Friday, July 15, 2011
Books What to read during life after Harry Potter?
Posted by Curt Holman @Curt_Holman on Fri, Jul 15, 2011 at 5:03 PM
- Beach Lane Books
Pals in Peril: The early Harry Potter books won over children and adults alike partly through J.K. Rowling’s engaging wit, which followed the lead of fellow British writers such as Roald Dahl and Douglas Adams. For a kid-friendly series with comparable adult appeal, consider the M.T. Anderson’s cheeky Pals in Peril series. Beginning with Whales on Stilts, M.T. Anderson gently spoofs earlier Young Adult publishing traditions through the adventures of three friends: Jasper Dash, a Tom Swift imitator with an antiquated way of talking and clunky high-tech gizmos; Katie Mulligan, a tween monster-fighting heroine worthy of the old Goosebumps books; and Lily Gefelty, an ordinary middle-schooler.
Anderson’s engaging, all-American sense humor hits its stride with the third book, Jasper Dash and the Flame Pits of Delaware, which incongruously envisions Delaware as an exotic land of secret police, martial artists and strange monsters worthy of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Youngsters will through to the wild adventures, while older readers will chuckle at Anderson’s comedic invention. (Readers tween-age and up should consider Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the Nation, a pair of Revolutionary War-era novels that resemble a cross between Johnny Tremain and Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver.)
The Sisters Grimm: Two young sisters, Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, move to the mysterious town of Ferryport Landing and discover that it’s populated with “Everafters” — characters from fairy tales and nursery rhymes attempting to pass as ordinary human beings. A ton of fairy-tale-inspired movies are in the works, but Michael Buckley spins clever variations on a familiar premise and each book in the nine-volume series subtly riffs on a different literary genre.
The Hunger Games: My young niece voraciously read the Harry Potter series, but recently told me that Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy were the best books she’d ever read, despite its grim, bloody premise. In a post-apocalyptic America, the tyrannical capital forces the surviving communities to participate in “The Hunger Games,” an annual competition to the death. Collins shrewdly extrapolates the conventions of “Survivor” and other reality shows for a fallen futuristic society.
For Potter fans, the books combine the political resistance themes of Deathly Hallows with fanciful competitions, like the Tri-Wizards Tourney with only one survivor. There’s even a romantic triangle for the Twilight fans out. The hype over casting the first Hunger Games film (due in March of 2012) has anointed the franchise as the Next Big Thing, and Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence of Winter’s Bone seems the perfect choice for archer-heroine Katniss Everdeen.
A Song of Ice and Fire: It should go without saying that these ain't for kids. But readers who grew up with Harry Potter and are ready to make the leap to an unsparingly adult series should consider George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic. HBO has already had a hit with “Game of Thrones” first season, which adapts A Song of Ice and Fire’s initial volume. Given the graphic sex, violence and all-around ruthlessness of the books and episodes, I wouldn’t draw too closely a parallel to Harry Potter. But Martin’s most sympathetic characters — the Stark children, Danaerys Targaryen, dwarf Tyrion Lannister — become more mature and contend with the increasingly dangerous challenges of powerful, Machiavellian adversaries. The Malfoys are basically the Lannister family with magic wands.
Martin’s long-awaited fifth novel in the series, A Dance With Dragons, came out earlier this week, with two more volumes in the works. A Song of Ice and Fire offers an immersive, long-haul experience for both readers and TV viewers even bigger in scope than Harry Potter’s multiple movies and films. A little of Song of Ice and Fire’s sprawling, Machiavellian power struggles, you may enjoy the black-and-white simplicity of Harry Potter’s battles with Voldemort.
Comments (2)
Showing 1-2 of 2
Love your choices, but I can't believe you left out Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series. Good stuff!
like
dislike
@ReadWithPassion: I didn't want to mention any series that I hadn't personally read at least partially. Friends also suggested the Narnia books, the Alex Ryder series, The Chronicles of Prydain and "the young adult novels by Brad Strickland, particularly the series started by John Bellairs."
Latest in Fresh Loaf
-
Drawing dance at the Decatur Arts Festival
CORE, Beacon highlight dance offerings
-
Paul Luna isn't finished with PARKatlanta 1
Chef files another lawsuit claiming private parking-enforcement deal violates city's charter
-
That poor baby beluga died 4
Experts say beluga deaths are unavoidable, but deaths in captivity are
- More »
More by Author
-
Academy Theatre's Copenhagen seeks truth in Uncertainty
Play about WWII physicists as dense and full of energy as uranium
-
Celebrate Pi Day with Aronofsky's 'Pi'
3.141592653 and so on.
- More »
