Summer is nearly here, and so it’s time to start thinking about summer reading for your kids. If you have a child who loved the Harry Potter series or likes fantasy reads, here are some great book series to consider.

1. The Books of Beginning series by John Stephens is a trilogy made up of The Emerald Atlas, The Fire Chronicle, and The Black Reckoning. Kate, Michael, and Emma are three siblings who have passed from one orphanage to another after their parents had to leave them as babies to be protected from an evil they don’t yet know. They are part of an ancient prophesy to bring three magical books together, and this sets them on a fantastical journey to change history and set things right. Filled with wizards, dwarves, elves, and other mythical creatures, these books will enthrall your reader all summer long.

2. The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan consists of five books taking Percy, a demigod, son of a human mother and the Greek God Poseidon, on a thrilling adventure with gods and monsters. He and his satyr protector, Grover, will encounter monsters familiar to Harry Potter fans, such as Cerberus (a three headed dog (remember Fluffy?), and basilisks.

3. The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer is another five book series (with number 6 coming in July) which takes two children on a magical journey into a world where fairy tales are real. Will they be able to find their way back home?

4. The How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell includes twelve books that, like Harry Potter, get a darker toward the ending. I haven’t read these yet, though they’re definitely on my list, but I hear these books are not at all like the movies, which are also enjoyable. As an added bonus, they are narrated by David Tennant! Doctor Who fans rejoice!



5. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket is a well-known series of 13 books following the lives of three unlucky children after their parents’ deaths.

6. The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. Three siblings find a magical and maybe dangerous world existing parallel to our own.

7. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman features The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and the Amber Spyglass. From the book description, “These thrilling adventures tell the story of Lyra and Will—two ordinary children on a perilous journey through shimmering haunted otherworlds. They will meet witches and armored bears, fallen angels and soul-eating specters. And in the end, the fate of both the living—and the dead—will rely on them.”