From: Holly Sanhuber <HSanhuber>
Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 19:08:04 -0500

DWJ has also used the orphan/mistreated child theme throughout her work, e.g. EIGHT DAYS OF LUKE, DOGSBODY. Indeed, the theme of the betrayal of children by adults in whom they should be able to trust, e.g. LIVES OF CHRISTOPHER CHANT, DROWNED AMMET, is the norm. Happy families, e.g. A TALE OF TIME CITY, ARCHER'S GOON, are far more rare. Her work is peopled with nasty adults whom the reader is forced to take seriously, as they have true power over the children they menace, power given to them by children hungry for love and acceptance. In contrast, I found the swinish Vernon and Dudley Dursley music hall?hl characters, who were so broadly drawn, and so humorously distasteful that they had no power to menace Harry P. at all. He ignored them, as they richly deserved, and they did not scar him, as Jones's children are scarred, - or haunted. Holly

Holly Sanhuber, Director MUSKEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY W182 S8200 Racine Avenue P.O. Box 749 Muskego, WI 53150 414g9A20; FAX 414g9A23 e-mail: hsanhuber at ci.muskego.wi.us
Received on Mon 24 May 1999 07:08:04 PM CDT