Post Potter

The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance

Post-Potter Meltdown:

Questions Concerning Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

A few weeks ago, my son and I went to our local book store at 10:30 p.m. to wait in line with hundreds of other kids, and their parents, for a special midnight sale of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Little matter that at fifty years old, I was much older than the average parent in line and was there for my very own copy. Or that my son, a six foot, two inch, seventeen-year-old Potter alum, towered over most of the other fans. We were as eager to find out what happens next as the rest of the planet.

Actually, there were many teens in line, as well as a great many preteens. What concerned me was that there were also many kids ten years of age and younger waiting in line to buy a book with a sixteen-year-old protagonist and an ending that might be too emotionally draining for younger readers to read in isolation.

Is your child old enough to read the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince independently?

It is my opinion that the latest Harry Potter book should have come with a label that reads “PG-10.” That is, any child under ten years of age should read Harry Potter with parental guidance and discussion, or parents or guardians should read Harry Potter aloud with their children. There are a few scenes in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which may scare some children because of the level of horror involved in the descriptions. There are some scenes which are scary because they point out how totally alone Harry is as he meets his destiny. And the ending of the book is moving and tragic; it is an ending that should be discussed with friends and family.

We need to keep in mind that not every book, movie, or television program works for every child. What one child can read or watch at age ten with positive interaction, may be too intense for another child of the same age. It is our responsibility as caretakers to research a book or movie, read reviews, or seek opinions from people we respect, before we give our kids a book to read or a movie to watch on their own. Or we may even have to take the time to read a book or watch a movie before our younger children do in order to assess if this book or movie will work with our children at this point in their life. This assessment should be only for our own child, and not for anyone else’s child.

Barbara Meltz wrote a great article in The Boston Globe to help parents help their children deal with the grief they may feel after reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. You can link to it at: http://www.boston.com/yourlife/home/articles/2005/07/21/young_potter_readers_need_to_talk_grieve

Your kid has finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and boredom is setting in. Now what to read?

After your child reads Harry Potter book #6, he or she may feel let down that the book has ended and want to read more about Harry and his gang at Hogwarts. But the next Potter is not due out for months, perhaps a year or two. Thankfully, there are a great many magical, fantasy books inspired by myths, fables, and legends available at your local library. Quite a few are as interesting and entertaining as Harry Potter, and a number are even better. Kids love reading a series of books revolving around the same characters. Here are some wonderful books (for kids nine to fourteen years old) you will enjoy as much as your children:

The Borrowers series by Mary Norton:

The Borrowers
The Borrowers Afield
The Borrowers Afloat
The Borrowers Aloft
The Borrowers Avenged

The Borrowers are a dollhouse-sized race of people who "borrow" all the small household items we big people assume to be missing. The Clock Family (Arrietty and her parents, Pod and Homily), are "Borrowers," and this delightful series of books deals with their adventures, living in a world of regular-sized children and adults. Beth and Joe Crush's ink illustrations add even more magic to the stories.

Bed-Knob and Broomstick by Mary Norton
The Magic Bed-Knob
Bonfires and Broomsticks

Three children discover that their neighbor, prim Miss Price, is a witch-in-training. They promise to keep her secret if she will let them in on some magical adventures.

Mary Poppins series by P.L. Travers

Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins Comes Back
Mary Poppins Opens the Door
Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane
Mary Poppins and the House Next Door

Never underestimate the unpredictable nanny's ability to take children on adventures that thrill and amaze them. One of the interesting details that will surprise your kids is that Jane and Michael have a twin brother and sister, John and Barbara. The illustrator of the books, Mary Shepard, is the daughter of Ernest Shepard, the famous illustrator of Winnie-the-Pooh.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.Lewis

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle

The stories of siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy discover the kingdom of Narnia and get involved in the ensuing struggles of power with the forces who wish to control the magical land.

The Devil's Storybook
The Devil's Other Storybook by Natalie Babbitt

The author of Tuck Everlasting has written two collections of wickedly funny short stories featuring a cantankerous old devil who finds himself frequently outsmarted. Two other marvelous fantasy novels by Babbitt, unrelated to the Devil's Storybooks, make for great reads: The Search for Delicious and Knee-Knock Rise.

The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper

Over Sea, Under Stone
The Dark Is Rising
Greenwitch
The Grey King
Silver on the Tree

Depicting the struggles between powers of light and dark, the novels draw elements from Arthurian legend. The setting is contemporary England and Wales, where Merlin, known in the stories as Merriman Lyons, is helped both by ordinary and supernatural children to keep the Dark forces at bay. The sequence is great for kids and adults to read together. Susan Cooper has written many other great fantasy novels for children, including her latest, The Magician’s Boy.

The Arthur trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland

The Seeing Stone
At the Crossing Places
The King of the Middle March

This new fantasy series is based on Arthurian legend and is highly enjoyable.

The Wind on Fire trilogy by William Nicholson

The Wind Singer
Slaves of the Mastery
Firesong

This trilogy is another new highly recommended fantasy series. These titles as well as the others listed can be found at your local public library.

The Horn Book Magazine (www.hbook.com) a children’s literature and review publication, recommends these other wonderful fantasy books that your child will love:

Farsala Trilogy by Hilari Bell

The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins

The Dark Ground Trilogy by Gillian Cross

So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane

Power of Three by Diana Wynne Jones

Children of the Lamp series by P. B. Kerr

Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Immortals series by Tamora Pierce

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

Hungry City Chronicles by Philip Reeve

Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud