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Is Harry destined to become a classic?Oct 29 '00 Write an essay on this topic.First, let me say that at my new middle school library, I have two copies of each of the four volumes of Harry Potter. And not one copy has rested on the shelves for more than a day at a time. In a district where literacy scores are consistently low and I struggle daily to cultivate and maintain students' interest in reading, this clearly illustrates exactly how popular these books are. The key word here being are. I was more than a little skeptical of the "overnight" Harry Potter sensation (and in fact only just read the series after the fourth book was released). The whole thing seemed like nothing but the result of a mammoth Disney-esque marketing scheme. And, I admit, I usually recoil from such instantaneous megasuccesses, fearing becoming another lemming in the crowd. I'm glad that this time my curiosity got the better of me. I'm a huge fan of children's fiction (important, since familiarity with it is an integral part of my job). Is Rowling the best author I've read? I would have to say no. But have I read many authors who were able to so completely draw me in emotionally that I would gladly plunk down twenty-five bucks in a heartbeat just so I could find out what happens next? No, not many (Philip Pullman is the only recent contemporary that comes to mind). The characterizations are realistic, the stories are heroic, moral, and spellbinding (no pun intended), and everything is liberally seasoned with a dash of humour. Simply - very good reads. But are children's motives for reading the series the same? Are they drawn in simply because it's popular - because all their friends have read it, and they'd feel left out if they haven't? Kind of like a Pokemon of the book world? It is a possibility. I'm not inclined to think so, though. I mean, the fourth book was a whopping 734 pages long - not a task that would likely be carried through on the whim of a trend. So will these books pull in new readers fifty years down the road? Not with the intensity that they do today. But if the children of today have been as emotionally invested as I believe many of them been, they'll probably read the books to their children, who will in turn embrace them, and so on and so forth. True affection by many for a book makes for endurance. Endurance builds a classic. I think Harry Potter is as likely a candidate for the title as any.  |
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