Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Harry Potter -- Yay or Nay?

Cedar · 08-13-2003, 08:38 AM

I Love Harry Potter: A Very Short Essay By Cedar

I am a librarian, so my very livelihood depends on people reading. Unlike any book before it, Harry Potter is causing people (not just kids, in fact, I do NOT think this is a children's book series) to put down their video games and read. It has accomplished things no other book has done. The first printing of Order of the Phoenix had 8.5 MILLION copies. By contrast, a book by John Grisham usually gets about 1.5 million copies in a first printing. Parents, children, librarians, teachers...everyone is reading this book together. It's not just a literary experience, it's something that encourages families to discuss books.

J.K. Rowling is not J.R.R. Tolkien or Diana Wynne Jones, but nor does she ever pretend to be. Her wit and clean writing style attract people like myself who normally wouldn't touch a fantasy book with a 10-foot pole. There are many jokes that adults can understand that don't detract from a young adult's enjoyment of the book. Harry is a very human character, and there are peripheral characters that all of us can relate to. I'm sad that Scholastic is marketing this terrific young adult series as a children's book, because it definitely is not, but other than that my quibbles are few.

Is it worth the hype? Who cares? The point is, people are excited over a BOOK. It shows that in an age of television and the internet, the printed word and reading for pleasure are still valued. That, I think, is more important than the specific title of the book.

08-13-2003, 08:38 AM	#61 (permalink)
Cedar Crazy Location: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry	I Love Harry Potter: A Very Short Essay By Cedar I am a librarian, so my very livelihood depends on people reading. Unlike any book before it, Harry Potter is causing people (not just kids, in fact, I do NOT think this is a children's book series) to put down their video games and read. It has accomplished things no other book has done. The first printing of Order of the Phoenix had 8.5 MILLION copies. By contrast, a book by John Grisham usually gets about 1.5 million copies in a first printing. Parents, children, librarians, teachers...everyone is reading this book together. It's not just a literary experience, it's something that encourages families to discuss books. J.K. Rowling is not J.R.R. Tolkien or Diana Wynne Jones, but nor does she ever pretend to be. Her wit and clean writing style attract people like myself who normally wouldn't touch a fantasy book with a 10-foot pole. There are many jokes that adults can understand that don't detract from a young adult's enjoyment of the book. Harry is a very human character, and there are peripheral characters that all of us can relate to. I'm sad that Scholastic is marketing this terrific young adult series as a children's book, because it definitely is not, but other than that my quibbles are few. Is it worth the hype? Who cares? The point is, people are excited over a BOOK. It shows that in an age of television and the internet, the printed word and reading for pleasure are still valued. That, I think, is more important than the specific title of the book. __________________ Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, I am large. I contain multitudes. -Walt Whitman, Song of Myself