From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Thu, 03 Jun 1999 16:19:55 -0500

Thanks to all of you who have gotten this month's discussion off to a great start with your comments about "Harry Potter." Whether one likes the book personally or not, one has to admit that it's a huge phenomenon in the world of children's book publishing, like nothing I've ever seen before in my 15+ years as a children's librarian. The success of "Harry Potter" reflects well on the world of children's books as a whole and I think that any book that brings positive attention to our field (and in more than one nation!) deserves a lot of credit.

Karen Simonetti posed some good questions several messages ago and I'm hoping someone from Scholastic will respond. Her questions were:

"How did this series get to be such a great marketing feat? Which came first? The books or the marketing blitz? And does it make a difference?"


Kathleen T. Horning (khorning at facstaff.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center University of Wisconsin-School of Education 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 608&3930 FAX: 608&2I33
Received on Thu 03 Jun 1999 04:19:55 PM CDT