Changes in Vocabulary

[joym999 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 16275

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer <pennylin at s...> 
wrote:
[but before that someone else wrote:]
> > Though these books have become universally loved by adults and 
children I wonder a
> > bit if they would have achieved such success if JKR had not been
> > willing to bend a bit.  Would US children have enjoyed the books 
as
> > much from the start if they had had to puzzle out many unfamiliar
> > words even as they were struggling to read in the first place.
> >
> If they're struggling to read at age 9-12, the American education 
system
> is in far worse shape than I thought.  I'm not downplaying the slow
> learners or anything.  But, the vast majority of American children 
in
> the 9-12 age group (the "alleged" target audience) can read.  

Actually, loathe as I am to disagree with Penny (Please excuse me, 
Your Moderatorness), there was an article in yesterdays newspaper 
that the latest study shows that only one-third of American fourth-
graders (age 9-10) read at grade level, one-third have LESS than the 
most basic level of reading skills, and the other third is somewhere 
in between.  So, I think we can safely say that most 9 - 12 year olds 
probably dont read well enough to read the HP books, and it is 
actually only a small % that have read them.  After all, despite the 
millions and millions of HP books that have been sold, probably fewer 
people have read an HP book than have watched an episode of Survivor 
on TV.  Depressing, no?

So, I can sort of see Scholastics point of view, except that I think 
they are far more concerned with making the books marketable than 
making them understandable.  They probably thought American kids 
would be turned off by books that sounded excessively English, since 
some of the changes clearly have nothing to do with comprehension.  I 
mean, its one thing to change *jumper* to *sweater* but changing 
*mum* to *mom*?  


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    /   \       Joywitch M. Curmudgeon
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  "How come the Muggles don't hear the bus?" said Harry.
  "Them!" said Stan contemptuously.  "Don't listen properly, do 
they?  Don't look properly either.  Never notice nuffink, they don'."

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