There’s been no denying the impact that the Harry Potter book and movie series has had, especially on younger generations. From the first time that the phenomenon was noticed, there were many who said that it would have a positive impact in that it would encourage children and teenagers to read.
Well, that doesn’t really seem to be the case:
Of all the magical powers wielded by Harry Potter, perhaps none has cast a stronger spell than his supposed ability to transform the reading habits of young people. In what has become near mythology about the wildly popular series by J. K. Rowling, many parents, teachers, librarians and booksellers have credited it with inspiring a generation of kids to read for pleasure in a world dominated by instant messaging and music downloads.
And so it has, for many children. But in keeping with the intricately plotted novels themselves, the truth about Harry Potter and reading is not quite so straightforward a success story. Indeed, as the series draws to a much-lamented close, federal statistics show that the percentage of youngsters who read for fun continues to drop significantly as children get older, at almost exactly the same rate as before Harry Potter came along.
But the question that nobody asked in the wake of all those children lining up at Borders for the debut of the latest Harry Potter novel is whether this was a true revival in an interest in reading or just another example of a pop phenomenon akin to American Idol.
Well, this little ditty would seem to answer the question:
Before she discovered Harry Potter, Kara Havranek, 13, spent most of her time romping outside in Parma, a suburb of Cleveland, or playing video games like Crash Bandicoot.
But four years after struggling through “Sorcerer’s Stone,” Kara has read and reread all six books, decorated her bedroom with Potter memorabilia and said she could hardly wait for “Deathly Hallows.”
But although Kara said she has enjoyed other books, she was not sure what lasting influence the series would have. “I probably won’t read as much when Harry Potter is over,” she said.
Speaking from experience, I can honestly say that anyone who thought that Harry Potter alone would make kids who are otherwise interested in surfing the Internet or playing video games interested in reading really doesn’t understand anything at all.
Harry Potter didn’t exist when I was a kid. Yea, there was stuff like The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew if you were into that stuff, which I wasn’t, but there wasn’t any popular kid-oriented book series out there.
And yet, I was an avid reader from the time I was a child, and I still am. I’m convinced that the main reason for that was because my Mom read to me all the time. And then, when I was older, the one thing I’d always want as a gift was a book. When I was in high school and college, I read books that weren’t assigned to me at a rate that amazes me at this point. And I still read to this date.
The point is this. A love of reading isn’t something that can be created by a boy magician. It’s something that only a parent can engender.
July 10th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
I completely agree… I’ve always been a voracious reader, from the time I was a young child. I attribute it largely to my parents reading to me when I was young, and to seeing them read so much as I grew up.
When I was 5, and in kindergarten, I pestered my teacher mercilessly… “When are we going to learn to read”, I’d ask, probably on a weekly basis. Eventually I got fed up, and taught myself to read from the books my parents had read to me so many times that I had them memorized…
By 1st grade, I was reading my brother’s college textbooks, and the newspaper. I didn’t really understand anything, but I just enjoyed reading the words… Because I could
July 11th, 2007 at 3:16 am
I had a similar childhood to Doug and Brad. I was reading before first grade, with the encouragement of my parents and grandparents. I also read because of their example.
My mother was not as much of a reader as my father, who read voraciously, though mostly schlock fiction. When I was a teenager, he came across a collection of Franz Kafka short stories I had been reading and he looked at me as if I had just got off a spaceship from Mars.
During grade school, we were given the opportunity to order books monthly from Scholastic (the same publisher that now has made billions from the Harry Potter series). Most of the kids in my class bought one or two books. The nun at the head of the class always knew when my order was being removed from the shipping boxes, because it piled up higher than all the others put together — I usually bought 15 or 20 books per month. And I read them all.
Those habits remain lifelong. I had to move to Charlottesville because I no longer had room in my Arlington apartment for my books; I needed a house to hold them.
I feel sorry for children who do not learn to read for pleasure, because they become adults whose intellect is stunted and whose spirit is deflated.
July 15th, 2007 at 10:50 am
[...] days ago, I linked to and wrote about an article that concludes that the Harry Potter series has had no significant impact on the reading [...]