Summer Reading: For the Harry Potter Fan

Since the publication of the first in the Harry Potter series in 1997, the bespectacled young wizard has done more to get kids engaged in reading than all the wheedling and cajoling of well-meaning parents everywhere.  Here are some ideas for younger readers who have reached the end of the series or want to find something similar.

This is the first of several summer reading lists we are publishing. A word of caution: These books have been hand-picked by me (voracious reader, editor’s daughter, mom of four) and may seem random and arbritrary and certainly are incomplete. Please add your own suggestions in the comments field or on our Facebook page where we are running a CONTEST! Give us your top summer reading recommendation for kids and be entered automatically to win a book basket with SIGNED COPIES of a few books for young readers, plus an Author’s Tool Kit to create your own book. Happy reading and writing…

Hugo Cabret illustration

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET (Brian Selznick). We discovered Brian Selznick last summer and were drawn into this compelling world of orphan Hugo Cabret, living in a train station in Paris a century ago told in words and in black and white drawings. Can’t wait to read WONDERSTRUCK – his new book coming out in the fall.
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA (CS Lewis). Shorter than most of the Harry Potter tomes, this fantasy about four children who enter a magical world through the back of a wardrobe is a compelling read accessible to kids as young as six if read aloud. I have to confess, we started the next book THE HORSE AND HIS BOY and put it down. Just didn’t hold up to NARNIA.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (Roald Dahl). We just read this aloud and it really stands the test of time. A great adventure with a moral at its chewy chocolate center.
A WRINKLE IN TIME (Madeleine L’Engle). I love this book for many reasons, in part because it’s an adventure story with a girl at the center that boys still enjoy reading. Originally published in 1962, this fantasy of the Murry children who must rescue their father in a strange land is still a gripping read.
A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (Lemony Snicket). I have to confess to not having cracked this one yet, but everyone else recommends it for Harry Potter fans. We’re planning to check it out this summer.
THE LAST OF THE REALLY GREAT WHANGDOODLES (Julie Andrews Edwards). I love this adventure story about siblings who trek to visit the last living Whangdoodle by using their imaginations. Plus it’s a fun word to say and was written by Julie Andrews.
A WHOLE NOTHER STORY (Dr. Cuthbert Soup). My boys and I loved this humorous mystery-conspiracy novel about the Cheeseman family, on the run from corrupt government agents. And it even has its own video trailer.

We’re always looking for great recommendations so please share your ideas!  And remember to check out our free eBook library – books created at Scribble Press that you can download free on your iPad, Nook or other reader and enjoy at home.