|
There's no way you're going to get a 10-year-old kid to willingly sit down and read The Iliad. Sorry, it's just not happening.
JK Rawlings managed to find a way to sell an entire generation of fast-talking, videogame-playing, impatient, ADD kids on her novels. She instilled a love of reading that transformed them, and opened their minds to reading. She opened the door for these children to delve into other novels, and often more classic works. The love that they developed through her novels carried on throughout their early adult lives.
I'll never forget the morning that the last novel was released. Everyone waited up all night at the bookstore around the corner, there was a stillness that was eerie and never repeated in our co-op. Everyone, all day, was locked away reading that book. It was an incredible calm, and our house wasn't unique - the entire town of Berkeley seemed to share the hushed library-like atmosphere.
I did not get into the Harry Potter craze. I was in high school when the first novel came out, and I wasn't interested in starting a new series of fantasy novels. I've read the first one more recently, and have attempted on many occasions to check out the second novel from the library. It hasn't ever happened because there's always an insane waiting list. I'll eventually read all of them I'm sure, but there are better novels available with less demand.
__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq
"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy
|