Rick Riordan's series Percy Jackson and the Olympians! It deals with half-bloods (children of Olympian gods and mortals) and the Titans coming back in modern day New York. Well, and elsewhere, of course. T-Bug loved them -- they started off as bedtime reading, but he read ahead to find out what was happening. I think for the final one, he just sat down and read it the weekend he got it. More info on the author's blog: http://www.rickriordan.com/ The first book, The Lightning Thief has the protagonist accused of stealing Zeus's lightning bolt. Awesome reads.
I think the Ranger's Apprentice series (by John Flanagan) gets shelved in the children's section at Barnes & Noble, which would make it middle-grade. (Teen books are shelved outside it, generally.) However, the MC is 15 at the outset of the first book, and the Website says it's geared for 14- to 18-year-olds. http://www.rickriordan.com/
Then there are the Charlie Bone books (Children of the Red King series) by Jenny Nimmo. They have a very similar premise to Harry Potter -- set in England, start when he's 11, private school. However, his entire family has magical talents, most of the kids at the school have talents that have nothing to do with magic, and they have a very different flavor to them. http://www.charlie-bone.com/about.htmhttp://www.jennynimmo.me.uk/
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Date: 2009-09-27 04:40 pm (UTC)Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books are good, too. http://www.artemisfowl.com/ http://www.eoincolfer.com/
I think the Ranger's Apprentice series (by John Flanagan) gets shelved in the children's section at Barnes & Noble, which would make it middle-grade. (Teen books are shelved outside it, generally.) However, the MC is 15 at the outset of the first book, and the Website says it's geared for 14- to 18-year-olds. http://www.rickriordan.com/
Then there's the Warriors series, about intelligent cats and magic, by Erin Hunter. http://www.warriorcats.com/warriorshell.html
Oh, and the series I keep trying to get T-Bug to check out so I don't feel conspicuous for reading them: the Alcatraz books (Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians is the first one), by Brandon Sanderson. http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book/Alcatraz/ http://www.evillibrarians.com/
Then there are the Charlie Bone books (Children of the Red King series) by Jenny Nimmo. They have a very similar premise to Harry Potter -- set in England, start when he's 11, private school. However, his entire family has magical talents, most of the kids at the school have talents that have nothing to do with magic, and they have a very different flavor to them. http://www.charlie-bone.com/about.htm http://www.jennynimmo.me.uk/
Chapter books that are fantasy include the Secret of Droon series -- which is a lot of fun. http://www.scholastic.com/droon/start.htm http://www.tonyabbottbooks.com/ But these are thin books (think Boxcar Children for length) geared toward a younger crowd.
Anyway, that's what I've got off the top of my head.