The End.....of Harry Potter?

By now, most readers have finished or are near to finishing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. What did you think? The feeling is bittersweet--it's a fabulous read (the best in the series, we here at the library think!), but so many of us have spent so long reading about Harry & co. that we don't want it to be over! Other than re-reading the entire series ad nauseum, what are die-hard Pottermaniacs to do now? Read something else, of course! Here are some suggestions: ~Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (or check out the new Percy short story on Rick Riordan's blog!) ~The Abhorsen trilogy or Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix (for slightly older readers) ~Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo ~The Secret of Platform 13 or Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson ~Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (the 3rd volume, Inkdeath, is due out next year!) ~The Goose Girl or Princess Academy by Shannon Hale ~Peter and the Starcatchers and Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson ~The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer ~Matilda or The Witches by Roald Dahl ~Anything written by Gail Carson Levine Do you have other ideas for good post-Potter reads? Leave us a comment and let us know your suggestions! If you are still in desperate need of a Potter fix now that you've finished the series, you can: 1) Check out the special collector's issue of Entertainment Weekly on sale now--"Goodbye, Harry." It's chock-full of fun and informative Pottermania like a sample Hogwarts yearbook and "secret ingredients" of the Potterverse, and some great lines like: " . . . here's the simple truth: As the books aged with the readers, they got darker and more complicated and transformed into something bigger and better. Something called art." We heartily agree! 2) If you're entering grades 4-6 you can sign up (call 879-0497 or email ewiggins@bham.lib.al.us) for the September Dis-a-Book sessions, where we will be discussing Deathly Hallows--Sept. 18th or 25th, at 6PM. 3) Try listening to the audio versions of the books, read by the phenomenal Jim Dale. Altogether, that should keep you busy for around 116 hours! 4) If you're really patient, you can wait until J.K. Rowling eventually publishes the wizarding world encyclopedia that she's promised to write......and hope that maybe one day in the future, she'll write Hogwarts: The Next Generation or perhaps Children of the Phoenix :)