From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Tue, 09 Nov 1999 13:25:58 -0600

Maia, thanks for such a great explanation of High and Low fantasy, and how magic is used in each one. Your comments were extremely helpful to a realistic fiction buff like me.

I suspect that the fantasy level in Harry Potter will move from low to high as the books progress, and I first got this inkling of a suspicion in Book Three, when things that occurred in this latest volume were foreshadowed in Book One. I have a hunch that things which may seem insignificant or arbitrary in Book One will be revealed to be important in later books, that Harry's strong sense of responsibility, as described so aptly by Maia in talking about High Fantasy, will come into the picture later on. Having only read the first three books, I get the strong sense that Harry is in training now for some task he'll have to perform in the last volume.

So, for now Harry does indeed seem to have won "the lottery of life" as Maia put it, but I think we'll find out more as the story progresses, that we'll learn that there is an underlying significance to elements that look like window dressing now. Children with whom I have discussed the books are already onto all of this, speculating about Harry's future and wondering, for example, why Harry's scar throbs when he first sees Professor Quirrell in Book One and wondering why Voldemort is after Harry in the first place ? something children will discuss endlessly.

I think we need to keep in mind that Harry's story isn't finished yet. One of the most interesting things I've heard the author herself say about the books is that she considers them not a series but as one long novel, broken into seven parts for the reader.



Kathleen T. Horning (horning at education.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 Tue 09 Nov 1999 01:25:58 PM CST