Harry Snotter

Unlike millions of other Brits, I have never succumbed to the hype of Harry Potter. I'm just not a fan. Well, with my all-encompassing devotion to a certain sci-fi programme I guess it would be kind of hard to fit Harry Snotter in as well. I did read the very first novel, "The Philosopher's Stone", when it came out, just because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The mixture of jolly hockysticks public school characters, yah-yah kids with names like Hermoine and general middle class Famous-Fiveness of the whole thing just didn't appeal to me. Maybe I'm being a bit unfair as apparently the subsequent novels got better and were much more serious and "dark". I'm also being a major hypocrite, as I devoured (metaphorically rather than literally) all the Famous Five books when I was a youngster and had all of them on my bookshelf. But that kind of says it all really - when you're a nipper your reading tastes are rather different to your adult ones. Well, in some respects. And if I'd read Harry P as a kiddie I probably would have loved it.

And the advent of Harry P has definitely been a godsend for kids. One of my fellow bloggers, Karen, made the valid point that the books have got children interested in reading again and that can only be a good thing. In this technology-obsessed age, we can at least thank J K Rowling for re-igniting kids' interest in the old fashioned pursuit of actually picking up a book and reading it. Back in the (distant) days when I was a Secondary teacher, I distinctly remember virtually all of my Year 7 kids taking out Harry P novels from the library...which helped to keep them under control. A good thing again.

Of course the arrival of the final novel in the series, "The Deathly Hallows", has been greatly anticipated by the general public, with people camping overnight outside bookshops to get hold of their much-wanted copy, queues around the block on the day of release and an all-round media frenzy. (And incidentally, what's with the "adult" and "children's" versions of the current novel? What's the difference? Does Ron kiss Hermione in the children's version and kiss her AND get out his magic wand in the adult one? I can but guess...) But the biggest amount of hype and speculation surrounding the final Potter publication concerns the fact that two major characters die by the end of the novel. Yes, I'm not hot-for-Harry, but I'm still DYING to know who they are. Hypocritical old moi MUST know!! So if any of you lovely readers out there have already finished off "Deathly Hallows" and can give me the lowdown, drop me an email NOW!! Please satisfy my insatiable curiosity.