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Harry Potter
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From: Robin Smith <smithr>
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 07:36:15 -0600
I teach new readers (aged 7-8), some of whom are remarkably engaged with all three of the books. It is not unlike their obsession with Pokemon; they want to quantify the book: "I am on page 181 of the third book!" and "You pronounce her name "Her-my-oh-nee," not "Hermone." There's a lot of competition among the children and their parents to have read the different books. It is a bit like being in a fraternity
(or how I suppose a fraternity to be) where the children who cannot read the book feel like they are on the outside looking in. I have seen this happen with a number of books over the years of teaching various grades, but the publicity and attention have added to the word-of-mouth that usually pushes book reading. (I see this every year when I read The Wizard of Oz and Stone Fox; they become instant favorites...for a few weeks at least.) Whenever a book becomes the "in book," it has a life and life-cycle of its own. After a strong burst of life where every self-respecting child had a hardback copy of the first book (whether they could read any of it at all), we have moved into a time where the children say things like,
"I think I will take a break from Harry Potter and let my mom read it to me." I welcome this return to earth, because my new readers were acting as if there were exactly three books that were worthy of their attention and the three books were by J.K. Rowling...and my new readers really could not read the books. I assume these children will meet Harry again
(and again and again) as they become more sophisticated readers. I belong to a book group and another parent was SHOCKED when I said that I would not be reading Harry Potter aloud to my class. She made me feel like a traitor to reading. I explained that I usually try to read books that most second graders might be able to pick up and read right after I read it aloud. I liked the three volumes fine, but I have to choose my read-alouds carefully. I also pointed out that it would take weeks to read a HP book and I could probably read four or five other books in that time. Also, most of the kids had heard or read the book, heard a lot about the book or were trying to read it themselves. It didn't seem to need the push of my reading it aloud. In the time it might have taken to read HP, I was able to read The Animal Family, The Trolls, Dr. Dolittle and many, many picture books. Thanks for the thoughtful conversation.
Robin Smith Ensworth School Nashville, TN
Received on Mon 08 Nov 1999 07:36:15 AM CST
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 07:36:15 -0600
I teach new readers (aged 7-8), some of whom are remarkably engaged with all three of the books. It is not unlike their obsession with Pokemon; they want to quantify the book: "I am on page 181 of the third book!" and "You pronounce her name "Her-my-oh-nee," not "Hermone." There's a lot of competition among the children and their parents to have read the different books. It is a bit like being in a fraternity
(or how I suppose a fraternity to be) where the children who cannot read the book feel like they are on the outside looking in. I have seen this happen with a number of books over the years of teaching various grades, but the publicity and attention have added to the word-of-mouth that usually pushes book reading. (I see this every year when I read The Wizard of Oz and Stone Fox; they become instant favorites...for a few weeks at least.) Whenever a book becomes the "in book," it has a life and life-cycle of its own. After a strong burst of life where every self-respecting child had a hardback copy of the first book (whether they could read any of it at all), we have moved into a time where the children say things like,
"I think I will take a break from Harry Potter and let my mom read it to me." I welcome this return to earth, because my new readers were acting as if there were exactly three books that were worthy of their attention and the three books were by J.K. Rowling...and my new readers really could not read the books. I assume these children will meet Harry again
(and again and again) as they become more sophisticated readers. I belong to a book group and another parent was SHOCKED when I said that I would not be reading Harry Potter aloud to my class. She made me feel like a traitor to reading. I explained that I usually try to read books that most second graders might be able to pick up and read right after I read it aloud. I liked the three volumes fine, but I have to choose my read-alouds carefully. I also pointed out that it would take weeks to read a HP book and I could probably read four or five other books in that time. Also, most of the kids had heard or read the book, heard a lot about the book or were trying to read it themselves. It didn't seem to need the push of my reading it aloud. In the time it might have taken to read HP, I was able to read The Animal Family, The Trolls, Dr. Dolittle and many, many picture books. Thanks for the thoughtful conversation.
Robin Smith Ensworth School Nashville, TN
Received on Mon 08 Nov 1999 07:36:15 AM CST
