For the past 18 months, children have been waiting impatiently for the next installment from JK Rowling - staff at the library are asked about two or three times a week when the next book is due.

Unfortunately, it now looks as if the new Harry Potter adventure - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - won't be ready until next year. So what can all those desperate readers do in the meantime?

The incredible popularity of these books, has convinced publishers to reissue many classic fantasy series which have not been easily available in recent years.

Today I'll look at two of these series - Tamora Pierce and her Song of the Lioness' series, and Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series, which is one of my personal favourites.

Both of these authors recently have been repackaged to cash in on the current fantasy boom, so should be easily available from either bookshop or library, and may prove acceptable substitutes for pining Potter fans.

Tamora Pierce wrote the first book in her quartet - Alanna the First Adventure - back in 1983, and since then has written four other fantasy series which are all interlinked with the first.

Alanna is the story of a young girl desperate to become a knight. She persuades her twin brother to switch places with her as he wants to be a sorcerer, and so Alan, the page is born.

Alanna excels in fighting and begins to develop magical healing powers as she matures, and over the next three books in the series, has to defend her chosen city and prince from the powers of evil.

Look for her Immortals and Circle of Magic series as well, to follow the stories of Alanna and her friends.

Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series is considered by many, (myself included), to be one of the best ever written for younger readers.

It has now been re-issued with new covers for a new generation of readers to enjoy. This series is unusual in that when the first book Over Sea Under Stone was written in 1968, it was a fairly childish novel in an Enid Blyton vein.

However, all that changed when the second book, The Dark is Rising, was written in 1973.

With this story, Cooper launched readers into a series about high magic and the fabled legacy of King Arthur.

Susan Cooper won the Newberry medal for her work, one of the highest achievements in children's literature. Her series went on to be published in 11 langauges and won many international awards.

I usually recommend that most readers begin with The Dark is Rising, and once hooked, then go back and read the first book for future characters in the series.

The Dark is Rising is the story of Will, who is about to turn 11. On the eve of his birthday, everyone around him seems to attach much importance to the coming day, and animals shrink away from him, while mysterious strangers walk the country lanes around his parents' farm.

The following day, Will learns he is the last of the Old Ones, with immense power and responsibility. His task is to find and protect the six signs of the light, to be used in the final battle between good and evil. Over the next three books in the series, Will learns to use and develop his powers, and gathers allies for the last confrontation as the dark begins to rise in the land.

Both the series mentioned are fabulous reads for all ages, and should certainly appeal to fans of JK Rowling's books.

In fact - dare I say it - they may even be better than those books, and best of all, could open up a world of new fantasy authors for desperate Harry Potter fans.

And there are lots more where they came from - we have the booklists to prove it.

Note:For children's book lists, please click here.