Harry Potter at 20, did JKR save reading?

buck65

Never read it myself, my nephew loves it and since 1997 he has been out queuing for the books etc.
Now that I have kids I would love them to read it, heard some lofty appraisals of JK Rowling and that this series saved reading!
What you think?

Mr.Nice Guy

I remember the Goosebumps books being very popular in my school around the time Harry Potter came on the scene so I don't think she saved reading.

She did create the biggest sensation of the current era though so full credit to her for that. But I haven't read any of the books either.

Joe_ Public

Children's and young adult fiction has been a phenomenal growth industry for quite a few years now, I'd say some of that can be partly attributed to the HP series for sure. The publishing industry loves hype so to suggest she "saved" reading is silly, but she has definitely had a positive effect for sure. I read some of the first to see what all the fuss was about, it wasn't really my thing, but I liked her story and I like her a lot so never begrudged her the fame and success.

Posy

We used to go down to the local library as children and get books out every week. My best friend and I loved Enid Blyton and I read everything Roald Dahl wrote- he was very popular when I was growing up. I still love Roald Dahl!! We had a library in our primary school classroom and were always swapping books.
This was a few years before Harry Potter, so I don't think she saved reading.


However, the concept of a book series like HP, where the books get darker and (a lot!) longer as the characters, and readers, get older is fantastic. I read books so quickly as a child, as they were so short. To have had books like these; several hundred pages long would have been great!

I think she's done a lot to get young people interested in books- but the majority of people I know have just seen the films and not read the books, so perhaps some just don't bother with the books when they can just watch the movie!

GLaDOS

It's a great series, I read them over and over as a kid, but no, JK didn't save reading.

Dirty Dingus McGee

I haven't read any of them although I have the DVD's of the films at home so will probably watch them at christmas time.

I am probably of the age of people that should ahve bene reading them when they came but I never even tried one of them. I was always into Roald Dahl and Goosebumps when I was young.

I always hate this hyperbolic nonsense that happens now and then where the media try to claim one artist saved an industry.

PressRun

No, I don't think so. Harry Potter was a little bit after my time, but I remember when I was a child there were plenty of kids into reading then. Roald Dahl was huge when I was young.

However, I do credit her for her contribution to children's literature and for creating such a literary phenomenon. Harry Potter wouldn't be my cup of tea, but loads of kids love it and it probably was the first introduction to proper novels for kids of a certain generation (probably still is) so kudos to her for the achievement.

david75

I think she absolutely got more kids to read who potentially never would have. The internet was just taking hold and tbh I can't think of such a phenomenon in literature and especially kids literature before that.

Beauty of that is the majority of those kids stuck with reading. The YA Market exploded based almost soley on potter it's fair to say.

blue note

They were probably just after my time, but I did read them anyway! I was lucky not to start on the first though, I think if I had I might not have bothered going on. They got better with the 3rd and 4th ones. The first two were good, just not amazing.

But no, she certainly didn't save reading. She did certainly add to it's popularity though. Interestingly, both of my sisters and my brother in law are primary teachers and have said that they're not the most popular books in their schools at all. The old faithfuls of Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, etc still the most common to see kids reading. I wonder though as the children who grew up with Harry Potter grow up will we see a second wave of them? The kids who grew up with Harry Potter are probably around late 20s now and just starting to have kids. In 10 years time the schools will be full of kids from those parents and I'm sure a lot of them are dying to give their kids their favourite childrens books!

Sheridan81

They were showing a few first editions at a library in Edinburgh recently and the queue was enormous. She has done a lot of good. i've only read the first two books. Might try and read the third someday.

Permabear

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