h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks Echo! Feeling much better today and back in work!
In terms of which books I'm reminded of for Harry Potter it would have to be either Enid Byton's Mallory Towers books or the Jennings and Darbishire books by Anthony Buckeridge (of course this could simply be down to having read the same books as JKR when I was a kid!)
I agree the catch up is vital when you're dealing with a series that could (and probably will) also be read as a stand alone but I just think the way she handles them is clumsy.
Also Star I'm not trying to pick holes (although JKR isn't one of my favourite children's authors though I'd love her money!!!) but how exactly has she modernised the boarding school genre? The Hogwarts world is still firmly in the fifties...perfect for escapist fiction but in today's world I'd expect to see a few more signs of today's information technology. There's no mention of computers, mobile phones or tv...even the Muggle world is free from MacDonalds and BSkyB or their ilk.

Ok, here we go, for what it's worth:

1) Start.
It's interesting that lots of writer's advice is to find a good "hook"; a start that will prevent the reader from putting the book down. JKR's start is:
"Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal."
On the face of it this enough to get every full blooded 11 year old in the land to put the book down but they didn't. "Privet" has a 1950s ring to my ears and that's where the book seems to hark back to - a time which perhaps contemporary grown ups feel was a nice time to be a child.
How ever the book is about a wizard and perhaps that was enough to get it read. Then once it became a cult read peer pressure meant that it could have begun with anything.
The rest of the first chapter sets up intrigue; What happened to his parents? What are all the wizards up to? Why is Harry special? etc.

2) Intrigue
This is continued and built on layer upon layer, bad guys to be sorted: "You-know-who", Dursleys, Malfoy & Henchmen. The train journey, the school, Snape, Quidditch, the stone and 3 headed dogs to be got around and so on and so on. There are insurmountable obstacles in Harry's way and the reader will be expected to want to find out how he does get around them.

3) Characters
The characters are numerous (see Echo's list). They all have easy to read suitable names to match their personality. I thought JKR was very good at this. The characters had just enough description, uniqueness and detail to place them in your memory. This was very well done.

4) Back story
As has been pointed out the boarding school setting has been done before and has also been pointed out; there is nothing new under the sun. It's a maxim in education to 'start at where the children are'. I think this probably holds true for children's literature. It needs to have a familiar ring to it; enough to make the reader comfortable and then take the reader to new pastures.
Charlie and the Choc. was rejected 7? times before being taken up for publishing - too weird I suppose.

5) Scary bits
Forest, corridors etc. These were well done and intriguing but not overly scary to modern kids.

6) Humour
The only bit that made me laugh was Dumbledore's answer to Harry's question: "What do you see when you look in the Mirror (of desire)?"
"A pair of thick woollen socks." But there were funny bits in there everywhere that would appeal to children. The sweets, moving pictures, animals. - Great stuff for kids to talk about - "which mascot would you have, a toad, owl, rat....?"

7) Conclusion
I think this is a very well written book. It does not preach to its readers and it is great entertainment I should think for 11 year olds. It is also a empire building book - did JKR have the following series of books in mind?

8) What I think I have learnt from reading this book is that it's success probably comes because it is written for its audience - all my writing - so far - has been written for me. So I will have to work a bit harder before my block buster is ready.

graham


Graham

Hi Sesheta, you're right about the computers and mobiles and things - I hadn't thought of that before. The way I thought she had modernised that sort of world was really in the way the characters speak. School stories often contain a lot of slang that goes out of date. Apart from that there's the clothes they wear, the way they behave... that sort of thing.

Hi Sesheta, glad you're feeling better.

I can't remember when the book was first published, early nineties? Technology (certainly mobile phones) wasn't so intrusive at the time she wrote it.

But that aside, it does an old fashioned feel to it. The food for the feasts is not the sort of food my children would like to eat, pizza, nachos, spare ribs etc. It's the traditional English food that I enjoyed as a child.

So we've established it is nostalgic, even though she created a 'new' world.

Graham makes a good point, JK isn't at all patronising and this is important when writing for children. So this fact, along with the games and language means she is really on their level.

What did you feel about the character of Harry though? I felt through all the books he was more like a Harriet, and he was a bit flat or 2D does anyone else think that?

