, beginning with The Dark Secret of Weatherend
The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley
The Green Knowe series by Lucy Maria Boston, starting with The Children of Green Knowe
The Magic Kingdom of Landover series by Terry Brooks, including Wizard at Large
Susan Butler’s The Hermit Thrush Sings
The Tales of Gom saga by Grace Chetwin, beginning with Gom on Windy Mountain
The Voyage of the Basset by James C. Christensen
The classic Tripods Trilogy (scifi) by John Christopher, starting with The White Mountains
The humorous Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, starting with Artemis Fowl
The popular Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins, including Gregor the Overlander
Susan Cooper’s unforgettable Dark is Rising saga, starting with Over Sea, Under Stone
Bruce Coville’s Magic Shop series, beginning with The Monster’s Ring
The Secret World of Polly Flint by Helen Cresswell
Nearly anything by Roald Dahl, but especially The Witches, Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Magic Finger
Diane Duane’s popular Wizardry series, beginning with So You Want to be a Wizard?
Edward Eager’s Magic series, starting with Half Magic
The Dragon Chronicles by Susan Fletcher, including Dragon’s Milk
The Books of Magic, a series of graphic novels by Neil Gaiman
The Pure Dead series by Debi Gliori, starting with Pure Dead Magic
Odo Hirsch’ Bartlett series, starting with Bartlett and the Ice Voyage
The Liveship Traders trilogy, by Robin Hobb, beginning with Ship of Magic
Eva Ittobson’s The Secret of Platform 13
The hugely popular Redwall series by Brian Jacques, starting with Redwall
Most of the works of Diana Wynne Jones, including the Christomanci series, starting with Charmed Life, Howl’s Moving Castle, and the Mr. Chesney series, exemplified by The Dark Lord of Derkholm
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
Ursula Leguin’s classic Earthsea series, starting with A Wizard of Earthsea
Madeleine L’Engle’s wonderful Time Quartet, starting with A Wrinkle in Time
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis, beginning with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Tomorrow’s Wizard by Patricia Maclachlan
Patricia McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
The Danar series by Robin McKinley, starting with The Blue Sword
The Saga of Recluce, by L.E. Modesitt, beginning with The Magic of Recluce
Edith Nesbit’s Five Children series — a personal favorite of Potter author J.K. Rowling — including The Five Children and It
William Nicholson’s The Wind on Fire series, starting with The Wind Singer
The Magician series by Jenny Nimmo, starting with The Snow Spider
Most of the novels by Garth Nix, including those in his Seventh Tower series, which begins with The Fall
Bed-Knob and Broomstick by Mary Norton
The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O’Shea
Mervyn Peake’s exotic Gormenghast trilogy, starting with Titus Groan
The Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce, which begins with Sandry’s Book; also, most anything else by this author
Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials saga, beginning with The Golden Compass
Under the Cat’s Eye: A Tale of Morph and Mystery by Gillian Rubinstein
The juvenile, yet amusing, Time Warp Trio series by Jon Scieszka, starting with Knights of the Kitchen Table
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, another of J.K. Rowling’s personal favorites
The Wren series by Sherwood Smith, starting with Wren to the Rescue
A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket, starting with The Bad Beginning
The Unicorns of Balinor series, by Mary Stanton, beginning with The Road to Balinor
The legendary books of Middle Earth, by J.R.R. Tolkien, including the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit
The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner, starting with The Thief
The Castle in the Attic series by Elizabeth Winthrop, starting with The Castle in the Attic
Patricia Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles, beginning with Dealing With Dragons
The Grand Conspiracy by Janny Wurts
The Shimmer and Thorn series by Laurence Yep, starting with Dragon of the Lost Sea
Most of the novels of Jane Yolen, including Wizard’s Hall
A Plague of Sorcerers by Mary Frances Zambreno

This online booklist was inspired by the Harry Potter Readalikes page created by the Waterboro Public Library in East Waterboro, Maine. You can click through on the link here to see more detailed information about these and many other titles, as well as links to over 45 other “Harry Potter Readalikes” lists at other libraries around the country and around the world!

added to the BookGuide site and last updated July 2007 sdc

Looking for additional novels on this or other subjects? Check with library staff — we’ll be happy to help you track down even more reading suggestions!