Adults are spellbound by Harry
August 19, 2003 at 11:45 AM ET
eudaemonia
Wizard News (via Press of Atlantic City)
Whether it's listening to the audio books on the way to work or buying more than one copy of the Harry Potter titles in various languages, adults are definitely hooked to the series -- a feat not many books aimed at children have successfully achieved
:
They are teachers and students, administrators and nurses, librarians and Web site creators. They are men like [Jay] Nichols, who has returned to school for his master's degree in French, and women like Debbie Reilly, who listens to an audio version of Order of the Phoenix to and from work every day.
"Personal growth, personal discovery, is key to so much great literature," Nichols says. "And that, I think, is one of the driving forces in the Harry Potter books.... Why are adults interested in children's books?" he asks. "In some ways, my perspective is, the greatest literature is accessible to children.... Basically, these are books that are voyages of discovery, are stories of the formation of young minds. So to me, that it is a children's book does not mean it needs to be dumbed down."