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The House Elves
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From: Monica R. Edinger <edinger>
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 13:55:26 +0100
ccbc-net at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu writes:
This was one of the most unsettling parts of the book for me. We discussed it quite a lot last summer on Child_lit. I also followed a similar discussion at salon.com 's Table Talk. Today an African-American parent at my school started chatting with me about summer reading and wanted to know what I thought about Harry Potter IV. Then, without waiting to hear my response, she told me how much she liked it, that her son hadn't even read it yet (he's still on #3), but that she was especially intrigued by the house elves.
I read this book and discussed it a lot with adults (mostly on Child_lit), but have yet to have had many conversations with children about it (since it came out in the summer.) I was concerned that children would feel obligated to read it because of the hype and am very relieved that many of my new fourth graders are quite comfortable saying they hadn't read it. Some indeed are reading it over and over, but many are totally disinterested. And I've heard nothing from kids about the house elves. I think it interests them a lot less than all the other dramatic action in the book. However, it does interest me a lot.
So I'd love to know more about reactions to the house elves situation. There were so many things going on there: Hermoine's overly-serious(or is it?) concern while Ron and Harry could care less. The house elves' dialect. Whether we in the US read this very differently from those in England and what Rowling's intent was given her own British heritage.
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Fri 15 Sep 2000 07:55:26 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 13:55:26 +0100
ccbc-net at ccbc.soemadison.wisc.edu writes:
This was one of the most unsettling parts of the book for me. We discussed it quite a lot last summer on Child_lit. I also followed a similar discussion at salon.com 's Table Talk. Today an African-American parent at my school started chatting with me about summer reading and wanted to know what I thought about Harry Potter IV. Then, without waiting to hear my response, she told me how much she liked it, that her son hadn't even read it yet (he's still on #3), but that she was especially intrigued by the house elves.
I read this book and discussed it a lot with adults (mostly on Child_lit), but have yet to have had many conversations with children about it (since it came out in the summer.) I was concerned that children would feel obligated to read it because of the hype and am very relieved that many of my new fourth graders are quite comfortable saying they hadn't read it. Some indeed are reading it over and over, but many are totally disinterested. And I've heard nothing from kids about the house elves. I think it interests them a lot less than all the other dramatic action in the book. However, it does interest me a lot.
So I'd love to know more about reactions to the house elves situation. There were so many things going on there: Hermoine's overly-serious(or is it?) concern while Ron and Harry could care less. The house elves' dialect. Whether we in the US read this very differently from those in England and what Rowling's intent was given her own British heritage.
Monica
Monica Edinger The Dalton School New York NY edinger at dalton.org monicaedinger at yahoo.com
Received on Fri 15 Sep 2000 07:55:26 AM CDT
