Harry Potter is wildly popular in the 2nd grade, I can tell you. 7-8. We read 1-4 to Casper last summer, right before she turned 7, and her classmates who are better readers read them themselves. (I think they get a little dark for that age after #3, personally, which is why we stopped at 4.)

I went to the Harry Potter exhibit on Sunday, and several of the kids there who were explaining the plot to their parents with a whole lot of detail were no older than 8.

I keep thinking of a fanfic I remember a ton of non-Buffista people raving about the general wonderfulness of, "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality,"

Hm. A couple of people have recommended that to me because I have zero interest in the actual books. And at least one of the recs is based on the fact that they find Rowling's story at its base to be morally... questionable. Like, at a C.S. Lewis level. I have not gotten very fair in it because well, it's still not my thing, but I don't know that putting the response down to logic versus heart is entirely fair.

I'm quite willing to believe it's ye olde question of whether its easier for you to handwave story in the service of character, or character in the service of story. Neither is superior, really. I'll cry my eyes out over things that don't make sense; it's just a matter of which kind of nonsense I can accept.

I gotta say, I'm not all worked up about the question of how Hogwarts is funded: I just wondered.

Sheesh.

I love this.

Huh. Potter is morally questionable? And Narnia isn't? I Would say Lewis is way more morally problematic. I would also say Lewis was by far the better writer. Yeah Rowling does more consistent world building. But Lewis has better prose. Although in summary it may not sound like it, encountered in the book his characters are much more convincing. And again though if you look at sparknote sumarries Rowlings world might seem more convincing, encountered in detail in actual books, Lewis's world building is damn convincing whereas I never was able to suspend disbelief for Potter. This sort of thing is very subjective, so maybe not a typical experience, but to me Rowling, though good, is not even in the same writing class as Lewis.

I'll take the moraltity and ethics she teaches though over Lewis, as long as one understands that it contains few to zero role models.

Potter is morally questionable? And Narnia isn't?

No, I believe this person found them both to be questionable. That's what I meant by "at a C.S. Lewis level."

Lewis's world building is damn convincing

I have one word for you: sewing machine. (Okay, two.) And why would a beaver require a sewing machine, anyway?

Because they don't make lederhosen in his size, duh!

And why would a beaver require a sewing machine, anyway?

Maybe he's an avid quilter. YOU DON"T KNOW!!

(OK, you'd know way more than me, since I last read the Narnia books around age 10. But STILL)