Amazing list!! I like that most of them are queer/feature queer characters!

immediate save

Great list!! I think "The Wee Free Men" by Terry Pratchett would fit this list as well! It's part of Discworld but this series is called "Young Witches" and aimed at younger readers. It's about Tiffany Aching, a young girl that finds out she's a witch and during the series we follow her adventures and shenanigans across 5 books! Super fun and a great alternative to HP imo ^^

I love this and concept! I think if the issue is also about how JK Rowling's representations are racist, then I'd say the same about how CS Lewis writes people of colour in the Chronicles of Narnia FYI! I don't think he's the best addition to this list

I really do love this list overall, though!

Ooooo good list!! I’d recommend the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage and The Dark Hills Divide series by Patrick Carmen. Those were my childhood alternatives to HP at least :)

I've been meaning to read the Nevermoor series! My friend says it's a great alternative to HP.

You're so wonderful for making this list 🥰

Love this!! I have a couple of older recs I read as a kid that definitely gave me similar feelings to HP:

• The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson (mistreated orphan boy protagonist gets swept up into a magical world! Also very british)
• Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke (another lonely orphan boy goes on a quest to save the dragons and discovers found family!)

As far as newer releases, I've also heard good things about Amari and the Night Brothers! It's a middle-grade series that has similar vibes to a lot of the books in this list.

Such an awesome list! I'm not sure if Ace of Spades really fits here, tho. It doesn't really have any magic or fantasy elements and the themes are pretty dark for a middle grade or even a YA audience. It's more of a dark academia thriller than a magical school adventure type of book.

I think The Girl Who Drank the Moon would be a great addition. It's very whimsical and has witches and magical creatures and stuff. Aru Shah and the End of Time, and Greenglass House also came to mind when I saw this list, although Aru Shah has more in common with Percy Jackson than Harry Potter. I haven't read them in a long time so my memory is quite foggy, but I remember loving these in like early middle school!

i love the premise of this list!! i think a tale of magic by chris colfer, artemis fowl by eoin colfer, the chronicles of narnia by c. s. lewis, eragon by christopher paolini, and the land of stories by chris colfer would be a good fit (lots of chrises and colfers)

the list I needed. Thank you 🤗

Great list! 💖 I'd also recommend "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton and "Ice Apprentices" by Jacob North. Both are really diverse magic school middle grade books that are sooo much better than HP, and "Ice Apprentices" even has a trans main character!

Witchlings is a cute middle-grade fantasy that might fit! Lovely list 💌

I think Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series would be a good fit here, and there’s a movie adaptation coming out later this year from Studio Laika!

Love this list! I also recommend "Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire."

Also "By Any Other Name" by Ela Bambust.

Excellent list! If nobody's suggested it already, could I possibly suggest The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy? It's like, the quintessential British "kid goes to magic school" story and the one JKR pulled a lot of her tropes and ideas from. It's from like the 70s originally so some of the earlier books might have some unfortunate hallmarks of their time (I've not read them in a while and don't recall the specifics) but they're a classic of the genre and at least the author, to my knowledge, never started lobbying for the destruction of civil rights lol

i found this super cute middle grade book: The Spick and the Span by Pil Van Martin! while it doesnt seem too similar to HP, i was wondering if it might fit the list?

Also, thank you all for your recommendations and kind messages! I really appreciate it! 💗

Can I recommend the Pendragon series by DJ MacHale? I read it when I was younger, and I still think it’s a great series now.

A few I don’t see which are on my usual answers to this request include: Fablehaven as well as the Dragon series by Mull, Dizertelli’s Wondla, Dragonsong by Anne McCathery…

and Septimus Heap by Angie Sage, which you already have.

Lemony Snicket’s main series, unless I missed it.

Courtney Crumrin (and the night things #1) by Ted Nefeih(?)

Cats Cradle the Golden Thread by Jo Rioux (I personally prefer the old version before it recently got reillusteated, but at least they continued the series finally)

Amulet by Kazu Kabuishi

Darker Shade of Magic by Schwab for us adults. Probably Shadow and Bone too, but I haven’t read it yet myself. And then OMalleys Rook.

Annnnd Ava’s Demon.

That’s all of the top of my head at the moment 🤔

Oh uh City of Ember, Phantom Tollbooth, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles (forgive me if I misspelled that) And Schwab’s The Archived. House of Many Ways (yes can be standalone) Ready player one Cinder The princess bride!

Night school by Svetlana Chmakova The Apothecary - Maile Meloy The golden compass

Read: Slayers by CJ Hill way back when. Can’t tell you if it’s good now but I liked it then.

Chasing Vermeer 39 clues

Dragons milk - Susan fletcher The owl keeper - Brodien-Jones First test (protector of the small #1) Tamora peirce

Forgive the mess above I’ll organize tomorrow I swear 🫣

I think the how to train your dragon series would fit too. this is such an awesome list!

I remember liking Yolen's Wizard's Hall when I was a teen, and it very much hits a lot of the same tropes as HP. Pretty short book tho.

I found a book called "The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association" and it looks like it would fit well in this list!