Harry Potter

[Cassie Wilson <cwilson2@KENT.EDU>]

    To the L_M netter who asked why there is so much hoopla about the
Harry Potter books, I'd say, that's a good question.  As has been said,
they are enjoyable, fun, and well written, and Harry is a nice boy.
Maybe this is just the beginning of the next craze (since horror is
supposedly fading, thank goodness) and is popular just for the novelty
to most people.  I'm only disappointed that it didn't happen for one of
Diane Wynne Jones' books which so deserve all the acclaim they can get.
I think the reason that she isn't more popular is that her science is
almost too hard for kids to understand, yet grown-ups won't read her
because her books are classified as children's books and are about
children.
    I see Jones as more than a children's author (even without those
suggestive YA things she's writing now), more than a fantasy writer.
She has extraordinary plot, very, very believable characters, and
outstanding writing style, so simple yet so smooth.  Where does she get
her ideas?  Howl's Moving Castle  is my favorite (don't be put off by
the cover), but Dogsbody, Eight Days of Luke, The Ogre Downstairs, Witch
Week, Charmed Life, The Nine Lives of Christopher Chant, Tales of Time
City, Castles in the Air, and Fire and Hemlock  are outstanding, too.
    There are plenty of plots as good as Harry Potter's, but if you
haven't read them, his is new to you.  Some of us are already used to
the ways of wizards and don't find them as diverting.  Harry is a nice
character, though, a cheerful lad who has a tough inner core and takes
what comes without question.  I think his foster family, instead of
being gruesomely cruel, are comic:  I loved the mention of his birthday
presents being only an old pair of his uncle's socks and a clothes
hanger!  And the giant adds his bit of humor.  I'll definitely recommend
the book, but not as the best fantasy I've read; no hoopla for me.

Cassie Wilson
Lowly Graduate Student
Kent State University, LSIS
cwilson2@kent.edu

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