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Harry Potter, Harry Potter
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From: becky mcdonald <beckymcd>
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 23:38:35 -0600
Friends on the CCBC-NET,
Most of you (the participants on the ccbc-net) are so intelligent and eloquent that my opinions vascillate about many of the topics discussed, depending upon whose discourse I have read last! However, when lively discussions about children's literature turn into attacks about religious beliefs and who is or is not narrow-minded, NEITHER side is persuasive.
I adore reading everyone's opinions on this unique discussion group when the tone remains professional.
Now, back to Harry Potter. I have especially enjoyed the message from Kris Adams Wendt, with her thoughts about the similarities of HP and "switched at birth" tales, as well as the idea of Hogwarts School as a metaphor for modern life. And, I appreciated the subsequent message from Ginny Cruse citing favorite passages in the books. I totally agree with her choices.
As for my own comments about HP, I am reminded of a "Peanuts" cartoon (from at least 35 years ago) where Lucy, Linus and Charlie Brown were lying in the grass looking up at the sky. Lucy asks Linus what he sees in the clouds, and he says that some clouds look like a map of the British Honduras, another cloud resembles the profile of Thomas Eakins, and yet another cloud group reminds him of the stoning of Stephen with the Apostle Paul standing to one side. When Lucy asks Charlie Brown what he sees in the clouds, he replies that he was going to say he saw a horsie and a ducky, but he changed his mind!
My "horsie and ducky" comments: I see Harry Potter as a Cinderella story for boys--and girls love it, also. And can anyone imagine a more magical or unlikely place than a school where the infirmary nurse forces chocolate on ailing children to give them strength?
J. K. Rowling has given us wonderful escape literature which also teaches lessons. I am not an expert on children or literature, but my own child grew up wearing a homemade wizard's cape, carrying a glittered wand, living in a fantasy world. She is now a responsible, non-Muggle, conservative--BUT fun-loving--twenty-four year-old adult.
Becky McDonald beckymcd at camalott.com
Received on Tue 30 Nov 1999 11:38:35 PM CST
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 23:38:35 -0600
Friends on the CCBC-NET,
Most of you (the participants on the ccbc-net) are so intelligent and eloquent that my opinions vascillate about many of the topics discussed, depending upon whose discourse I have read last! However, when lively discussions about children's literature turn into attacks about religious beliefs and who is or is not narrow-minded, NEITHER side is persuasive.
I adore reading everyone's opinions on this unique discussion group when the tone remains professional.
Now, back to Harry Potter. I have especially enjoyed the message from Kris Adams Wendt, with her thoughts about the similarities of HP and "switched at birth" tales, as well as the idea of Hogwarts School as a metaphor for modern life. And, I appreciated the subsequent message from Ginny Cruse citing favorite passages in the books. I totally agree with her choices.
As for my own comments about HP, I am reminded of a "Peanuts" cartoon (from at least 35 years ago) where Lucy, Linus and Charlie Brown were lying in the grass looking up at the sky. Lucy asks Linus what he sees in the clouds, and he says that some clouds look like a map of the British Honduras, another cloud resembles the profile of Thomas Eakins, and yet another cloud group reminds him of the stoning of Stephen with the Apostle Paul standing to one side. When Lucy asks Charlie Brown what he sees in the clouds, he replies that he was going to say he saw a horsie and a ducky, but he changed his mind!
My "horsie and ducky" comments: I see Harry Potter as a Cinderella story for boys--and girls love it, also. And can anyone imagine a more magical or unlikely place than a school where the infirmary nurse forces chocolate on ailing children to give them strength?
J. K. Rowling has given us wonderful escape literature which also teaches lessons. I am not an expert on children or literature, but my own child grew up wearing a homemade wizard's cape, carrying a glittered wand, living in a fantasy world. She is now a responsible, non-Muggle, conservative--BUT fun-loving--twenty-four year-old adult.
Becky McDonald beckymcd at camalott.com
Received on Tue 30 Nov 1999 11:38:35 PM CST
