A guide to the Harry Potter novels (engelsk)

Part 1 Introduction: brief background to major success in children's books - Blyton, Just William, Tolkien, R.L. Stine, Roald Dahl - reflect different models that work; HP titles have something of all of these about them because of the different genres they straddle. Part 2 What is Harry Potter?: how it is written - the unlikely place of a boarding school story at the end of the 20th century, the construction of the stories with their emphasis on complex plotting, the concept of a group of characters who are growing up, the sense of place, the use of magic and its relationship to the powers of darkness; the imaginative genius and the moments of weakness; what it is saying about - racial tolerance/equality, the importance of family/friends/loyalty, the nature of power, the role of education. Part 3 Beyond the story, why is Harry Potter so much more successful than anything else?: the particular qualities of HP; the ability to speak directly to children as readers; psychological and sociological reasons centering around child-empowerment and a specific understanding of the child's view of the world. Part 4 How was the HP phenomenon achieved?: the dominant role of HP in the last three years and the role of marketing in achieving it; the self-fulfilling effect of over-popular authors in the context of how children choose what they read; the reversing of the norm in which adults rather than children themselves are the initial selectors. Part 5 The Harry Potter effect: how writing for children may be viewed differently after Harry Potter