[HPforGrownups] Hogwarts Textbooks

[Ev vy]

No: HPFGUIDX 28427

From: <linman6868 at aol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 4:08 AM


> Questions:
> 
> 1. If you were writing a wizarding textbook, what would yours be called, and 
> what would your pen name be?  (You can write several; heck, Lockhart did.)

This is hard, so I will use something I devised for my fic. My pen name would be Ivy Mann-Draik, and probably I'd write on the use of various ingredients in potion making and my correspondence with Professor Snape would be profuse. On the other hand I'm quite interested in Dark Creatures and I would really like to write something like "Liber Monstra" and destroy all the stereotypes about werewolves with help of Professor Remus J. Lupin. *wiknks*

> 2. Do you suppose the Hogwarts textbooks are like ours nowadays, with chapter 
> units and comprehension questions, and an annotated teachers' edition?  Or 
> are they different?

I was wondering once if they were printed or hand-written and if they were on paper or parchment. Definitely handwritten on parchment would be too expensive for the majority of wizards (I bet Draco would have such text-books if they were available), but they would just fit into the wizarding world.
However, I should think that they are really enormous volumes, written with academic purposes rather than usual school-books.

> 3. How do you think the choosing process works at Hogwarts?  Obviously, 
> Lockhart was able to demand that his students buy all his books, but surely 
> other professors, such as Snape and Sprout, would have to coordinate their 
> choices?  Does Dumbledore have a say in it?

I'd say that the set of the books has been the same for years. Well, at least those books which don't need to be amended remain as text-books. And I would opt that it's the Ministry for Magic that is responsible for choosing text-books. It's not said (I think) that Hogwarts is the only school in UK, so if there are more, they should be having similar curricula.
They made an exception for Lockhart because he's so famous, there was no doubt in his abilities so his books were considered to be a proper source of knowledge.

> 4. Wizards seem to write their books based on field experience.  Are there 
> fields in which one doesn't need experience to compile a textbook?

Books dealing with basics wouldn't need to be written by someone having much experience. Like with basics of spells or transfiguration. I bet that Hermione would be able to write a book for the first-year level about spells or transfiguration. 

Ev vy
Slytherin by Sorting

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's nothing level in our cursed natures
But direct villainy.
      William Shakespeare "Timon of Athens"
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