#relegated this list to just 9-12/middle grade kids fiction but i could probs do like a YA list at some point

[crunch-barr]

u mentioned making a rec list for books for children that are less problematic and better written!! i would love to see those <3

welcome to bean's list of book recommendations to read to your kids instead of h*rry p*tter, from an ex-hp kid who looked really hard for good books to fill the void all those years ago:

(pls lmk if any of them are problematic or haven’t aged well and I didn’t know, I’ll remove them from the list !!)

disclaimer: i was a kid reading kid books during the early 2000s and early 2010s, and I’ve realized while making this list that a lot of the writers I read growing up are... very white and cishet. that’s not to say there weren’t diverse writers being published or trying to get published, but there was certainly a lot less push for diversity in genre fiction (especially children's) back then. to make up for this I’ve added links to lists of diverse middle grade novels after my personal faves list, I haven’t personally read all that are mentioned on those lists but I plan to! please go check them out!!!! Most of them were published in the past few years

personal childhood favourites of mine:

The "House of Secrets" Trilogy by Christopher Columbus and Ned Vizzini. This was my favourite series as a kid, and surpassing HP in my mind at the time was like. Insane. That being said, goodreads has some simply scathing reviews of this by some adults who thought it was too violent and crowded but 12 year old me LOVED it SO MUCH. There’s some violence, there’s magic. It’s about three siblings and their creepy old house that can travel into books, but the books they travel into are WILD. I remember the second and third being better than the first. These would be fun to read aloud, too

"Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" by Grace Lin was one of my absolute favourites as well from that time. I’ve read it as a late teen/young adult as well and it still holds up. It takes inspiration from Chinese folklore, it follows a girl named Minli who takes it upon herself to find fortune for her family. I remember carrying this book around in my backpack for like a year after I read it bc I loved rereading it so much. It’s so good guys it’s so good

"The Princess Bride" by William Goldman. This might seem like a basic pick, but it’s on the list bc I read this out loud with my mom when I was 10, taking turns, and it was SO FUN. I had the time of my life. It’s such a romp of a book and works so well read out loud.

The "Chrestomanci" Series by Diana Wynne Jones— it’s the same sparkly magic as HP, but written better and also written first. I liked everything she wrote, but this series was really solid. My fave was The Lives of Christopher Chant

“The Girl Who Could Fly” by Victoria Forester retains that HP school vibe, with kids with superpowers instead. I remember loving this book a TON as a kid. I remember some specific scenes so clearly, they just live in my mind constantly

Rapid fire multi-book series’ I’ve read and generally liked, that would be fun to read to your kids:

- the "Land of Stories" series by Chris Colfer

- the "Wrinkle in Time" series by Madeleine L’Engle

- "Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

- "The School for Good and Evil" series by Soman Chainani

Honourable mentions that didn't really fit the list:

- "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (actually a lot of Terry Pratchett is good for this genre!! I also loved Gaiman's books as a kid but they are a bit darker)

- "From the Mixed-Up Files of Ms Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg (I just love this book too much to not include it)

Honourable mention but not a middle grade read-aloud style thing:

- ALL the Lumberjanes volumes by Noelle Stevenson (et al.)

And here are some links to diverse middle grade fantasy lists that have been published recently!

https://www.feministbooksforkids.com/middle-grade-fantasy-books/

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/kids/8-amazing-diverse-middle-grade-fantasies/

https://www.readbrightly.com/contemporary-diverse-middle-grade-books/

https://hclib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/220740577/677756200

https://www.google.com/amp/s/lgbtqreads.com/middle-grade/%3Famp

https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/diverse-childrens-books/ <- this link also includes an excellent portion on the importance of diversity in children’s fiction, while also talking a little about how diversity has become much more prevalent in publishing since the early 00s.

There are so many good books out there. Go read! Read good stuff to your kids out loud!! Support your locally owned bookstores!! Buy books for your kids that aren’t written by bigots