That's a good point Echo. He's very much a 2D character - especially to begin with. Perhaps that is important and deliberate - Charlie in C&Chocfac is similar. Harry is perhaps a catch all character as the whole book, and I assume the rest are (but don't ask me to read them to find out) is from Harry's pov then it is pretty essential that a block buster appeals to boys, girls, grown ups, publishers and litlle hairy creatures from Alpha Centuri.

Does any one know if HP appeals as much to girls as boys?

g

I don't know any figure's Graham but I do know that Harry Potter was always touted as the book that got boys reading. I think out of the three character's Ron is the only one who is really fleshed out properly. Hermione is the standard swot with the heart of gold and Harry is plain boring. I must admit, despite the fact I have been known to speak very disparagingly about the HP books I have read all of them to date. By the end of book 5 I couldn't care less what happen's to Harry - I'm far more interested in whether Hermione and Ron get together!

My son (now 16) thought Harry Potter was corny and couldn't get on with it though he loved Northern Lights that he read in primary school. Before that he liked The Iron Giant and The Indian in the Cupboard. I should imagine in Y3/4 you'd be a social outcast if you didn't at least pretend you'd read HP.

I thought she cleverly added to suspense by ending each chapter on a hook, so you wanted to read the following one. It's the same with the ending of each novel, you want to read the follow-up.

You won't be reading the others then Graham? lol. What did you like to read or have read to you as a child?

No, I don't think I'll read the others. It was a good book and I am glad I have read it -but life is too short and there are a lot of books out there.

...What did you like to read or have read to you as a child? ...

What Now you'll get me going:

My Dad was such a slow reader that he couldn't read me books and my Mum was didn't think important so my Dad read lots of stories - really slowly - to himself, adventure stories Sinbad the sailor and Kipling stuff, then he would tell me the stories putting me in the stories as the hero who rescued my brother, for some reason he changed my name to 'Jimmy' in the stories. Most of the time he'd fall asleep before the end. I can remember hours and hours laying in bed imagining I was the hero and I became fascinated with making uo stories. But at my Secondary school they beat that out of me and I went to work in a factory - but years later - here I am a storyteller.

I take after my Dad being a slow reader.
The best ever book I read to my kids was a picture book called 'Micky in the Night Kitchen.' I never really understood it.
When my kids were young I told and read lots of stuff often the same stories which I was reading to the school kids I was teaching during the day. I ended up telling a non stop adventure story to my two kids - a bit like my Dad did to me.

Sorry what was the question?

Night, night

Graham

sorry about typos in above.

gt

A non-stop adventure story for your kids. Have I shown you this before:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/3511932.stm

So this is where you get your storytelling skills from - your dad! A skill that comes in handy when you need excuses for why you haven't done your homework. It's important with childrens fiction to be able to hear the story as well as read it don't you think? I've downloaded Microsoft Sam free version text reader to read my work. I can spot the rhythm (or lack of) and repetition by listening better than by reading the text. Strange how when you think of 'writing' immediate thoughts are of words on paper when in fact it is just as much about listening to the story in your head. I don't know whether that makes sense but I can't think of another way of putting it.

Didn't spot any typos

Got the address of that Microsoft text reader?I have one but it's not MS and a bit useless.

Graham

This is the address of mine. The voice isn't very natural. There's microsoft Sam and microsoft Mary I think.

http://www.naturalreaders.com/

Thanks Echo - I'll have ago.

G

ADVERTISEMENT

Anyone interesting in joining another group - as well as this one.

A Picture's Worth a 1000 words
at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/getwriting/G746

Do we allow adverts on this thread?

Graham

Interesting idea for a group Graham. I can't join another group at the moment. Will lurk if you need lurkers though! And wouldn't mind writing one short story.

Hi there

Here's a short summary of what we've learnt from the Harry Potter discussion:

JKRowling uses Harry as a vehicle through which we learn all about this magical world she has created.

He's quite a 2D character but the magical world she's created is fantastic and imaginative.

She actively employs devices to keep the children interested and reading - the Mirror of Erised, word games, name games. The book contains other forms of text apart from paragraphs of prose.

For all of her cleverness, she isn't patronising.

The general tone of the book is nostalgic, there is no new technology. Is this part of the appeal for older readers?

And she's a pretty darn good storyteller!

Feel free to add anything else I've missed.

How about Holes by Louis Sachar next? It's a really short book for anyone who hasn't read it and it's at the library. Anyone interested in discussing this next week? Or any other preferences, suggestions?