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Monday, August 10, 2015

True Confessions - I've Never Read the Harry Potter Series!

Can I even continue as a Teacher-Librarian?  I know this seems shocking, but remember: I'm new to the library (going on 5 years and I still feeling like a crazed newbie).  The summer before I went into the library I had a huge reading list.  I wanted to get a feel for what students were loving in the literary world.  I talked a fellow TL and asked what I should be reading.  She very wisely told me not to worry about reading the popular books, kids would be able to fill me in on those.  My task since that day has been to read the 'other' books and to share books with kids that they may not know about.  So I could've spent a summer reading the Harry Potter series, but I know they are great (I'm not that out of the loop) and I feel confident recommending them to kids who love adventure and fantasy.  I've found a new book that could go in the category, 'Read this if you love Harry Potter'.  It's called The Apothecary by Maile Meloy (a great author name btw).  I'm encouraged to see that there is a sequel, The Apprentices.  Could this be another series???  The Apothecary is a great novel on it's own, but I have to say that it has a lot of features that will appeal to the Harry Potter crowd.  The setting is London during the 1950's, the characters are teenagers, there is a little bit of romance and of course, a good dose of magic but with enough reality to make it accessible to a wide audience.  And - I liked it and fantasy is not my go-to genre.  I have another confession to make: students are fickle.  They want to read new books and they are not that excited to read Harry Potter.  Maybe Meloy's new series will be the next big thing??

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