Daughter has just finished Harry Potter

... what next?

[JonnyWales]

My 11 year old daughter has just finished the latest Harry Potter book and is seriously considering re-reading the whole series from book one! Surely there has to be some good alternatives. Has anyone got a suggestion of a good long story (possible a series of books) to spread her enthusiasm to other books and not just HP?

[Sinner_G]

Guess the LOTR is a bit too advanced for a 11-year old, but the Hobbit is definitely a good suggestion. The Pern series (McCaffrey) is very good too, as well asa the Dragonlance series by Hickman/Weis. Maybe also the Discworld novels by Pratchett.

Not sure if the Avalon books by Marion Zimmer Bradley are too complicated for that age, but I think for a girl they are more interesting as there is less sword fighting and barbarian hero worship.

[dragonlady7]

I read The Mists of Avalon as a young woman and I couldn't bring myself to finish it (very rare for me!), so I'd have to recommend against it. First, I found the graphic rape scenes disturbing. Second, I already knew enough to be infuriated by her (to me) offensive social agenda and awkward reworking of the legends. So I struggled through about a thousand pages before tossing the book back into the library return bin in disgust.
I wouldn't recommend Marion Zimmer Bradley to anyone under 20. But maybe I'm just squeamish and overeducated. I take my Celtic mythology seriously.

Anne McCaffrey's Pern series has sex scenes far more suitable for younger readers-- it's there, sure, but it's all in these vague and euphemistic terms with no details provided, and there's always a scene cut. I think there's no sex at all in the harper/drummer/whatever series, and the euphemistic sex is in the series about the dragonweyrs or whatever. (It's been a while since I read them.) They're not great literature but they're really entertaining and a whole lot less pretentious than a certain other series mentioned in this post.
So that's my two cents on that issue.