Moral Absolutes Ping.
LOTR and the Narnia books uplift the mind and heart. The Harry Potter books are slimey, poorly written, crass, and appeal to lowly emotions and aspirations. They make evil and nastiness seem cool. I read two of them (am thinking eventually to possibly write a couple of books for older children, say 9 up) and wanted to see the author's style and presentation.
I was amazed that the books are so popular. They are two dimensional. There are different kinds of fantasy - that which uplifts, and gives a hint of the eternal, and that which degrades, and gives a hint of the subterranean. HP is the latter. And as the Pope said, makes the illicit seem attractive - kind of like a prostitute in the semi-dark, with a lot of makeup on.
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Dear little jeremiah,
"LOTR and the Narnia books uplift the mind and heart. The Harry Potter books are slimey, poorly written, crass, and appeal to lowly emotions and aspirations."
Yeah, pretty much the conclusions to which we came. My kids have read, and re-read both LOTR and Narnia. My older son (not quite 11) thinks maybe he might be a philogist, as he's fascinated by the languages of Middle Earth. My younger guy (age 8) has decided to write his own novel.
I've found that as a result of steering their intitial reading interests, their tastes have already developed to the point where they usually reject lesser fare even without our guidance.
Why feed your kids hamburger helper when steak is easily available? Why not teach your kids to look for and aim for the best?
sitetest
***I was amazed that the books are so popular.***
They are filling a spiritual vacuum.
Am not very familiar with the Rowling HP books, but
even on a very slight acquaintance they are definitely
a deleterious influence in one respect: they propagate
a new and unnecessary invidious term (the six letter
word beginning with an "m" and with two "gs") I shudder
to think of anyone saying "you are such a m*ggl*.