Posted by Mike Dennis on September 28, 2003 at 09:42:16 from 195.92.67.75 user MTD.
In Reply to: Harry Potter posted by John Nichols on September 27, 2003 at 23:39:21:
There are two issues here to me.
First, spelling - the old debate between USA and UK spelling, which by many in the UK is just a simple matter of the 'USA getting it wrong' which only goes to show how ignorant some people can be of their own language. The best book on the subject is Bill Bryson's 'Mother Tongue'. Now, I don't think there is any problem with taking a book written in UK English and publishing it in the USA changed to USA spelling; where I have a problem is books published in the UK by USA publishers and they don't bother to change them - are they really telling us that they know the average American is not capable of seeing the difference but the average UK reader is? If they are, then it is a sad comment on a nation.
Now, Harry Potter. I saw the first film before I read the book, and I was glad I did as the book (unlike Ransome) did not convey the idea of places or characters. Bloom is half-right, Rowling's English is not good in places (nor is mine but I have no pretensions of being a published author). I am surprised by your comment John "why take the mickey out of an author who tries hard" because children deserve the best, we have all seen celebrities in other fields writing a book for children as if it is an easy alternative to being a 'real' author. I'd rather children read well-written, well-plotted books than second-rate attempts. To me that is one of the things about AR, and why (see my other contributions to this thread) he doesn't need Disneyfication or being turned into a marketing object like Beatrix Potter.