The Obligatory Harry Potter Post

Yeah yeah yeah, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows launched this week. No, the bitterness isn't because of anything particularly HP-related... I've read the first few books, and they're fun. I have nothing against the boy wizard.

My complaint is about the sheer amount of hype that this installment created. As an advertiser, my hat goes off to it, of course. But as an advocate of children's literacy, I'm a little more torn.

I agree with the viewpoint that I've been hearing about how this series is getting kids to read... for fun. Fantastic.

But my concern is getting kids to read for reading's sake, and I'm not convinced that Harry Potter is doing that. I'm impressed that any book could become the Next Big Thing for kids, but I wish there were more focus on the joy of the story. Border's gave out free posters and other wizard swag. Bookstores hosted midnight launch parties. Scholastic announced an unprecedented print run of the book. Kids across the nation (world?) raced one another to finish the book, to be the first with the answers... to not be left behind.

I hope that when the buzz dies down a little, we start to hear about the kids who really enjoyed reading the book-- not because of the trend, but because of the tale. Though many articles are springing up about reluctant readers who love the HP series, if kids are only glomming onto the books because of the hype, can that translate into lifelong readership?

What I worry about is that we're feeding into the modern kid's "entertain me!" complex instead of encouraging reading for its other benefits. For many I believe the actual conclusion to the Harry Potter series was secondary to the whirlwind that they were sucked into, a whirlwind that's bound to die down until the next movie releases. J.K. Rowling's real gifts to literature were worlds each child could create, characters they could relate to and care about, a series to follow because it was engaging and imaginative. I hope those gifts will still be meaningful to young readers.