Potty for Potter

The final Harry Potter book has gone down a storm. Literally in some regions.

A lot of people don't like Harry Potter. Most famous critics of J.K.Rowling are A.S.Byatt and Harold Bloom, complaining her books are derivative and cliched. They may be true, but I don't mind. The thing that I like about Harry Potter is that it makes children excited about books.

You've seen the pictures by now. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of kids, lined up to buy the final book. When was the last time you saw that for a book? Perhaps Lady Chatterley's Lover, when the Great British public were last treated like children. Even though they may never go down as literary classics, the Harry Potter phenomena is a pleasing one because it could represent the first steps into the much bigger world than wizards and Hogwarts.

(I'd like to point out that my above point only applies to children. Adults reading Harry Potter (except for curiosity) are just weird. It's like wearing giant nappies. Fun perhaps, but not really dignified.)