From: Kathy Isaacs <kisaacs>
Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 09:23:30 -0500

When I read this book aloud to my sixth graders last year they never wanted me to stop. They loved the humor. They loved the quidditch scenes. And most of all, they loved the characters. They recognized them clearly, and spent a happy two hours on a long van ride home from a camping trip casting their own version of HP number 1 entirely from members of the class. Hermione IS a goody-goody, but also appreciated for her expertise and organization, as was the student they placed in that role, who was flattered to be so identified. Bumbling Hagar is partially a physical type, but the student who took that role on saw his friendship and loyalty as important strengths of his own. Etc.
     This year 12 of my 14 had read at least the first of the books on their own and most have read or are in the process of reading 2 and 3. They did NOT want to hear a Harry Potter in class (their choice, instead, was Joey Pigza) but they are eagerly preparing to make a Harry Potter quilt and all have favorite scenes they can hardly wait to start transferring to stitchery
(which we have to learn first). The vividness of these pictures in their heads (without benefit of movies or elaborate illustration) is another testament to Rowling's writing skills and the appeal of the books to the former non-reader. My sixth graders often come in to the class as
"pronouncers," capable of naming the words on a page but not making sense of them at the same time. We talk a lot about the movie good readers make in their heads as they read a novel, and I encourage them to visualize the setting and the characters, to internalize the story as well as to think about what might happen next and why things happen. Rowling makes that easy for her readers to do.

Kathy Isaacs Edmund Burke School kisaacs at mindspring.com
Received on Sat 06 Nov 1999 08:23:30 AM CST