As librarians, one of the most common questions we get goes something like this: "I've finished Harry Potter. What do I do now?"
We know it can be hard to move on from a series that captured your heart for so long. Our goal when we get this question isn't necessarily to find you another story with a similar plot. Instead, we want to find you another story to get lost in - a book that feels like home.
So, you've finished Harry Potter? Try these books from the library's collection!
The School Between Winter and Fairyland by Heather Fawcett
Twelve-year-old Autumn Malog is a servant at the enchanting Inglenook School, where young magicians study to become the king's future monster-hunters. When she isn't mucking out the wyvern stalls or coaxing the resident boggart to behave, Autumn searches for clues about her twin brother's mysterious disappearance. Everyone else thinks he was devoured by the feared Hollow Dragon, but Autumn is convinced she's heard - and glimpsed - him calling to her from within the castle walls. But who will believe a lowly servant?
Seven Wherewithal Way by Samantha-Ellen Bound
Celeste is having the worst summer ever. So when her eccentric cousin Ferd crash-lands a flying bus in the yard, what choice does she have but to follow Ferd back home to Seven Wherewithal Way? Wherewithal - Ferd's house, and the gateway to the many Realms unreachable from Earth - is bursting with magic and mystery and otherworldly creatures. It's Celeste's favourite place in any world. But when something tries to break in through the portal in the pantry - the door to the mystical Realm of Forests - Celeste learns that both Wherewithal and her beloved cousin are under threat.
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Meggie loves stories, but her book-binding father, Mo, hasn't read aloud to her since her mother mysteriously disappeared some years ago. When a stranger who knows her father knocks at their door, Mo is forced to reveal an extraordinary secret – when he reads aloud, words come alive, and dangerous characters step out of the pages. Suddenly, Meggie is living the kind of adventure she has only read about in books, but this one will change her life for ever.
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
Every four years, two girls are kidnapped from the village of Gavaldon. Legend has it these lost children are sent to the School for Good and Evil, the fabled institution where they become fairytale heroes or villains. Sophie, the most beautiful girl in town, has always dreamed of her place at the School for Good while her friend Agatha, with her dark disposition, seems destined for the School for Evil. But when the two are kidnapped they find their fortunes reversed...