Great Books Guide - Life After Harry Potter: Ten Adventure Novels to Keep Youngsters Reading

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by Ted Gioia

"The kids have been wild about Harry, but what happens now Adults watch in wonder as youngsters put a halt to video games and text messaging to curl up with a 759 page novel. Did some scheming librarian place them under an Imperius spell? But now that J.K. Rowling’s series has come to an end, parents are wondering how they will keep the love of literature alive in their children. Below are ten suggestions, battle tested in my own home, where I have maintained a regular tradition of evening story-telling for the last ten years.

"There is no more demanding literary critic than a youngster. If a tale is long-winded or boring, the child tunes out, and story-telling time, which should be as magical as a cauldron of polyjuice potion, turns into a drudgery. Michiko Kakutani is a pushover compared with my finicky sons, who only accept well-paced stories with plenty of action and suspense. The following books are sure to pass the test."