Yvonne - yes, she did say children are better off not reading them etc. etc. But she prefaced the comment with "I think". Then went on to justify why she thought so. I don't see why that should get up anyone's nose. If she had said "I think..." and then gone on to say that she thought the moon was made of cheese would people have become so impassioned?

So what if she holds that opinion? I also teach university lit. students and I encourage them to read HP. To engage with this topic I would also say "I think..." and then list my reasons. We'd almost certainly then rigorously debate the conflicting points of view. Which surely is the purpose of a forum?

But personal invective? What purpose does that serve except to expose meaness of spirit?

And Pericles, I can't see any examples of her telling people they are wrong. She merely gives her reasons for her opinion - which may conflict with other peoples' but certainly doesn't threaten them or their parenting skills in any way.

After all she doesn't propose banning the books, or punitive measure for parents who disagree with her. I see no evidence either of beating people around the ears with her opinions. She backs up her statement with both researched and personal opinions. Those who disagree - as do I and, it appears, others - are thus implicitly invited to retaliate in kind.

Name-calling and personal denigration? Hell, one doesn't have to have a degree in Literature - and thus the human condition - to interpret what such tactics reveal about those who employ them.

Where did I go wrong? Am I a bad parent?

I read to my children each night starting from about 10 months, (as well as getting up to change nappies, and then going to work at 6 AM).

They now read everything from Shakespeare to Steinbeck, but I do allow them to read for fun. So at 1 minute past 9 I had to have them at the bookshop to get the latest copy of Harry Potter.

Odd how most of the other children there were girls, and many of them were dressed up as Harry Potter. Perhaps the author does not like the fact that so many girls were reading about a boy.

I do think the series should end, or perhaps it should have ended sooner, perhaps after 3 – 5 novels. It has become rather commercialised.

But the series of books did give children something to become interested in and excited about, and when reading the latest book, each child knew that millions of other children were also reading that book, and nearly at the same time as them

Is poor unfortunate Violet Baudelaire on the hit list too?

Has anyone had the heart to inform Lemony Snicket that the thirteenth may never come?

Yvonne,

I don't know if Charles Dickens was considered too popular at his time, but during Shakespeare's period, the audience and the actors were much more closely engaged than
in the theatre today. As any actor will tell you, every audience is different - and during
a performance of Shakespeare the action or the text would change accordingly. If the audience were particularly roused by a fight scene, the scene would be extended and another part of the play cut; I imagine there would have been considerable ad-libbing if a a courtship scene was preferred. It is quite possible that Shakespeare's own script changed as plays were performed. The superb works we have today may have been quite different than when he first wrote them.

During Patrick White's first production of "Night on Bald Mountain," the actors and director had a terrible time. The actors found some of the dialogue too difficult to present successfully, and the great master himself was not prepared to change any word. Eventually, some sort of compromise was reached, but not until many tears were shed.

I apologise, I've gone off topic. Two of my young grand-daughters are the same age, one is a prolific reader, reading 2-3 hours every evening - she has no interest in HP. The other grand-daughter's reading skills were so bad, we thought she might have dyslexia, but this proved not so. As her confidence dropped, her reading became worse. However, HP engaged her imagination, and consequently her reading greatly improved and with it her confidence - for that the family is grateful. She is now looking at books
she would never have considered before. I wonder at what age literary "discernment"
occurs