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Harry Potter and the List of Best Sellers
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From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 17:17:36 -0500
We hope we've given those of you who are planning to read "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the newest book by J.K. Rowling, plenty of time to read it in the two months since it's been published.
If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, you may want to bow out of this month's discussion so you won't come learn something about the plot or a character that you don't want to know before you read the book.
We do ask that if you engage any discussion of the book's resolution or other aspects which may spoil the surprises in the story for other readers, you begin your subject line with the word SPOILER.
To begin with, I'd like to raise the issue of what's happened with the New York Times Best Seller List this summer. As you probably know, the first three books have occupied the top spots on the best seller list for quite some time, with no sign of letting go of their positions. At the time the fourth book came out, the NYT announced they were going to create a separate list for children's best sellers.
NYT claims they did this to give increased visibility to children's books, however, many people suspect they acted in response to pressure they were feeling from the writers and publishers of adult books who wanted them to free up the four spots on the adult best seller list that Harry Potter had staked out.
There's a very interesting commentary about this in a recent Salon.com article called "A List of Their Own," which can be read on the web at: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/08/16/bestseller/index.html In addition to giving us a bit of the story behind the story, reporter Kera Bolonik also interviewed several professionals in the children's book world to ask them what they thought of the NYTimes decision.
We want to know what YOU think? Do you like the idea of having a separate best seller list for children's books or do you feel children's books are being slighted by not being able to compete with adult books?
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 05 Sep 2000 05:17:36 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 05 Sep 2000 17:17:36 -0500
We hope we've given those of you who are planning to read "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the newest book by J.K. Rowling, plenty of time to read it in the two months since it's been published.
If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, you may want to bow out of this month's discussion so you won't come learn something about the plot or a character that you don't want to know before you read the book.
We do ask that if you engage any discussion of the book's resolution or other aspects which may spoil the surprises in the story for other readers, you begin your subject line with the word SPOILER.
To begin with, I'd like to raise the issue of what's happened with the New York Times Best Seller List this summer. As you probably know, the first three books have occupied the top spots on the best seller list for quite some time, with no sign of letting go of their positions. At the time the fourth book came out, the NYT announced they were going to create a separate list for children's best sellers.
NYT claims they did this to give increased visibility to children's books, however, many people suspect they acted in response to pressure they were feeling from the writers and publishers of adult books who wanted them to free up the four spots on the adult best seller list that Harry Potter had staked out.
There's a very interesting commentary about this in a recent Salon.com article called "A List of Their Own," which can be read on the web at: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/08/16/bestseller/index.html In addition to giving us a bit of the story behind the story, reporter Kera Bolonik also interviewed several professionals in the children's book world to ask them what they thought of the NYTimes decision.
We want to know what YOU think? Do you like the idea of having a separate best seller list for children's books or do you feel children's books are being slighted by not being able to compete with adult books?
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 05 Sep 2000 05:17:36 PM CDT
