Good Book Breakdown #2
(Day Forty-Six)
I'm going to pretend I'm an NPR reviewer for a sec to do this intro:
Now it's time for our brand new series, "Good Book Breakdown," where we look at books that stand out among the masses as crowd pleasers, classics, and must-reads. On Monday we covered the loved children's story The Secret Garden; today we'll talk about a children's book that has crossed over to fans of all ages: the Harry Potter series.
People love Harry Potter, but why? There are hundreds of books about magic, about wizards. The shelves of our home library are full of fantasy books with supernatural elements, strong heroes, and epic good-vs-evil battles -- so why does Harry Potter get the attention? What made those books take off?
To some extent it's a question of luck, circumstances, and the zeitgeist -- I've read books that are better written than HP and similar in nature and enjoyment but which get no attention at all. But there is a particularly effective mix of elements in J.K. Rowling's story construction.
1) Harry loses everything. His parents die before he can even know them, his aunt and uncle treat him like poop, and when he finally meets his godfather and finds in him a possible guardian who will actually treat him well, his godfather is murdered. Then Harry gets over that a little bit and starts really getting into his whole "save the world" thing, and the next father figure on his list, Dumbledore, is murdered. He can't win. He eventually loses the safety and acceptance he found at Hogwarts, he's under a constant death threat, and the public starts turning on him.
But here's the thing -- Harry has to lose everything for it to get better, and for it to MEAN SOMETHING when it gets better. We saw this in The Secret Garden, as well. Things have to be bad for them to get better. How hard is it to be a hero when everything's going your way? It's not hard. But to not give up when life is treating you like shit? That really means something.
2) It's a children's book with adult themes. I read something from C.S. Lewis at some point in my education -- I think it was an essay about children's literature -- and he said the best children's books are about topics you still want to read about even when you're an adult. I'm not a big fan of sugarcoating or censoring for kids. Yeah, some things they aren't equipped to deal with. I think some of my preteen "people are going to die" anxiety was probably exacerbated by my reading habits. But kids have to deal with real stuff. Sometimes people die. Sometimes kids can't depend on adults. Sometimes they get beat up by the bully, paralyzed by a spell, and left under an invisible cloak on a train. Don't pretend they don't or try to protect them from it to the extent that they never learn how to defend themselves. Teach them how to deal with it and come out on top.
3) It's about friendship. I don't think I really need to explain that. Friendship gives everyone the warm and fuzzies. Ron, Hermoine, and Harry are really the heart of the book.
4) It's about love. I hate that I wrote that. But people love love for a reason. I'm not always a huge fan of the way Rowling uses Harry's parents or the concept of love in the books (she gets pretty corny in spots), but I won't deny tearing up when Harry sees his parents in the mirror, or when he sees a vision of them later in the series.
5) The bad guy turns out to be a good guy. This is one of my favorite things in any book. And the best part is that even though Snape is a good guy at the end, he's still a bad guy, too. He's still a jerk to Harry. But you understand where his anger and hatred comes from, and it makes him human. Bad and good aren't black and white. Bad people can be good, and good people can be bad. That's one of those true themes that filter out into how you see real life. Even Voldemort has a human side you can sympathize with. The end result is three-dimensional characters you understand because you see where they're coming from. Characterization!
6) The Harry Potter universe is a fully thought-out, unique, and fun world with its own vocabulary and quirks. After reading the books you wish it were real, so you could find out what wand is yours and try out the Sorting Hat and fight evil with your awesome spells. People don't want to stop reading the HP books because they want to continue to escape the real, boring, every-day one where you have to go to school and work and there aren't any spells to learn, at all.
So I already see some commonalities between the two books I've broken down, but next, let's try an adult book. Join us next time, friends, for another edition of "Good Book Breakdown!"*
*I just realized "Good Book" sounds like I'm talking about the Bible. I might have to change my blog series title.
I'm going to pretend I'm an NPR reviewer for a sec to do this intro:
Now it's time for our brand new series, "Good Book Breakdown," where we look at books that stand out among the masses as crowd pleasers, classics, and must-reads. On Monday we covered the loved children's story The Secret Garden; today we'll talk about a children's book that has crossed over to fans of all ages: the Harry Potter series.
People love Harry Potter, but why? There are hundreds of books about magic, about wizards. The shelves of our home library are full of fantasy books with supernatural elements, strong heroes, and epic good-vs-evil battles -- so why does Harry Potter get the attention? What made those books take off?
To some extent it's a question of luck, circumstances, and the zeitgeist -- I've read books that are better written than HP and similar in nature and enjoyment but which get no attention at all. But there is a particularly effective mix of elements in J.K. Rowling's story construction.
1) Harry loses everything. His parents die before he can even know them, his aunt and uncle treat him like poop, and when he finally meets his godfather and finds in him a possible guardian who will actually treat him well, his godfather is murdered. Then Harry gets over that a little bit and starts really getting into his whole "save the world" thing, and the next father figure on his list, Dumbledore, is murdered. He can't win. He eventually loses the safety and acceptance he found at Hogwarts, he's under a constant death threat, and the public starts turning on him.
But here's the thing -- Harry has to lose everything for it to get better, and for it to MEAN SOMETHING when it gets better. We saw this in The Secret Garden, as well. Things have to be bad for them to get better. How hard is it to be a hero when everything's going your way? It's not hard. But to not give up when life is treating you like shit? That really means something.
2) It's a children's book with adult themes. I read something from C.S. Lewis at some point in my education -- I think it was an essay about children's literature -- and he said the best children's books are about topics you still want to read about even when you're an adult. I'm not a big fan of sugarcoating or censoring for kids. Yeah, some things they aren't equipped to deal with. I think some of my preteen "people are going to die" anxiety was probably exacerbated by my reading habits. But kids have to deal with real stuff. Sometimes people die. Sometimes kids can't depend on adults. Sometimes they get beat up by the bully, paralyzed by a spell, and left under an invisible cloak on a train. Don't pretend they don't or try to protect them from it to the extent that they never learn how to defend themselves. Teach them how to deal with it and come out on top.
3) It's about friendship. I don't think I really need to explain that. Friendship gives everyone the warm and fuzzies. Ron, Hermoine, and Harry are really the heart of the book.
4) It's about love. I hate that I wrote that. But people love love for a reason. I'm not always a huge fan of the way Rowling uses Harry's parents or the concept of love in the books (she gets pretty corny in spots), but I won't deny tearing up when Harry sees his parents in the mirror, or when he sees a vision of them later in the series.
5) The bad guy turns out to be a good guy. This is one of my favorite things in any book. And the best part is that even though Snape is a good guy at the end, he's still a bad guy, too. He's still a jerk to Harry. But you understand where his anger and hatred comes from, and it makes him human. Bad and good aren't black and white. Bad people can be good, and good people can be bad. That's one of those true themes that filter out into how you see real life. Even Voldemort has a human side you can sympathize with. The end result is three-dimensional characters you understand because you see where they're coming from. Characterization!
6) The Harry Potter universe is a fully thought-out, unique, and fun world with its own vocabulary and quirks. After reading the books you wish it were real, so you could find out what wand is yours and try out the Sorting Hat and fight evil with your awesome spells. People don't want to stop reading the HP books because they want to continue to escape the real, boring, every-day one where you have to go to school and work and there aren't any spells to learn, at all.
So I already see some commonalities between the two books I've broken down, but next, let's try an adult book. Join us next time, friends, for another edition of "Good Book Breakdown!"*
*I just realized "Good Book" sounds like I'm talking about the Bible. I might have to change my blog series title.