Book differences

[Joyce Curry]

No: HPFGUIDX 40251

"Rosie" asked if any Americans were offended when Scholastic changed the
title of the original book.

 I don't remember there being any mention in the press about the changes
until after the book had been out a while and was proving to be very
popular.

On a personal note, I remember when I read The Sorcerer's Stone the
first time, I was confused by the reference to "chip bags" instead of
"crisp bags".  I am a serious watcher of BBC shows on PBS and A&E and
any where else I can find them.  I know that potato chips are not called
that in "British".  It took a couple of on-the-spot rereadings to
realize that potato chips were in those bags and not french fries (as I
so lovingly call fried potatoes). I also noticed that the book kept
mentioning sweaters instead of jumpers.  These were the two changes that
I noticed in my first reading of the American edition.  They bugged me.
I then went on a search for information and discovered the title was
different for the British edition.  Then I got annoyed.  I was
determined to get my hands on British editions of the books.

The summer after we purchased our copy of The Sorcerer's Stone, my
daughter and I took a trip to England.  We spent an entire afternoon
going into every single bookstore on Charing Cross Road looking for the
Philosopher's Stone in hardcover.  We couldn't find it.  The Prisoner of
Azkaban had just been published in England (but not the States) and
Philosopher's Stone was only readily available in soft cover.  We bought
Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban from stores in London but I
finally had to order Philosopher's Stone from a bookstore in York.  They
got it for us in two days.  Imagine an American bookseller getting a
custom ordered book in two days.  My daughter and I (and my mother and
father) read all three books in just a few days, on trains, buses, while
waiting in lines.  (It is difficult, but not impossible, to sight see
and read at the same time.)  After reading The Philosopher's Stone, I
got angry.  The differences between the American editions and the
British editions were more substantial than I had realized.  Since then,
I NEVER read the books in the American editions.  When Goblet of Fire
was published I ordered it from a British bookseller.  I intend to do
that with all subsequent books.

These books are British books and I do not want to read Americanized
versions of them.  JKR wrote them in a particular way.  They are based
on a certain way of life, of looking at the world.  The references to
British life and language are part of what I and my children love about
the books.  It is insulting to believe that children can not adapt and
learn new ways to learn a language they may think they already know.   I
know that my children have certainly expanded their vocabulary by
reading the books in the British edition.

Joyce


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