From: Beth Grout <groute>
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 1999 16:17:10 -0500

This is my first posting to this listserv, so hello, everyone!

When I read (and enjoyed!) the Harry Potter books this fall one element in the book disturbed me a bit. I had no problem with the magic (viewing it as a fantasy metaphor for talent/skill and as just plain fun. However, I was unhappy to see Harry and a few of his friends seemed to think copying other people's homework was OK. The only objection was raised by Hermione, who won't let them copy from her and said "You won't learn anything if you do that." Hermione is portrayed as a bit too much of a goody-goody, though, so her words won't carry much weight with readers. I'm not happy to see the implication that cheating in school is OK, perhaps even cool. I work for a library services company (see my signature below) and don't have direct contact with young readers so I'm curious to see how people who work directly with children feel about this. Are children much influenced by book characters' attitudes toward cheating? Is this something that teachers and librarians are bringing up with kids when they discuss the Harry Potter books?

Beth Grout Collection Development Librarian Baker & Taylor, Inc. groute at btol.com
Received on Fri 05 Nov 1999 03:17:10 PM CST