From: Kathy Johnson <kmquimby>
Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2007 10:59:58 -0400

I agree with everyone about the widespread appeal that Harry Potter shares with Star Wars. However, one of the things that makes it different is that Harry Potter is first and foremost a book and I have witnessed first-hand it's effect on struggling readers. I will never forget this one boy in particular. As a second-grader he'd been a "big book" kid--checking out a book because of it's size. Reading was clearly a challenge for him. But through that year and through third grade he moved from easy readers to chapter books and then, one day, he returned Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the expression on his face said it all. Not only had he read the book and liked it, but he was now a member of "the club." He could talk about the books everyone else was talking about.

While I'm sure there will be other epics with widespread appeal, I wonder if there will be more books of this scope. The last author I know of with this kind of appeal is Dickens.

Kathy Quimby
Received on Mon 06 Aug 2007 09:59:58 AM CDT