Harry's magic wearing thin
One mother has had enough of Harry Potter (opinion piece: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21567444-5007146,00.html).
Perhaps Rowling has vandalised the Harry Potter franchise as well. The research I've done suggests that the craze has really been adults pretending to get carried away (rushing to buy it for themselves or their kids, who more often than not put it on a shelf without reading it) rather than children themselves.
Are these adults, who don't want to grow up, stealing our children's childhood? Aren't children the ones who want and need the magic Harry Potter once offered?
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In real life, I only have a pool of maybe 15 or so 10 year olds (for example) I can ask if they actually read Harry Potter, as opposed to watching the films and enjoying the merchandise. (Films = good, later books = far too long.) OTOH, I know a lot of adults IRL who read HP. They're not active in fandom, they're not fanficcers, and they couldn't give a stuff about HP fansites. Harry Potter books are, for them, sheer escapism and a bit of fun ... and something you'd keep in the bookshelves in the hall or the study, not in the loungeroom.
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More Harry Potter - article on Yahoo.
Even after the last Harry Potter book is released in July this year, "a thriving genre of Potter fan fiction remains, with readers not waiting for "Deathly Hallows" to imagine how they would continue the story.
"We already do have stories like that, called `Post-Hogwarts,'" says Jennie Levine, a reference librarian in Baltimore and co-founder of the Potter fan fiction site, http://www.sugarquill.net. "
Perhaps Rowling has vandalised the Harry Potter franchise as well. The research I've done suggests that the craze has really been adults pretending to get carried away (rushing to buy it for themselves or their kids, who more often than not put it on a shelf without reading it) rather than children themselves.
Are these adults, who don't want to grow up, stealing our children's childhood? Aren't children the ones who want and need the magic Harry Potter once offered?
*****
In real life, I only have a pool of maybe 15 or so 10 year olds (for example) I can ask if they actually read Harry Potter, as opposed to watching the films and enjoying the merchandise. (Films = good, later books = far too long.) OTOH, I know a lot of adults IRL who read HP. They're not active in fandom, they're not fanficcers, and they couldn't give a stuff about HP fansites. Harry Potter books are, for them, sheer escapism and a bit of fun ... and something you'd keep in the bookshelves in the hall or the study, not in the loungeroom.
*****
More Harry Potter - article on Yahoo.
Even after the last Harry Potter book is released in July this year, "a thriving genre of Potter fan fiction remains, with readers not waiting for "Deathly Hallows" to imagine how they would continue the story.
"We already do have stories like that, called `Post-Hogwarts,'" says Jennie Levine, a reference librarian in Baltimore and co-founder of the Potter fan fiction site, http://www.sugarquill.net. "