Before I jump in to what I want to talk about, let me be upfront and let you know I recommend the Harry Potter series and I believe it will become a classic. This being said, I also realize that J.K. Rowling didn't invent fantasy and that many elements in her books have been around for years if not centuries.
You can't open a collection of fairy tales or myths without encountering stories of young men and women discovering they have special abilities, or parentage, or they are the subjects of prophecies.
In the five Earthsea novels, starting with A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) Ursula Le Guin created the School of Magic, where wizards could learn their crafts and their specialties. This was published when Rowling was around 3 years old.
Jane Yolen's Wizard's Hall (1991), came out years before Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) and it shares many similar story elements including a boy who doesn't know his own power, a wizard school full of whimsical magic (including paintings that move and talk), and the threat of an evil wizard.
What Rowling did was combine the classic and contemporary fantasy components in a unique way creating an original work that resonated at a previously unheard of level in the history of publishing. I doubt we will see another phenomenon like this for years.
With that being said, publishers and writers are still eager to tout they have the next Harry Potter, and/or make digs and Harry Potter and Rowling's wizarding world. Unless the author specifically says so, you can't know if some of these are done on purpose or not.
Here are some that I have read in the past few years. Again, I am not pointing these out to disparage the world Rowling created, or these author's or their stories. I enjoyed all these books in different ways and if you like the Harry Potter books, you could enjoy these as well. Please note that some of these comments are spoilers of sorts, so read the full comparisons at your own risk:
In The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud [The Amulet of Samarkand (2003), The Golem's Eye (2004), and Ptolemy's Gate (2005)] wizards are paranoid, self-serving and ego driven. They are taught one-on-one through an apprentice system. It is pointed out that in this world a school for wizards could not exist as wizards hoard their knowledge and don't even share all that they know with their apprentice, if they take one. Also, the magic in this world is actually performed by demons - wizards just learn how to bind and command demons to perform their will. The stronger the demon, the more powerful acts the wizard can accomplish.
In the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, Perseus "Percy" Jackson discovers that the Greek myths are not only real stories, but that the creatures, gods, etc. still exist and that he is the son of Poseidon. He learns this gives him special abilities and enemies. He also hears other characters refer to a prophecy that might involve him. I have read the first book, The Lightning Thief (2005), and am currently in the middle of The Sea of Monsters (2006), the second one, so I don't yet know things play out in any of the subsequent books (there are two more so far).
At the point I am at in the series I have noticed the following similarities with Rowling's books. Whereas Harry Potter went to Hogwarts during the school year and he feels his true home is there, and he stayed in the "real" world during the summers; Percy stays in the "real" world during the school year and goes to Camp Half-Blood with other demigods during the summer and he feels more at home at the Camp. Those who are invited to the camp are broken out into one of 12 cabins, as opposed to the four Hogwart Houses. Each of these cabins is named after a god (Ares, Hermes, Athena, etc.), and in most cases the characters belong to the cabin based on their divine parentage. These cabins compete with each other for annual prizes in various Greek events.
Brandon Sanderson published the young adult novel Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians (2007). In this, the first book of a series, the orphaned and perpetually clumsy Alcatraz Smedry discovers his parents were actually part of the Free Kingdomers group fighting against the Librarians and that his clumsiness is really a powerful ability which he must learn to control. The real dig at Rowling's world comes at the end where Alcatraz is allowed to go back to his foster parent's house and he is told the Free Kingdomers will come back to get him. Alcatraz assumes that he will have to stay with them for the summer (I guess he either read Harry Potter himself or saw the movies). They then show up within a few hours and lovingly chastise him that they just wanted to give him some time to gather his things and say goodbye, that it would be ridiculous to leave him where their enemies knew he was, especially as they had so much to do in their fight against the Librarians.
Those are just a few I have read and recognized. I would be interested to hear about any other books you know of that were written before the Potter series that have similar story elements, or of any stories published afterwards that appear to borrow but possibly twist elements from Harry Potter.
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