Will everyone else who is NOT reading Harry Potter #6 please sign in? I tried love the books, but I wasn't able to get through the first one or the second one and when it came to the third one I didn't even try. I just don't like fantasy. Never have, never will. The list of fantasy books I've never been able to finish reads like a who's who of the genre. The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, The Narnia Series, The Redwall books, The Chronicles of Merlin, The Robert Jordan books. Nobody can say I haven't tired.
I buy them for my school library, I recommend them wholeheartly to the kids and I'm delighted that J.R. Rawling has made reading "cool". I think there way to much hype and that some parents have turned the books into the Cabbage Patch Dolls for the new millennium. "See what a good parent I am, I stood in line at midnight to be sure little Madison (who is all of 4 years old and really prefers GoodNight Moon) had a copy on the first day". But such is life.
But every now and then a child returns Harry and when I ask what they thought of it whispers "I didn't like it". And I whisper back "I didn't either". And both of feel like we are no longer "the only ones".
5 comments:
I'm not a fan of Harry Potter, not because I don't like fantasy, but because I think they're not that great. They've got some clever gimmicks, but that's about it. I might feel differently if I was reading them as a 4th grader.
That said, Guusje, I'm totally crushed that you couldn't get through the Narnia books. The series is one of my annual re-reads, ever since I was given the set as a gift on my 8th birthday (thanks again, Dad!).
I'm not reading Harry Potter. I tried (as a teacher, I feel I have to read anything I would consider putting in my classroom library), but I had a hard time with it. I just am not a fan of fantasy.
I do see, though, that I'm one of only 2 commenters. I wonder if that means everyone else will be reading it? :) Keep on bloggin'!
count me on the non-reading team....it's the fantasy issue. Of course I'm glad eveyone is reading....something!!! VB
I have neither read Harry Potter, nor seen the movies. I don't like fantasy either, and haven't read any of the books/series that you mentioned. While I think that it is good that kids are reading Harry Potter, I think some have taken it to such an extreme. And there are some kids that I'm not sure are even generalizing their love for reading Harry Potter to reading other books and other genres. They are only reading Harry Potter.
I read about half a page of a Harry Potter book, and thought it was so badly written and screaming for an editor that I couldn't stand it. This kind of fantasy is not one I find the least bit engaging, to put it mildly.
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