Sherry Chandler

Is our kids reading (Harry Potter)?

Possibly. But Harry Potter may be all they’re reading:

Of all the magical powers wielded by Harry Potter, perhaps none has cast a stronger spell than his supposed ability to transform the reading habits of young people. In what has become near mythology about the wildly popular series by J. K. Rowling, many parents, teachers, librarians and booksellers have credited it with inspiring a generation of kids to read for pleasure in a world dominated by instant messaging and music downloads.

And so it has, for many children. But in keeping with the intricately plotted novels themselves, the truth about Harry Potter and reading is not quite so straightforward a success story. Indeed, as the series draws to a much-lamented close, federal statistics show that the percentage of youngsters who read for fun continues to drop significantly as children get older, at almost exactly the same rate as before Harry Potter came along.

,,,some researchers and educators say that the series, in the end, has not permanently tempted children to put down their Game Boys and curl up with a book instead. Some kids have found themselves daunted by the growing size of the books (“Sorcerer’s Stone” was 309 pages; “Deathly Hallows,” will be 784)

The same thing happened to Stephen King when his books became tremendously popular. They got longer and longer and, to my taste, duller and duller. Of course, it’s possible that I just grew up.

I haven’t read the first page of a Harry Potter book, but Eyewear has read “a secret copy” of the new one:

It may be a fake. It is over 600 pages long, though - if the author isn’t J.K. Rowling, they’re a fanatic with too much spare time (perhaps incarcerated).

…

Rowling herself has said that “two characters” die in the book - and a billion trees will have been murdered to publish it. In the interests of a Potter-free footprint, don’t buy the book, borrow it from the library… or better still, make up your own story, and hum it to yourself quietly.

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