[HPFGU-OTChatter] HP readalikes - for the young and young at heart (long)

[P. Alexis Nguyen]

For brevity's sake, I've skipped the books/authors that have already
been mentioned.  That said, I just couldn't pass the chance to weigh
in on some of these. :)

>  Bruce Coville.
>  Magic Shop Books
>     1. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher
>     2. Jennifer Murdley's Toad
>     3. The Skull of Truth

I've never read these three mentioned (nor the others on Petra's
list), but I did enjoy the "My Teacher is an Alien" series when
younger.  (Admittedly, I found a copy of the last book in said series
while home a few weeks ago and must say that Coville's writing has
held up surprisingly well over the ages.)

>  Madeleine L'Engle.
>  The Time Fantasy series
>     1. A Wrinkle in Time
>     2. A Wind in the Door
>     3. A Swiftly Tilting Planet
>     4. Many Waters

Again, this is one of those things that I enjoyed while younger but
haven't visited in ages, but while in the 4th grade (when reading
Wrinkle in Time was mandatory), I enjoyed it immensely.  (It was, in
fact, the last book that I enjoyed reading when the reading was
mandatory.)

>  Diane Duane.
>  The Young Wizards Series
>     1. So You Want to be a Wizard
>     2. Deep Wizardry
>     3. High Wizardry
>     4. A Wizard Abroad

This series hasn't ended yet and actually is on the 8th or 9th book at
the moment.  This is a series I read when younger and rediscovered
very recently.  I now own all of the books in paperback and find
myself re-reading them much more often than I do *gasp* the HP books.
The thing with Diana Duane's series is that her brand of magic is,
oddly enough, very rooted in science - this is, granted, her brand of
science, but the basics are there and recognizable enough that I
remember really looking around and wondering if magic was real and if
I would turn out to be magical.

>  Gail Carson Levine.
>  Ella Enchanted
>

For anyone who may love revisionist fairy tales, I definitely
recommend Ella Enchanted as well as the other [innumerable] Cinderella
re-tellings.  Of course, I'm the kind of person who thinks that you
can't outgrow fairy tales, so take my advice as you will, considering
that.

>  Ibbotson, Eva.
>      * The Secret of Platform 13
>      * Dial-a-Ghost
>      * Island of the Aunts
>      * Which Witch?
>
>  [Petra: she's also written "The Great Ghost Rescue," "The Haunting of
>  Granite Falls," "Journey to the River Sea," "Not Just a Witch," "The
>  Star of Kazan" and though "A Countess Below Stairs" does not feature
>  children it can be read to them.  It's sweet.]

Ibbotson's writing is quite nice, with her characters and stories
being quite sweet.  However, some of her stuff can be quite impossible
to find - I remember having to actively track down Countess Belows
Stairs a few years back just because paying $80-$100 was just too high
a price for convenience; fortunately, I think that half.com usually
has some stuff by her on the website.

>  Levy, Robert.
>  Clan of the Shape-Changers

Levy also has two other books, "The Misfit Apprentice" and "Escape
from Exile."  They are, I do believe, generally classified has
young-adults/juvenile fantasy-fiction, and while a teenager, I did
love these books.  Actually, I had them out so often that I probably
confused the librarians quite a bit by why I didn't just go acquire my
own copy.  (The answer to that is that I've never seen Levy in
bookstores, and this was before Amazon.)

I would also like to add the Dr. Doolittle series to the list.  Like
Mary Poppins, this is a series that, despite the size of each book, is
probably meant for a younger set but is a joyful read for a slightly
older crowd - I read it as a "young adult" and loved it.

And since I blame Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boys for
my love of reading, I'll also recommend those series to the big list.
I know Nancy & the Hardy boys are rather ubiquitous and some might
view them as quite juvenile, but I know that they have brought many
persons to the joys of reading, so I can't quite imagine any list like
this one  without my favourite young detectives.

~Ali