Possibly the first notion of "Magic School Fantasy," the Romanian legend encapsulated in Emily Gerard's book follows the school named "Schoolmance." These superstitions originate well before Gerard's novel, but this was the first independent work encapsulating them. Within the novel there are descriptions of the magic spells and talking animals taught, however there is no concrete description of life at the school. 

Much inspired by the same Transylvanian Superstitions that prompted Gerard's novel, Bram Stoker took to the Romanian Legend of vampires to create his novel Dracula, and iconic piece of literature in the fantasy and horror genre. Although not a blatant example of Magic School Fantasy, it is implied that Dracula did attend the fictitious school of Schoolmance where he learned dark magic and spells. This further enhanced the Magic School genre and was a large part of its beginnings (Berry). 

Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel which closely prequels the plot of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, where the audience follows Elphaba and Galinda as they go to the magical school of Shiz University. The book later lead to a renowned musical and later movie. Maguire claims to have been inspired a lot by the world around him. He looked into the history of World War II and began to question the notion of what it means to be evil. In an interview, Magurie wanted to explore the idea of whether one could be born evil, or if it was something they grew to learn (DCPA Press). 

In his trilogy, Philip Pullman wanted to create a world different from the one we have today. In a series that has traversed decades, he has allowed the outside world to influence his work as he has pleased--taking elements he can see furthering his world and leaving elements he sees no use for. When originally drafting his novel he took inspiration from Tolken as what not to do, as he "didn't want to write a fantasy of the pure Tolken sort," (Pullman). Pullman also took influence from other popular literary sources which further expanded the reach of the Magic School Fantasy genre and has allowed other authors to be influenced by his work. Pullman speaks more on his trilogy here. 

Lev Grossman accredits much of his novel to be influenced by several different literary works within fantasy. He does claim that Rowling's Harry Potter did inspire him as he felt very connected to Harry's story. He says he wanted to create a character similar to him but American. He also accredits much of his inspiration to Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia while writing about his fictitious world. Even influences like Dungeons and Dragons inspired the series. Grossman's novel truly encapsulates the spirit of Magic School Fantasy and shows how the depth of the genre is used to influence other works (Dobbins). He also credits many other various literary works to have influenced the Magicians.

While Percy Jackson is not set in a school, it's definitely in conversation with the magic school fantasy realm. Percy Jackson appealed to a lot of the same audience as Harry Potter, with a lot of the same established tropes of magic school fantasy, like the "chosen one," a wise older professor in Chiron, and several notable rivals like Luke or Jason. Rick Riordan was inspired by his son's interest in mythological tales and his struggles as a student with ADHD and Dyslexia, which aligns with the goal of magic school fantasy to connect and resonate with students. Percy Jackson feels sort of like an Americanized concept of the magic school fantasy; whereas a lot of magic school content is very European in influence, with the boarding schools, houses, aesthetics, and settings, Percy Jackson utilizes the classic American childhood summer camp as his version of a school.   

Rowell's contemporary interpretation of Magic School Fantasy follows the cast of characters as they finish their last year at Watford School of Magicks. It's fascination takes from the novel's popularity on various social media sites, bringing the genre too a new light and audience.