Author and kid-lit expert Anita Silvey, whose own books include 500 Great Books for Teens and 100 Best Books for Children, recommends these titles:
Classics That Likely Influenced J.K. Rowling
Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones
Wizard of Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin
His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
Dark Is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien
A Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L'Engle
The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
Picture Books and Learning to Read Series
Madeline series by Ludwig Bemelmans
George and Martha series by James Marshall
Curious George series by H.A. Rey
Clifford the Big Red Dog series by Norman Bridwell
Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel
The Cat in the Hat and other beginner books by Dr. Seuss
Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park
Ramona series by Beverly Cleary
Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
Chapter Books for Kids, Age 9-11
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Half Magic series by Edward Eager
The House With a Clock In Its Walls and other mysteries by John Bellairs
Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede
Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan
The City of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau
Series for 'Tweens, Age 11-14
The Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, the Circle of Magic, and The Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce
Redwall series by Brian Jacques
The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron
Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud
Airborn series by Kenneth Oppel
The Hungry City Chronicles by Philip Reeve
The Giver and other books by Lois Lowry
The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDM3NjYwMjA5MDE1MjA1MzQ1NDk1N2ZmZQ004))