Background Material in HP

[voicelady_2000]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C4670
From: voicelady_2000
Subject: Re: Background Material in HP
Reply To: [Yahoo! #4622] Re: Background Material in HP
Date: 7/20/00 8:28 am  (ET)

<<I'm going to step in for the pro-background camp. I do agree that most
people have read the first three books. But the background serves not
only to introduce new readers to situations and characters, but also to
remind those who haven't picked up an HP book for several months.>>

I am also very predisposed to background information. I recently finished
a series of books by David Wingrove - the Chung Kuo books. (absolutely
fascinating for anyone who'd like to take a gander - pure SciFi)
Anyway, he always wrote, not a chapter, but more of an introduction,
that was a synopsis of what has happened in the entire story up to
that point. I always found it very helpful because it encompassed every
book that preceeded it. And it was encapsuled in only one section, so
it could always be very easy to skip over. Also, these books had casts
of thousands, so a list was always included explaining who's who and
their relationships to each other. I would imagine that most kids would
appreciate explanations of this sort if they're not reading these books
one immediately following the next.