From: Anne Oelke <cflibrary>
Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 16:27:45 -0500

I've noticed that this is a genre that generates strong emotions by readers. Love/Hate and not a large middle ground. As the mother of two boys (now young--well not so young--men), many of my forays into Science Fiction and Fantasy and many of the variations and permutations thereof were a result of their enthusiasms. They began reading the Xanth series by Piers Anthony in 2nd and 6th grades followed by Terry Brooks and many others. Their cousins in the same age bracket (both male and female) also loved these. They all grew up to be engineers of one flavor or another. Hmmm--is there a connection? The enjoyment of science and math, love of logic etc. seems to be common among the students I see enjoying Tolkien, CS Lewis, J. K. Rowling, Brian Jacques etc. I'm not saying that there is a connection, just that these are things I've observed.

I too have seem some 2nd graders reading, understanding and loving Harry Potter. I've seem some older students who simply have no interest. The one thing that I have noticed is that post-HP there are far more readers of sci-fic and fantasy. It's now cool to read these genres. There are also a lot more of these books being published as well.

Anne Oelke Library Media Specialist, pK-12 Cambria-Friesland School District 410 E. Edgewater St. Cambria, WI 53923-1000 mailto:cflibrary at cf.k12.wi.us
Received on Mon 08 May 2006 04:27:45 PM CDT