From: Deborah Hopkinson <hopkinda>
Date: Mon, 08 Nov 1999 14:35:49 -0800

Well, another outvoted party checking in. Kathleen asks us to share reactions from children. I only have two kids, though next year I hope to include a Harry Potter in my children's literature class to get my college students' reaction. But I have to say in our house HOLES has been far more popular than Harry. I enjoyed the first Harry book and read half of it to my reluctant reader 13-year old, but when he showed resistance to finishing, we switched to HOLES, which he loved, as did my daughter. They just weren't grabbed the way most kids have been I guess.

Having just spent a weekend fruitlessly trying to find any bookstores that bothered to stock or even knew the names of the finalists for the National Book Award for young people, I am still waiting to be convinced that Harry is going to have a magical "spillover" effect on other contemporary children's literature. I think it's great that kids love these books but I just hope the "phenomena" doesn't hurt other truly inventive titles like HOLES.

Deborah Hopkinson Whitman College
Received on Mon 08 Nov 1999 04:35:49 PM CST