Posted by Pam Adams on September 15, 2008 at 16:05:23 user PamAdams.
In Reply to: Re: Magic that books give us posted by Mike Dennis on September 13, 2008 at 15:22:45:
I have been a science fiction fan for years. I found the Rowling books reasonably enjoyable, other than a slight tendency to 'repeat' issues. (Example: in both Chamber of Secrets and Half-Blood Prince, the device of Harry finding and using magic that he shouldn't be trusting is used) I think that they are as good a path as any to lead children to reading.
Anne Fadiman writes in an essay in Ex Libris, that when she comes into a house where the parents are readers, 'books stacked on the coffee table, by the bed, on the toilet tank, she knows what she will find behind the door marked 'Grownups Keep Out,' a child reading.'
I don't have children of my own (the dogs and cats refuse to learn to read), but my observation of my nieces shows that book and story hunger comes in many forms. My younger nieces (ages 16 and 12) are into 'anime'- Japanese style animation, set primarily in fantasy worlds. They not only devour the books, videos, and comics, but participate in conventions, where they often pretend to be their characters, with complex and primarily home-made costumes. They have even started writing their own adventures, something that many of us have done in the SA universe.
pam