post-Potter

[snugglekitty]

I'm finding some articles that I had hoped would be out there after the end of the Harry Potter series.

A Catholic mom writes about why the Harry Potter books are not evil. Here's a link to the book she wrote for Catholic families. And here's a link to her blog, where she explains her central arguments: fiction about magic is not the same as ACTUAL MAGIC, and PARENTS, not governments or religious leaders, should decide what is best for their children. Well done, Mrs. Brown. I'm considering reading her book if the library buys it, even though I'm one of those "sinful" people who practices paganism and magic AND reads horoscopes.

And then, the reading lists. Oh, the reading lists.
There are a number of uncompiled Harry Potter reading lists in the website Novelist. If you have a Minuteman library card, you can access this database from home by going here and clicking on Home Access, then Novelist, then typing in your card number. The list "Is There Life After Harry?" seems primarily written for those who do not have much experience with fantasy - seasoned veterans like me won't find many new titles there. However, if you dig deeper, to "The Wide Appeal of Harry Potter," you get some great ideas about why it's hard to find books that are like HP, and references to many old and lesser-known fantasy titles, which is delightful.

Then I hit the mother lode. This incredibly long list contains many books I already know and love as well as many I've never heard of. That's always a really good sign, when it comes to book lists.

There are a few lists on amazon, though really not as many as you'd expect. However, a library school student wrote 13 volumes of
this list for young adults which contains many potentially marvelous things, although naturally there are a few duds.



Anyone else found some good post-Potter reading lists?
Probably my favorite thing about the Harry Potter phenomenon is that it seems to be opening the way for some wonderful YA fantasy authors to get new works published. Diana Wynne Jones has been churning out some novels that are very long for her, with another one coming out next month. Robin McKinley has a new novel coming out for the first time in forever. Jane Yolen is finally writing a fourth book in the Dragon's Blood series. I hope that they are being well-compensated, or at least better compensated, after Rowling's succeses. I hope that many of the children who loved Harry Potter will grow up to be adults that read fantasy. Or even just adults that READ.

Comments

[opn.livejournal.com]

I've gotten a lot of new-to-me suggestions from a LJ community that was featured last week (but now I can't find it :::sigh::) -- something like life_after_harry.