If you like Harry Potter...

You are NOT out of good books to read! Now that the final book in J.K. Rowling's famous series has been released, here are some other awesome fantasy and science fiction books that teens like you will enjoy reading quite a bit!

- A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

Violet Baudelaire is a 14 year old inventor. Her brother Klaus is 12, but has already read more books than most grown-ups have. And her baby sister Sunny has four sharp teeth and can say a few words that only her siblings can understand. And these are all good things- because what will happen to them next is not so good. After their parents die in the fire that consumed their house, the Baudelaires have to go live with their closest relative- Count Olaf, who may be an actor, but who wants more than just to take care of the Baudelaires! My favorite book in this series is Book 5- The Austere Academy.

- The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

Simon, Jane, and Barney Drew have always known that their uncle Merriman Lyon was a little eccentric. Will Stanton knew he was the seventh son of a seventh son. But they did not imagine that now they were facing a battle between the Light and the Dark. Now they have to search for all the Signs- each one made of a different element. Is Will really the last of the Old Ones? And what's Uncle Merry's connection to the Arthurian world? I first read The Dark is Rising when I was in the seventh grade. And now they will be releasing a movie for these books this October!

- The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

Remember Disney's movie "The Black Cauldron"? The Chronicles of Prydain are the books this film was based on! And Prydain is based on Welsh mythology...but with a few changes in the characters and geography! Taran finds being assistant pig-keeper dull and would rather be a hero. Eilonwy does not think it's necessary to receive education in becoming a prim and proper lady if she is already the princess. Fflewddur Flam likes being a bard, but not as much as he likes exaggerating everything. From chasing after the oracular pig to destroying the black cauldron, join the heroes of Prydain in their adventures as they grow up. Sadly, Lloyd Alexander passed away earlier this year at age 83. The Chronicles of Prydain are his most famous books- The High King won the Newbery Medal in 1969 and The Black Cauldron was a Newbery Honor book in 1966.

- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

"It was a dark and stormy night". Meg Murry felt like she could not get anything right. Her mother was a gorgeous scientist- but Meg was plain and an underachiever in school. Why couldn't she be like her normal twin middle brothers, Sandy and Dennys? Or brilliant like her father- a scientist in a top secret mission who happens to be missing? Or a genius like her younger brother Charles Wallace, even though he is just as misunderstood as she is? Meg thought that Calvin O'Keefe was popular and had it all- but he confides in Meg that nobody seems to understand him. Now Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace have met a mysterious woman named Mrs. Whatsit- who not only tells them about a "tesseract", but takes them in a faster than light journey through outer space to find the reason why Meg's father has vanished! Another Newbery Medal winner. I first read A Wrinkle in Time back in the 8th grade, but I listened to its sequels on audiobook last year.

And my absolute favorite:

- The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis

You probably watched and enjoyed "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" movie; and now are looking forward to the "Prince Caspian" movie coming up next year. So instead I will talk about my favorite, but not so well known, book in the Narnia series: The Horse and His Boy. Shasta lives in the desert land of Calormen. But he does not look like his father- or like anyone else in there, for that matter. One day Shasta overhears his father wanting to sell him off- so he decides to run away and talks to his horse while packing for the journey. But nothing prepared Shasta for hearing his horse talk! Why can Bree the horse talk? Because he is a Narnian horse. Together, Shasta and Bree decide to run away to Narnia. Along the way they meet Aravis Tarkheena and her talking horse Hwin, who are running away because Aravis' father and stepmother want her to marry the evil nasty Ahoshta Tarkhaan. Now they head together towards the Capital of Tashbaan- and somebody that Shasta has never seen comes to him and addresses him as "Prince Corin". Who is Prince Corin, and who are these new mysterious visitors from the North? And how will Shasta and his new friends make it to Narnia? And who is this mysterious cat keeping Shasta company- and the mysterious lion chasing him? I first read The Chronicles of Narnia in the 12th grade, and they have been my favorite books since then.


Hope you enjoy reading these books as much as I did!!!