I was doing some surfing last week in advance of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I came upon an interesting detail on Amazon.com. They have several different versions of the book for sale including the standard edition, a deluxe edition, large print, audio book, and a “library binding.” Because I was bored, I clicked on the “library binding” edition to see if there was any difference from the standard book. It didn’t appear to be all that different except it seems to be a little more heavy duty to take the pounding that popular library books often receive. But one thing that caught my eye was that Amazon listed the reading level as 9-12 years old. It got me to thinking about the idea of a 9 year old reading the Harry Potter books.
Then Cassie, Lily, and I went to the bookstore on Wednesday night and I found the whole Harry Potter series for sale in the children’s section near the Sesame Street and Clifford the Big Red Dog books. I found it strange that these books would be for sale in the section devoted to children in elementary school, preschool, or younger.
Cassie and I talked about what age would be appropriate for a child to read the Harry Potter series. The books have grown increasingly darker and more mature dealing with issues like torture and death on an increasingly regular basis. Then there is the fact that magic is used throughout the books, and that a younger child may not be able to understand the difference between magic and wizards & witches in fiction and magic and wizards & witches in real life. Cassie and I agreed that our children should be at least middle school age (sixth grade or older) before they read the books.
I guess I’m looking for some input from other people. Do you feel that Harry Potter is okay for children 10 and under? Are we being too strict or are we not being strict enough? I would appreciate any insights you may have.
Please note, I don’t wish to hear radical responses from my fellow evangelicals that believe Harry Potter is the devil and anyone who reads the books or watches the movies is going straight to hell. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien both used magic in their fiction writing and they both were devout and outspoken Christians. If magic is good enough for C.S. Lewis, it’s good enough for me.
I don’t know what was going on with me last night, but I was overwhelmed with a need to go to bed about 7:30 last night. Normally I can go a whole day on six hours sleep with no problem whatsoever, and the night before I actually got a little over seven hours of sleep. I don’t know what brought it on. I did have a busy day at work, but it was nothing that should have made me this tired. I hope I’m not getting sick.
In other news, Cassie went to the doctor and was diagnosed with tonsillitis and was put on a heavy dose of antibiotics. She’s doing much better now, actually she’s doing too good. I woke up from my slumber last night at 10:30 and she was cleaning like a madwoman. It was like Monica from Friends had moved in to our apartment when I was sleeping.
Cassie and I did go to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last Thursday. It was really well done and I was very happy. My only complaint was that the movie’s pace was a little too fast. It’s a very long book and they squeezed it into a 2 hour and 18 minute movie. They still hit all of the high points and told the story, but it went by too fast.
I have read the seventh Harry Potter book once already, and I’m re-reading it again right now. I wonder if I can count it as two books for my new year’s resolution to read at least 30 books this year?
I haven’t really been that busy, so I guess there’s no excuse for me to have taken over 10 days to post something here.
I’ve just finished reading through the first six Harry Potter books in anticipation of the upcoming release of the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Cassie and I are also planning to go to see the movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this week, but that’s up in the air as of now.
Why is it up in the air? Cassie is really sick and has been for several days. She’s been running a fever and has a really sore throat. Last night she was burning up and running a temp of over 103, but she was shivering like it was 20 degrees in our apartment. I was a little nervous because she was feeling so strange. I didn’t know what to do to help her, so I just prayed for her and asked God to do what I couldn’t. It seemed to help because she calmed down and stopped shivering severely. I just talked to her a while ago and she said she was feeling better today, but she’s still home from work today resting up.
In other news, my manager told us last week that he is transferring to another site within our company at the end of the month. I was surprised by the news, but even more surprised when he recommended that I apply for his job. I’m waiting to hear more about the possibility, but it could end up being a very good opportunity for us. Plus, I would get to hire and train my replacement which I think would be very cool.
We signed up for Blockbuster Online over the weekend because we realized how bad television is during the summer. Plus we rarely make it out to the movies anymore, so this will give us a chance to get caught up on many movies that have come out since Lily was born.
Last thing for today, go out and buy the new album by The Rocket Summer, Do You Feel, which comes out today. It’s a great listen, plus Bryce Avary is really cool and has been struggling to make it for a long time. Support good music made by good people!
I like to read books, but sometimes I find any excuse to not pick up one of the many books that pile up on our coffee table. When the new year began, I made the pledge that I would read at least 30 books this year. I normally read almost that many books in a given year, so I thought I could do it. I even got a good jump start from this past Christmas when I received 4 books as gifts. It is now February 1st, one full month into the new year, and I have yet to finish a single book. I am not proud of that fact.
So I’m going to try to jump start my book reading today by installing a “Now Reading” section to my blog. You can track which books I have finished, which books I am currently reading, and which books I am planning to read. If you start to see the same books in the sidebar for a couple of weeks, you should leave me comments telling me to get off my butt and start reading.