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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hmmm.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As a bibliophile my entire life (I grew up across
the street from the public library. the children's librarian still refers
to herself as my second mother, i moved in every summer <g>), I've been
very interested by the topic.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>IMHO, it comes down to the parents. I'll cite
catherine's example, how she got her step-gdaughter reading instead of listening
to the CDs. (and props for that!) My mom let us watch movies, sure,
but she read to us every night before we went to sleep. dad got in on the
game once we got old enough for the laura ingalls wilder books (he'd had them
read to him in school). this is one of my favorite childhood warm fuzzies
-- curled up in bed with mom and dad trying to squish themselves in the corners,
all of us reading some cheesy golden book out loud together. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When my sibs and i got older, we'd get sent across
the street and told we weren't allowed back in the house til we'd picked out a
book to read. this started out happening weekly and by the time i was
seven or so i was devouring a book a day. (chapter books, mind you, not
justpicture books...i've turned into an incredibly fast
reader.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>my entire family reads. My brother, who has
ADD and thanks to athsma medications is usually bouncing off the walls, actually
got thru jon krakauer's "into thin air" in less than a month -- he nearly gave
up several times, and every time he tried, one of my parents was standing there
saying "but you really wanted to read this" -- and he'd turn right back around
and dive in.; you should have seen his face when he finished -- you'd have
thought he'd climed everest himself <g></FONT></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>make a long story short (too late? <g>) it's
all about the influences that are there. my parents are the reason i read
the way i do. i bet most of us were introduced to reading in much the
same way. the only way to combat "aliteracy" is to promote literacy, of
any sort, using whatever tools are available. to be honest, i'm sure there
will be plenty of kids who would be content to just see the movie. but
then they're gonna want to know what happens next, so if they haven't read books
2-3-4 yet there's a good chance they'll pick it up, especially if a friend or a
parent is encouraging that...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>so here's the encouragement.; everyone bring
your books to the movie premier. nitpick and mention loudly all the cool
stuff that didn't make the movie. (i hear groans already, but you know
there's gonna be *something* left out, there always is. JKR just has soo
much stuff squished in there!) if each of us gets one kid in that theatre to go
back and (re)read the books then we're making headway.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>abbie, who has been studying for finals all day and
suspects her brain is turning slowly to mush.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><A href="mailto:starling823@yahoo.com">starling823@yahoo.com</A><BR>69%
obsessed with HP and loving it<BR>"Ah, music," Dumbledore said, wiping his
eyes. "A magic beyond all we do
here!"<BR> -HP and the
Sorcerer's Stone</DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
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style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:insanus_scottus@yahoo.co.uk"
title=insanus_scottus@yahoo.co.uk>Scott</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
href="mailto:HPFGU-OTChatter@yahoogroups.com"
title=HPFGU-OTChatter@yahoogroups.com>HPFGU-OTChatter@yahoogroups.com</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, 14 May, 2001 5:32 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [HPFGU-OTChatter]
Aliteracy--various rants--why I'm not British</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><TT>ME A BRIT?<BR><BR>Amy thought I was British! I don't know
whether to be amused or <BR>delighted or horrified! ;-) I assure you I'm an
American, though <BR>Anglophile wouldn't be stretching it I'm certainly not
British. (My <BR>friend predicted I was really a stalker of Brits since I seem
so <BR>infatuated. UK list members beware! BWHAHAHAHA!!!);-) In fact I've
<BR>never even lived outside of NC; visited lots of other places, but a
<BR>tarheel at heart! <BR><BR>The fact is my Yahoo page is set on UK and so it
gave me a .uk email. <BR>It was sort of a mistake.<BR><BR>ALITERACY<BR><BR>I
love this list! The one thing I cannot imagine living without is <BR>books.
Take away all modern media even (gasp!) computers, but never <BR>books. I took
a technology class once (big mistake) and the teacher <BR>would go on about
the best invention ever being some integrated <BR>specialised super computer
chip, and I was like uh, no books are the <BR>best thing
ever....obviously!<BR><BR>Some of my earliest memories come from my
mother reading the <BR>classics to me. If she had just popped in a video tape,
well thank <BR>goodness she didn't, because I probably wouldn't be here typing
right <BR>now. (Some of you may be wishing I wasn't, but I for one am
<BR>thankful for finding this group and HP!)<BR><BR>I'm still really wary of
condemning movies though, because they can <BR>be quite a stimulating piece of
visual art. Like Amy I'm sure that <BR>this isn't the purpose of WB's Harry
Potter rendition, it's to make <BR>money of course, but once in awhile you run
across a wonderful movie. <BR>Once in awhile. I should also add that I rarely
go to the movies, <BR>just once or twice a year, so maybe I'm totally naive,
but I believe <BR>that movies can be good. <BR><BR>Most of you are also
completely anti-Disney, but I did grow up on <BR>their animated movies as my
main source of cinematic enertainment, <BR>and I don't think I'm worse for the
wear. I'm also not your typical <BR>example, I mean how many other 11-12 year
olds saw the animated <BR>"Hunchback of Notre Dame" (which was horrid) and
then went on to read <BR>Victor Hugo's classic. (Confession: I didn't read the
WHOLE thing <BR>but...)<BR><BR>I'd agrue that advertising and media are only
as influential as we <BR>allow them to be. Most children who grow up to love
reading weren't <BR>in homes that frowned upon books, some were and this only
encouraged <BR>them however I don't think that's the norm. It's about
imagination. I <BR>have an extremely active one, and I'd guess so do the rest
of you. <BR>What's there to imagine anymore?<BR><BR>Imagination is what dreams
are made of (old cliche I know but it'll <BR>do.) It's colouring in the black
and white, making the world come <BR>alive with the beauty that lives only
slightly below the suface of <BR>the ordinary "muggle" world. It's realising
that that world isn't <BR>ordinary at all. <BR><BR>Imagination is magic, and
for that matter so is reading.<BR><BR>Scott<BR><BR><BR></TT><BR><BR><TT>To
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