Teachers & HP

[Mary]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "grindieloe" <andie at k...> 
wrote:
> I know this is OT-chatter, but I hope this is not TOO OT! 
> I've been noticing recently that many Harry fans happen to be 
> teachers! :)  I am a teacher (5th grade), and was wondering what 
> percentage of adult fans happen to also be teachers??? What other 
> professions seem to be high on the HP Fan list? 
> 
> grindieloe

Just a step sideways from teachers are the librarians - and there are 
many of us who are just wild about Harry on a couple of levels. If 
you watched the webcast of the Royal Albert Hall interview, it was 
profoundly moving to see children of all ages from all around the 
world telling Harry's story in their own words. Like our young friend 
Daniel Radcliffe, children who read Harry Potter often will move on 
to other works of literature.  That means they're showing up at the 
library eager for more to read.  Ya gotta love it!

As for being an adult fan, there is a simplistic beauty in children's 
literature that appeals to world-weary adults - who are constantly 
being told that they must read the critically acclaimed and trendily 
edgy to be considered intelligent. Harry has renewed my love for 
children's lit, and I have been re-reading some beloved favorites so 
I can recommend them to young patrons.  It is amazing how much there 
is to glean from these multi-layered texts once they are approached 
from the perspective of adulthood. I am far more in love with 
J.K.R.'s work as an adult than I could have been as a child, and I'm 
reasonably sure that I would have been pretty obsessed then! 

Mary, who is currently re-reading Madeline L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in 
Time" and having lots of fun drawing parallels between Meg Murray and 
Harry Potter.