Some kids love a hero who saves the day. I was a Matilda-OBSESSED as a kid. The one who loved watching a clever child run rings round the grown-ups while they didn’t even know what was happening.
That’s the same itch Artemis Fowl scratches. Matilda runs rings round her parents and the Trunchbull. Artemis does it to an entire armed fairy police force, and narrates the whole thing in a dry, too-cool-for-school voice.
So if your child has just finished the lot and is now staring at the shelf, you’re in the right place looking for books like Artemis Fowl.
The good news? Most kids usually enjoy reading Artemis himself (not the fairies bit). His brain, the plans and how he finds it all slightly funny. And that combination turns up in plenty of other books (panic over).
I’ve pulled together five with the clever heroes, the schemes and heists, a bit of myth or magic, and narrators who don’t take themselves too seriously.
What makes a good after-Artemis Fowl book
You don’t need all of this in one book. But the ones that go down well after Artemis tend to have a couple.
- A kid who’s the cleverest one in the room. A schemer, a genius, or the sort who can talk their way out of anything. If the hero isn’t a step ahead of the adults, an Artemis fan feels it straight away.
- A narrator who’s funny on purpose. Anything too soft or too fluffy after Eoin Colfer won’t go down well with an Artemis fan.
- Stuff actually happening. Heists, near-misses, a plan falling apart at the worst moment. I’d steer clear of anything that stops for a chapter to describe a forest.
- Books to spare. Artemis is eight books deep. These readers don’t want a one-off, they want a stack they can disappear into for a month.
Five books like Artemis Fowl to try next
The Amulet of Samarkand — Jonathan Stroud
Bartimaeus 1 – The Amulet of Samarkand
A boy magician gets publicly humiliated by a grown wizard, and decides the only reasonable response is to summon a 5,000-year-old djinni and rob him.
Nathaniel is a young magician’s apprentice in an alternate London run by wizards. A nasty wannabe called Simon Lovelace humiliates him in front of everyone, so Nathaniel decides on revenge and summons a 5,000-year-old djinni named Bartimaeus to help him steal a powerful amulet.
Half the book is narrated by the djinni, Bartimaeus, who finds the whole scheme ridiculous. It’s the closest thing on this list to Artemis himself: a clever boy, a plan that gets away from him, and a sidekick rolling his eyes the whole way.
The Falcon’s Malteser — Anthony Horowitz
The Falcon’s Malteser
A dwarf walks into the office of Tim Diamond, the world’s worst private detective, and leaves a package. Within a day the office has been turned upside down, the dwarf has been murdered, and the package turns out to hold nothing but a box of Maltesers (I wouldn’t be complaining about this part).
The detective work comes down to Tim’s younger brother Nick, who tells the whole story like a kid who knows he’s cleverer than his big brother. There’s a silly pun on nearly every page and loads of ‘goings-on’ to keep your reader entertained.
From the author who went on to write Alex Rider. One for the child who’s in it for the jokes as much as the mystery.
Charlie Thorne and the Curse of Cleopatra — Stuart Gibbs
Charlie Thorne and the Curse of Cleopatra
Charlie Thorne is a child wunderkind and a bit of a rebel.
She’s being chased across continents to crack a puzzle Cleopatra left behind. It’s a fortune and a powerful secret, with the location hidden on an ancient stone tablet (no biggy).
She has to solve it before the bad guys do, which means codes, history and a lot of staying one move ahead.
It’s globe-trotting and very fast-paced, the kind of book that ends each chapter on a cliff.
She’s every bit as sharp as Artemis, and just as hard to keep up with.
Moonlocket — Peter Bunzl
Moonlocket
This is the second Cogheart Adventure, set in a mechanical Victorian London where Lily and Robert have a fox sidekick called Malkin who happens to be made of cogs and springs.
Their summer goes sideways when an escapologist called the Jack of Diamonds turns up hunting a mysterious object known as the Moonlocket.
Cogs, magic and a proper mystery. That blend lands well with an Artemis fan.
A child can start here, or go back to Cogheart first (the order doesn’t really matter).
The Highland Falcon Thief — M.G. Leonard & Sam Sedgman
The Highland Falcon Thief
Hal Beck is stuck on a train with his Uncle Nat for the final journey of the Highland Falcon, Britain’s most famous steam engine. He’s expecting to be bored. Then a priceless jewel goes missing somewhere on board.
Hal and a stowaway called Lenny start working the carriages, watching the passengers, and sketching out who had the chance to take it.
It’s a proper locked-room mystery for kids, where the reader is fully involved in the problem-solving, and the train fills with suspects who all have something to hide.
First of a series that hops onto a new train each book.
One for the reader who wants the long haul
If your child likes Bartimaeus, head straight to the rest of the trilogy. The Golem’s Eye sends Nathaniel and Bartimaeus to Prague to work out who’s behind a clay golem smashing up London. After that come Ptolemy’s Gate and a prequel, The Ring of Solomon. It’s a longer read than the books above, so it suits the child who’s growing out of the lighter mishaps and wants something with a bit more going on.
Honourable mention, and where to find more
If one Diamond Brothers book goes down a treat, there’s a second too. In Public Enemy Number Two, Nick ends up sharing a prison cell with the country’s number-one crook and has to nail a master criminal called the Fence to dig himself out. Same jokes, same useless big brother.
Public Enemy Number Two
And of course there’s more Artemis himself. Colfer wrote eight, so if your child just wants to stay in that world a while longer, there are plenty more cons and mischief with Holly Short and the LEPrecon to come.
As I said, if what your child actually wants is a big fantasy quest, dragons and chosen ones and the fate of the world, this isn’t quite the list.
Our piece on what to read after Percy Jackson is the better match for that. And if you’re not sure a book is pitched right for their age, how to tell what age a book is for could help you out.