If You Liked Harry Potter . . .

With the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them recently coming out, I have once again been struck with Harry Potter fever.  However, what should you read if you've already gone through all the Harry Potter books.  Here are some of my favorite Harry Potter read-alikes for kids . . . .

Hollow Earth by John Barrowman
Possessing extraordinary powers, including the ability to bring artwork to life, twelve-year-old twins Matt and Emily are sought by villains trying to access the terrors of Hollow Earth, a place where demons and mythological beasts lie trapped for eternity.

Magic Below Stairs by Caroline Stevermer
Ten-year-old Frederick, who is surreptitiously watched over by a household elf, is plucked from a London orphanage to be a servant to a wealthy wizard,  and eventually his uncanny abilities lead him to become the wizard's apprentice.

The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo
Gifts from Gwyn's grandmother on his ninth birthday open up a whole new world to him, as he discovers he has magical powers that help him heal the breach with his father that has existed ever since his sister's mysterious disappearance four years before.

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones (volumes 1-3)
Adventures of the Chrestomanci, an enchanter with nine lives, whose job is to control the practice of magic in the infinite parallel universes of the Twelve Related Worlds.

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
In a society that purges thirteen-year-olds who are creative, identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated, one to attend University while the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn magic.


More Great Harry Potter Read-Alikes --
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein
The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler
Half Upon a Time by James Riley
Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson
The Magician's Boy by Susan Cooper
The Magickers by Emily Drake
Not Just a Witch by Eva Ibbotson
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through December 22, 2016.

A Blizzard of Books

This is our final week of Mad Science workshops.  The topic this week is Walloping Weather.  Since we are right in the middle of hot summertime, I thought I would focus on snowy stories . . .

Blizzard's Wake by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
In March of 1941, when a severe blizzard suddenly hits Bismarck, North Dakota, a girl trying to save her stranded father and brother inadvertently helps the man who killed her mother four years before.

Anna's Blizzard by Alison Hart
Having never excelled at schoolwork, twelve-year-old Anna discovers that she may know a few things about survival when the 1888 Children's Blizzard traps her and her classmates in their Nebraska schoolhouse.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
After an October blizzard, Laura's family moves from the claim shanty into town for the winter, a winter that an Indian has predicted will be seven months of bad weather.

The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo
Gifts from Gwyn's grandmother on his ninth birthday open up a whole new world to him, as he discovers he has magical powers that help him heal the breach with his father that has existed ever since his sister's mysterious disappearance four years before.

Snow! Snow! And More Snow! - Part 3

Well, I've shared some of my favorite picture books and teen books about snow.  Now it's time for some chapter books . . .

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura and her family must survive a winter in which it is one blizzard after another.  The trains are stuck in the snow and they can't get any more supplies.  The coal is all gone as is the wood.  And there is precious little food left. 

The Leanin' Dog by K.A. Nuzum
Dessa and her father have been grieving her mother's death.  Dessa isn't allowed to go into town or even really leave the yard of their house.  Then an injured dog arrives and helps Dessa and her father to move on.


The Snow Spider by Jenny Nimmo
Gwyn was given five gifts by his grandmother on his ninth birthday in the hopes that they will show him how to become a magician.  When he releases the gifts to the winds he is given a spider in return -- a special spider that shows him a snowy, icy land where his sister seems to have gone.