Harry Potter fanfiction and literacy around the world

[Tim]

most people will admit that the harry potter books aren't good literature, that the only possible benefit is that they get kids reading some books as with dropping literacy in the UK, more and more adults haven't ever read a book in their lives!!!

Welcome to The Sugar Quill

here we have a site that deals in fanfiction in the harry potter universe. whilst theres no originality, at least a large group of people have started writing, whether it be because they like the characters and world, or whether it be to improve what they see as rubbish or inconsistent.

there are a surprisingly large number of harry potter fan fiction websites out there. i'll let you decide. are they there for the love of the world or to "fix" what they see as bad implementation?

 

[Tom]

LOL what happened, Someone Close reading Fantasy? I know you're not found of such quibble. It's ok, It'll pass. LOL

 

[Tim]

it came up again, about Rowling and her cash. it's surprising how public opinion is swaying in the UK over this.

the same people, over time are gradually coming to the same realisation i made upon reading the books, watching the scene and the effect on my own kids age group.

a rough summary on the timescale of what i hear is :

1) it gets kids reading, its all good
2) i keep hearing more and more people knocking the literacy of the books
3) the kids aren't reading any other books

at which point people are maybe starting to realise what i point out. that it's become a fashion accessory for school kids. then when they've read them, the literary style didn't impress them into reading other books, so kids lose out

if you give your child a food item that isn't cooked properly, or tastes "off" they will never eat it again for the rest of their life probably. i see the same thing happen here with reading


so, when half the votes above so far are from people just wanting their kids to read, no matter what, i believe that the literary style of the books will stop kids reading in future. it's a commercial phenomenon, not educational. maybe more emphasis with our kids should be on where the writing style has gone wrong, how could the kids make it better, give them examples, get them interesting that way. like the websites we find with fanfiction writers writing new stories in the HP universe or simply correcting the mistakes they believe exist in the current commercially available ones