Harry Potter ... love it or hate it?

Is Harry Potter a good thing for today kids

  • Yes, I love it!

    Votes: 48 57.1%
  • No I hate that little brat

    Votes: 11 13.1%
  • I dont really give darn!

    Votes: 25 29.8%

  • Total voters
    84
  • Poll closed .
/walks away from that one

=| lol, how do you miss that connection?

I was friends with Remus/Dobby and Bellatrix/Magorian on here for around a year before they quit and I never really thought about why their names sounded familiar either. >.> Funny I never think about names coming from books considering where my name came from.

Yes I'm blond what of it???? /cry
 
And Gene, I'm happy that you found a way for your daughter to get over her ADHD. I'm tired of seeing the Ritalin babies that America is riddled with. If your daughter really has the disorder and not just too much sugar (99% of diagnosed cases imo are bad diet and bad parenting, which I'm sure isn't the case with you and Apoc), it's wonderful you can get her to sit down and read.

I agree Lexi is actually on Conserta (once a day Ritalin). I made her suffer with it for 2 years before we made the decision to put her on the medication. Its a proud moment when your child goes from D/F grades to A/B grades and is now on the honor roll. Some kids need it some kids are misdiagnosed.

And also maybe I should have reworded the pole a little better. The main frustration I feel is the media saying the books promote magic and witchcraft.

Since when is it wrong for kids to believe in magic? Since when is it wrong for them to imagine that they can fly or that they are mermaids?
 
Since when is it wrong for kids to believe in magic? Since when is it wrong for them to imagine that they can fly or that they are mermaids?

Wow how boring would childhood have been without all of that fun stuff to imagine?
 
You're not Vil, you can't use signs.

*hits you with a lightning bolt*

On a serious note, I hope that Harry Potter will be looked at in history as a positive thing that changed society for the better. So far it looks as though that may happen, I just don't want HP to become some kind of cult BS religion. *coughscientologycough* People running around in wizard cloaks waving wands at people hoping they'll fly seems a little scary to me. ;_;
 
The thing that bothers me about the Harry Potter Hype is that people react to the series like it was the only Fantasy Series for children.

Narnia Chronicles anyone?

Also, I'm annoyed that phenomenon has caused an explosion of fantasy series for children for a generation who say things like they hate reading and they hate school. When I was growing up, there wasn't the same selection for children's series. You had the classics, such as LOTR and Narnia, but the only series we had was Goosebumps (which got really old after book friggin 40) and the Babysitter Club, as well as a bunch of other girly girl series that spun off from the same thing as Babysitter's Club.

This is not to say that all children right now hate reading. Just from what I've observed, I hear a lot of younger people say they hate to read, and they hate going to school. I love reading, and did a lot of it over my childhood. My mom taught me to read at a young age, and I was addicted to library time ever since. If it wasn't for University, which has dampened my spirit on reading, I'd read a hell of a lot more than I have in the last four years.

I am also not suggesting that there weren't any good books during the time I was growing up. I just find it frustrating that they have it so good right now in terms of fictional books and series. Bah!
 
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The only book that children should be reading is the Bible! Anything else is the work of the devil.
 
LOL!! Sorry this struck me as VERY funny because I read the Drizzt Do'Urden books in middle and high school, along with almost all of the Dragonlance books (that were out by that time). I read the Wheel of Time in high school and a bit in college.

Now that I'm in my mid/late 20's I'm reading the Harry Potter books. ;)

I guess it's just the mood you're in at the time. I may have to look up the Deathgate Chronicles since it's the only set on your list I haven't read lol.

Yeah kinda ironic I guess, but the age you read a book doesn't determine the age a book is directed at.

Also, to the OP: This is a fantasy game forum, did you really think anyone here would think the books are bad for kids?

The thing that bothers me about the Harry Potter Hype is that people react to the series like it was the only Fantasy Series for children.

Narnia Chronicles anyone?

At the risk of sounding hypocritcal due to my first post in this thread, THANK YOU! for bringing up The Chronicles of Narnia. Those were my absolute favorite fuckin books as a kid and I still love em. Hell I watched the original Narnia movies when I was a kid. Yeah, betcha yall didn't know this most recent movie wasn't the first did ya? They made almost all the books into movies like, 20 years ago or somethin. When I watched the recent movie I was judging it the whole time against the older movies and it held up really well, they did an awesome job on it. When they made the old movies they started in the order they were published and made up until The Silver Chair but they didn't do the last three, which sucks. I think the last few books (publication order) were the best. My favorite probably being The Magician's Nephew, because it explained how everything started, and then the last book telling the end of the story, fuckin epic... Wow, I haven't thought about these books in years. I really wanna read em now >< And I'm gonna! I even have the original paperback books, minus one >.>; But that's because I made the mistake of lending it to my brother a few years ago who lost em when his car got repo'd ; ; Fuckin ass. I'm definately gonna start reading em again tonight.

Hey speaking of the greatest books of all time: Ender's Game. Enough said.
 
THANK YOU! for bringing up The Chronicles of Narnia. ... They made almost all the books into movies like, 20 years ago or somethin.

The animated version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is still one of my favorites. I stole the entire series of books from my teacher when I was in 3rd grade; thankfully, I can afford to buy my own books now.
 
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There are soooooooo many books out there that are great kids books, but they don't have the big media hype machine behind them like Harry Potter so they get overlooked. Most of them predate HP by a wide margin. When I was a kid our school had a book club, you had to read a certain number of Newberry award books and write a brief review of each book. If you met the quota of books by the end of the year you got a trip to Six Flags. I found that was an awesome motivation to read, personally- I always had my quota of books done by Christmas break, lol. I read a shitton of books, all either Newberry winners or Newberry honors. That's a whole lot of good kids books. Some are fantasy stories that have been made into movies following the Harry Potter craze (though I doubt they'll keep the original ending to A Bridge to Terabithia, or at least I'll be VERY surprised if they do).

Everybody who says that kids books are dumbed down and Harry Potter is refreshing because it tackles harder issues; you've been reading too many Goosebumps. There's no way you could read a book like Where the Red Fern Grows and say that kids books don't tackle hard issues. The problem is that too many kids (and adults!) are inundated by shallow, vapid media, and it takes a good dose of media hype to get them interested in anything other that schlock stories. Harry Potter has gotten that hype, and while the stories are good, they're not the savior of America's youth either. I'm not sure how many kids will be encouraged to seek out other books beides HP, since those books don't have the hype and "coolness" factor. I'm sure that some kids will continue to read good books, but odds are a lot of those kids would have been reading anyway.

Harry Potter may serve to push a few kids into reading, but it's not panacea for America's youth. The best motivation for kids to read is always going to be the involvement and example of their parents. My mom is an avid reader (she seriously has a stack of books in her room almost as big as her dresser) and through her guidance and example I began reading at an early age. My daughter sees me reading all the time, and has already begun to learn phonics and read simple words a full year before starting Kindergarten.
 
I <3 the books and the movies can't wait for the next. Just wish she didn't kill off the story.
 
The animated version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is still one of my favorites. I stole the entire series of books from my teacher when I was in 3rd grade; thankfully, I can afford to buy my own books now.
have to agree here I loved that show. Also loved the public television version that use come on as a kid.
 
The animated version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was one of my favourite movies as a child. I bought the DVD around a year ago. Definetly brought back memories
 
Why is this thread getting so derailed? >.>

Harry Potter yo!
 
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