From: June Cummins <jcummins>
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 16:06:36 -0800 (PST)

I'm a professor of children's literature who has taught close to 700 students over the last 3.5 years. Most of my students enjoy almost all the books they read for my classes, with a few notable exceptions (books that certain students did not like at all for some reason or another). I taught Harry Potter for the first time last week, and it is very clear to me that my college students adored this book, and it's not because of the media attention. Granted, they are adults, and they may be responding to Harry Potter for different reasons than kids do, but they are even more inclined to resist bandwagon responses, and they could not. I have never had such an overwhelmingly positive reaction to a book, and I have taught some great books. I trust the kids who have in some ways created the Harry Potter phenomenon on their own. I believe they are by and large
"honest" readers.

Jennifer, could you tell us why you don't like the books? I'm not baiting you; I think it's a good idea for all of us to think critically about Harry Potter.

June Cummins
_______________________________________________________ June Cummins, Assistant Professor Department of English and Comparative Literature San Diego State University jcummins at mail.sdsu.edu
Received on Mon 08 Nov 1999 06:06:36 PM CST