Yeah, well I thought he did Chamber of Secrets 'til I went and looked it up.

He does get credit in all of the movies since they use the themes he wrote for the first one, like "Music: John Williams; Original Score: Whoever Else."

I found it quite interesting that Narcissa didn't give Harry up. Instead of putting her "faith" in Voldemort she was more worried about her child. Kind of a nice change for the Malfoy's.

Maybe it's just me, but I didn't find the book too predictible, especially the end. I didn't expect DD to tell Snape that Harry had to die and Harry to walk up to Voldemort and "give" himself up.

Remember though, these are technically "children's books", she couldn't have thrown all those twists and turns we adults like because kids wouldn't have been able to either A) handle them or B) understand them (developmentally).

There's definitely a running theme of the strength and depth of a mother's love through the series, which makes sense as JK had two (I think? maybe all three?) of her kids while writing them.

does anyone else think that the Harry Potter series, particularly book 7, is a good way of introducing kids to the Holocaust?

I don't see HP 7 as a children's book. I think the age of the reader grew with the volume of the book. Book 1 and 2 are more geared to a child reader, but as the story progressed, I think you can safely assume the targeted reader has aged and thusly, can handle a more complex story. My son was in 3rd grade when HP debuted. He is a senior now (18 and a bit behind in credits :), and HP 7 is here. It makes sense for HP7 to be for him rather than my 3rd grade grandson.

I have a fear that the movies are going to slow the enthusiasm of for reading the books of the next "generation". I tried to get the 3rd grade grandson to read HP1 and he declined "I saw the movie already". Yes, but the book is SO much better.

No.

It's a fantasy story with a happy ending. Not something I would use to introduce the topic of genocide, but YMMV.

what does ymmv mean?

Your Milage May Vary :)

But they technically are. At our bookstores, HP is in the Children's book section, not young adult and not adult, children. The age level is probably 5-8th grade. Remember though, that other countries take education much more importantly than the United States does. So children in England could find these books quite appropriate for them. (If that makes sense at all).

I can say that at my school, the kids reading Harry Potter, would only be the 7-8th graders and then on the ones who actually read at grade level, which lowers that amount significantly, as most of our kids don't read on grade level.

HP7 would probably be a YA book if the rest of the series wasn't on the kids shelves. The books do progress in depth, subject matter, and danger which gives a nice continuum. I would have been one of the young kids reading it if it had been out back then, but I was (am) a huge reader.

WOW! That little outburst was uncalled for! My post was directed at everyone who felt it 'necessary' to but their super-extra spoiler protection to their post. Personally, if people want to bitch and moan about reading spoilers they preferred not to in a thread specifically marked "Spoilers" its their own fault.

Well... I think it's kind of strange that you're re-reading it so soon after finishing. I know that I would not be able to focus fully on the book if I did that, and probably would do the same as you. Why are you re-reading? Just to catch things that you missed? Or because you just enjoyed it so much the first time?

I know that I re-read OoTP about three months afterward, but that was mostly because I read it really super fast the first time while on vacation and I found that I had missed some important things!

I just heard that some people's books are missing pages 371-402. There would have been a real issue in this house if our books were missing pages!

I would tend to agree, especially if one means reading the books and then saying "now, let's talk about the Holocaust."

However, in the best tradition of fantasy, myth and fairy tales, these stories do portray the best and the worst in people, and life and death, in a way that helps kids start to get a handle on them. They do lay some groundwork, so to speak.

Her oldest daughter was already born when she started writing the series, but her other two children were born during. She said in one interview, that if she saw a boggart, she would see what Molly Weasley saw -- her own children dead.

Also, her mother died (of MS at age 45) while she was writing Book 1.

I wasn't expecting that either, but when I got to it, I felt like slapping myself on the forehead. She said back in 2000 that she was glad no one had quizzed her too closely on her religious beliefs, because then they'd see where the books were headed.

At the core, the books are about the power of love, and "greater love has no man than this, that he lay his life down for his friends."

A mere technicality. I think because they started out as children's books, publishers have mistakenly left them in that category. Harry, himself, is no longer a child and neither are his initial fans. But, alas, how often we humans prefer the comfort of our old ways rather than forging newer, more sensible ones.

My sister told me of a woman who shut herself up in her room, ignoring her husband and children for days until she realized 30 pages of her book were missing. After a strangled yell, she ran downstairs, ripped open a backup copy that had arrived by UPS, and went back upstairs to keep reading. (No, I don't know who she was or how my sister found out about it, but I was appalled all the same).

I don't know, but I was under the impression that the person who came into magic late in life was Kreacher. He finally accepted Harry as his master and, in that turn, was able to clean and cook just as magnificently as other houselves. Must've been some magic there that he had been witholding ever since losing Mrs. Black as a mistress.


Okay, does anyone else find the timestables of these books rather cool? For instance, that Harry was born so many years ago (about 1980), being older than many of us who read about him, and the series itself ending far into the future(about 2016)? It's kind of comforting for me to know that JKR made it a point to not let the presence of magic be bound by time...like this series and, magic in general, doesn't begin and end in our realm...it's timeless and continues on...I liked it.:o