[HPforGrownups] Re: Final thoughts on Harry surviving....

[Maeg]

No: HPFGUIDX 171643

On Jul 11, 2007, at 6:35 PM, bgrugin wrote:

> MusicalBetsy here:
> I understand exactly how you feel, Geoff.  In the US it has been the
> same - many more boys AND girls are reading than before, and it's been
> great to have a role model like Harry.

Unfortunately, the facts don't entirely back up this commonly-held  
opinion. According to a New York Times article:

"But in keeping with the intricately plotted novels themselves, the  
truth about Harry Potter and reading is not quite so straightforward  
a success story. Indeed, as the series draws to a much-lamented  
close, federal statistics show that the percentage of youngsters who  
read for fun continues to drop significantly as children get older,  
at almost exactly the same rate as before Harry Potter came along."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/books/11potter.html? 
_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

While I'm happy with any book that encourages a kid to read or set  
foot in a bookstore or library, we shouldn't overstate the effect the  
Harry Potter phenomenon has had.

To get back to the main point of the thread, I find it difficult to  
believe that JKR would kill off Harry. Personally, I believe I could  
find it a satisfying ending and eminently logical (not that I want  
poor Harry to die!). But JKR's too savvy to do something this brutal  
to her franchise. It just doesn't fit with the way this children's  
series has been written.

I'm much more afraid of her killing Snape or Lupin (two of my faves).

Maeg
My mind isn't always in the gutter -- sometimes it comes out to feed.