The Harry Potter Phenomenon
Newspaper journalists and radio hosts often ask me what I think of the Harry Potter sensation. Many published authors, it seems, are resentful of the attention and the money that goes that way instead of into “literary” works. My response is: kudos to J.K. Rowling!
She has performed the Miracle of Miracles – getting kids to read. Not only getting them to open a book and absorb the words, but ridding our children of the notion that reading is for geeks and losers. In this age of video games and five thousand TV channels, in an age of increasing peer pressure among boys and girls to be “cool,” it is gratifying to see a line of kids outside a bookstore, eager to get inside and buy a book!
The Harry Potter fans of today are the literary readers of tomorrow.
image source: www.familyreading.org
