Who is this kid? What’s the big deal about a children’s book? He’s EVERYWHERE! What am I missing?
I could be wrong, but it’s possible that it is a well-written, interesting, popular series of books. If that is so, doesn’t matter so much whether it was originally conceived as a “children’s book” or not, as such attributes are just as important to adult readers. Heck, I just got myself a copy of The Children of Green Knowe, and that’s a “children’s book”.
smiles Go read it… its quite interesting and not just for kids… I’ve read all three and await the 4th book with anticipation…
But also this ‘kid’ is getting lots of kids to read now. Not very many kids actually sit and read books other then what is assigned in school… this one is interesting them enough to go and do that.
The Harry Potter books are real page turners…which is good, considering the new one is over 700 frickin’ pages…
I just wanna be a seeker on a quidditch team, but alas, I’m a Muggle.
I’m not the sporting type anyway Chief, but I’m a muggle-born myself. I do, however, have some “seeking” you can do…
If Piers Anthony and Beverly Cleary sat down together and wrote a book, it would be something similar to these books (with a little Terry Pratchett thrown in!) These books are wonderful. At first, I was afraid that it was all kid-hype (Pokemon, Goosebumps, etc) but I finally borrowed the first book from a co-worker and I loved it! They are very well written, the characters are deep and well-explored, the settings are descriptive and there is just enough magic and sorcery thrown in to add some mystery and intrigue. I highly recommend reading the entire series!
I read the first three last night, and enjoyed them a great deal. My nephew likes them enough to ignore Pokemon–what better endorsement could a book have? Seriously, they’re well-written and entertaining. They encourage kids to read, and to be open-minded.
I’d make a better Beater or Keeper than a Seeker, but, alas, I wasn’t picked…er, I mean, I’m a Muggle, too. Really.
They’re good! They’re well-written, they’re funny, and sometimes I’m consciously started at how smart they are - there is none of that condescension toward kid readers that are common. The characters are really well-drawn, too, I have genuine fondness for them.
By the way, I’ve already finished Goblet of Fire. Anyone else done with it yet? I’m kind of confused by something at the end, and I’d like to discuss it with someone else.
I heard that there are some people actually trying to play quidditch, on the ground. Sorry, Muggles, sounds silly.
However, I work in a bookstore. We ran out of #4 today. It was bad. It was very bad. However, the kids were pretty well-behaved. It was the adults whose behavior was so reprensible. Ugh, get a grip! You waited a year, you can wait another couple days!
(BTW, I dressed up as Professor Trelawney and gave the kids silly divinations. “I see…a very thick book in your future…”)
I hereby request, nay, beg that before anyone even attempts to discuss the ending or any other part of the fourth book (or the ending to the second and third) PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE preface your post with the words, “SPOILER ALERT” so the rest of us won’t accidentally read it and have to spend hours beating our heads against walls!! Thank you in advance for your courtesy!
I hate it when some smartass blurts out the end of a book.
I haven’t read any Harry Potter, but I love the series because my youngest son, who hates to read, has started reading Harry Potter from front to back with few breaks.I was leery when I saw that the latest is over 732 pages! I thought for sure that he would turn away without opening the book. His nose is glued into it as I type although he has complained about the long length of each chapter.
My standing ovation to the auther JK Rowling because my son now understands the pleasure of reading a damn good book.
“Ya know Mom, it’s like I am there standing besides Harry or I am inside his head …”
I think Harry Potter is just hype.
There are lots of books more popular with kids, but once a “phenom” hits the newspapers, the media feeding frenzy makes it take off, long before the kids catch on.
Books are sold to dealers and libraries, not individuals.
They want what will be hot next, not what’s sold before.
All the big numbers are pre-release sales.
Of course, a reasonable book will be bought if it gets start treatment in a window display, bought by parents, aunts and uncles hoping for a sure thing.
The kids don’t care. They would swoon over Tom Swift if he started appearing everywhere again.
Often, with children’s books the author feels s/he doesn’t need to bother with such things as a reasonable plot or deep characters. I’ve always felt that, just because you’re a kid, doesn’t mean you should have to read crap. That’s why I like Harry Potter.
HotMama, have you read any of the books?
Thanks everyone. I had seen a little blurb about the fourth book on the cover of USA Today, and how they printed 3.8 million copies just to handle the hype. Apparently stores are already selling out. Anyway…
I may just have to pick up the first book, and see what you all are so enthralled about. However, a little kid who’s a magician, and deals with sorcery isn’t exactly a Christian’s cup of tea. Then again, I’m sure to find the first book at the library, so I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about buying it.
Thanks again. Adam.
HotMama, so what if they’d swoon over Tom Swift? The fact that the Harry Potter series is getting millions of kids back to books and away from the Nintendo for a little while is great.
Now, I haven’t read the books. I know a few kids who have, though, and all I hear from them is that these books are excellent. Parents were standing in line at midnight this morning to buy the books. I say, cool! Better standing in line at a bookstore to buy a book than Pokemon.
Zion so you know it might take awhile to get it from the library… When I got the books from the library I was at about 120 or so on the lists… now for this one I’m number 725 on the list… Oy I’ll probably be able to buy the book and read it myself before I can get it from the library!
Read the books first, Zion, then decide whether or not it’s unChristian. It’s not like they’re running around calling on dark powers or anything; there’s a strong good vs evil theme all through the books, and good always wins. There are much worse thing to teach kids (and adults, too) than loyalty, courage, and self-sacrifice. I would think those are qualities that a Christian would approve of.
There really is more to these books than just hype. My mother (the elementary school librarian) mailed me a copy of the first one last fall with orders to read it. I hadn’t heard of it nor of any of the hype (pro or con) around it. I didn’t get around to reading it until December, then tore through it on a plane flight home. I went straight into the next two from there.
“Children’s books” or not, they’re well written, well thought-out, very creative, and extremely captivating. While I don’t have the money to buy the new one, I’m sure that I’ll spend a day on it in a bookstore as soon as they get them back in stock. Whenever I have kids, I bet I’ll be ordering the full set of the British version.
BTW, I think the second is my favorite of the first three. What do others think?
I’ve read the first of the Harry Potter books. While it’s a reasonably good book, I wouldn’t even put it in the top ten children’s fantasy series that I’ve read. I talked with people who knew children’s fantasy pretty well, and there were varying reactions. Some thought it would fit in their top ten list, but none of them rated it as the absolute best. On the other hand, one person who’d read a huge amount of children’s fantasy said that it wouldn’t even go into his list of the top thirty children’s fantasy series.
In general then, if you ask people who’ve read a lot of similar series, they would say that it’s pretty good, but a little bit overrated.
I usually read the book myself to decide wether it is overrated. I find the people who havnt read the books are the most likely to say: Its all hype" too.
I have read all three, and I enjoyed them very much. My son is half way throught the second one and likes them alot. I read ahead and then finished the third because it was slow going reading with him, and I wanted to know what happened.
If you will excuse me, I think I see the golden snitch!