Posted on 12/30/2002 1:25:19 AM PST by chance33_98
J K Rowling read to dying fan
15.45PM GMT, 29 Dec 2002
Harry Potter author J K Rowling read her latest stories over the phone to a dying nine-year-old fan so the youngster would know what happened in the children's books before she died, it has been revealed.
The writer phoned Catie Hoch in the US to read out stories from her unpublished manuscripts, according to the Sunday Mirror newspaper.
J K Rowling had been communicating with Catie through e-mails, gifts and phone calls so that the nine-year-old would know how the Harry Potter stories developed before she passed away.
After Catie, from Albany in New York, died the author told her parents their little girl had left, "footprints on my heart", and she was, "Braver than Harry".
Rowling also made a private donation of £75,000 to a cancer fund set up in memory of the tragic youngster.
Catie's mother, Gina, told the Sunday Mirror: "I will be forever grateful for what Joanne did. She gave us something priceless by having this relationship with Catie.
"She touched her in ways we could never have imagined."
The youngster was six when she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, an aggressive childhood cancer.
Catie and her mum were nearly at the end of the third book, Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, when doctors revealed the youngster only had weeks to live.
Catie was desperate to know what happened in the fourth book, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, which Rowling was working on at the time.
So a family friend sent an e-mail to the author's publishers in London - and days later the author sent back a personally written letter, calling herself simply Jo.
The two began exchanging letters and e-mails during the course of their amazing friendship.
Gina, 43, revealed that one e-mail read: "Dear Catie, I am working very hard on book four at the moment...on a bit that involves some new creatures Hagrid has brought along for the care of Magical Creatures classes. You are an extremely brave person and a true Gryffindor. With lots of love, J K Rowling (Jo to anybody in Gryffindor)."
But when Rowling realised that Catie only had days to live, she telephoned from her Edinburgh home to read the latest tales about the young wizard over the phone.
Gina added: "We laid Catie down on the couch, and Jo read to her over the phone parts of the manuscript. Catie's face lit up."
The author rang three or four more times but Catie grew so ill she could not longer listen. She died on May 18, 2000.
Rowling, aged 37, has an eight-year-old daughter from a previous marriage and is pregnant after marrying her second husband Neil Murray.
Just thought I'd get the "Harry Potter is a tool being used to destroy Christian values" ball rolling.
prisoner6
I was waiting on someone to say 'Shouldn't she have been reading the bible to her....' ;-)
Shhh. Keep it down, willya?
If any of you simple minded ones yucking it up, had ever been deeply involved in occult activity, you would not be laughing. Those of us who do understand, know it is deadly serious stuff.
As regards to "Heart of Gold" Rowling, an especially hot place in Hell is reserved for her.
As I said before, the greatest evil influence in the life of a child is the lack of influence of the parent. If a fantasy book can so easily sway them then there is a problem at home. I played D&D, read lots of similar books, and never got involved in the occultic practices as I had enough sense from my parents that there is a difference between real and fantasy.
One could say there are more occultic practices in the catholic church then in any potter book. Just because some are weak minded and underdeveloped because of laziness of their parents does not mean all are. Fantasy can lead someone astray, as can movies, computers, etc. Balancing the time you spend reading the bible (or works thereof) and the time you spend reading other things is the simplest and most logical course (some people can watch 8 hours of tv a day and not read one verse from the bible in a month).
Kids swayed so easy by fantasy have parents who have no input into their mental arena. Trying to keep kids from things is one thing, setting the course for them to follow by example, knowledge, and spending a great deal of time with them is the real answer.
Keeping a seat warm for her, are you? What a Christian thing to do.
Will her kids go off now and try to find ways to bring mummies back from the dead and worship Ra? I seriously doubt it. Kids who are led astray were already astray.
An example.... Drinking and driving is against the law, not because 1000 people could drive safely home from a bar after drinking 5-6 drinks. It is illegal because a few of those thousand will kill themsleves or others on the way home. You of course would say it is ok, because "I made it home ok."
Within the bible itself one finds many magic/spell like items to ponder on - especially when you start examining the history surrounding the peoples of the area during the time frame of the OT. The ark of the covenant was similar to that used by egyptians, the whole 'I Am' with God and Moses traces back to names and magic (God spoke to the people using things they could understand, so it is no surprise really. Moses did not 'steal' ideas from the egyptians, those things were merely used because it was what he was mentally capable of grasping).
I understand your concerns, Hannah More would tend to agree with you mostly (I have read many of her repository tracts from the 1790's-1830's as I am a collector of her works and have a web site in her honor). Many of her basic tenets would show that people in general, particulary the poor and uneducated were weak willed and easily swayed by those of a not so christian bent. She was a powerful writer who held tight to a class system that was slipping away in nearby France and heading her way.
Fear was evident in her writings, fear that the masses of the ignorant may be swept away because they lacked the deep root system of those who were more learned and able to read the bible (and she was helpful in helping the poor to learn to read and set many upon the paths of God).
Those easily swayed are weak, but the strong can be exposed (and will be if they do honest study) to a great many things which challenge the faith and still walk away with the full confidence in God they started out with. Pleasure in reading fantasy is not the problem, being in an environment where there is no balance is.
It is illegal because a few of those thousand will kill themsleves or others on the way home. You of course would say it is ok, because "I made it home ok."
I would say "Obviously not all are affected the same way by the same thing, and hence some could read potter and be fine while some would be influenced by it (and many other works, some of which are non-fiction) in the negative." whereas you might say "If it keeps one kid from playing fantasy with his friends then we should make it illegal."
I am sure those who instituted the Spanish Inquisition supposed they too were opposing evil, the thing about evil; you always become that which you hate. Good luck battling your particular windmill.
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