[HPforGrownups] Barnes & Noble Online HP course and HP guides

[heidi tandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 57837


AJLBoston wrote: 
> So I found out that this link for a free online
> course:
>
http://educate.barnesandnobleuniversity.com/educate/bn/home/catalog/ov
> erview.jsp?productId=7940&userid=2UPN50Z1VG&nhid=bn
> 
> which requires this book: Beacham's Sourcebook For
> Teaching Young 
> Adult Fiction: Exploring Harry Potter
> by Elizabeth D. Schafer, Elizabeth D. Sullivan 
> 

And asked about other books about HP, then inquired: 
> Are there any
> comments on these 
> guides by people on this list?
> 

Ah, the Schaffer book. (*and, as an aside, they're
still teaching that class? Look at the first
announcement of it, from 2 years ago, here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/5947,
and announcement of the second round of it here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/12850*)

I'm not sure the book's been updated since the summer
of 2001, when it was first published, but it didn't
initially have anything on GoF in it, because it was
written to come out at about the same time.

And well, it's a pretty mediocre book. My first review
is here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/1655
and my second review (of the book, not just the GoF
analysis which was then available online) is here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/1927.
Also, you can read Penny Linsenmayer's review of it at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/12725,
Steve Vanderark's review at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/12728
(that's Lexicon Steve, of the Much More Comprehensive
Lexicon (http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon) which
is a more comprehensive guide to the Potterverse than
the Schaffer book). 

A scattershot slew of comments are also available
here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/messagesearch/5644?query=schafer
Galadriel Waters is a semi-oldbie from
alt.fan.harry-potter and you can read a large number
of her posts there using this link:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=author:dragonpath%40netscape.net+

Now, a bit of Just IMHO:
I don't understand why people buy the
analysis-of-HP-books (in contrast to the literary
theory-focused ones like The Ivory Tower & Harry
Potter or Roger Highfield's wonderful book about
science and magic) when there's fascinating discussion
of the HP books here on HPfGU and elsewhere, like
FictionAlley's message boards
(http://www.fictionalley.org/fictionalleypark/forums),
and the Lexicon, and the HPfGU FAQs
(http://www.hpfgu.org/faq) which provide a great cross
section of information and the theories which have
bubbled up on this list over the years. 

Why pay for someone to provide you with an analysis
that you can get online, for free, in a participatory
fashion? Answers to OTC, please. 

Anyhow, hope y'all had fun in this trip into Fandom
History! It's a place of deep mysteries and mists of
time...

heidi