Far from Potty about Harry Potter
Harry Potter Series
Written by J.K. Rowling
Published by Scholastic Books (US) and Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
Two weeks ago, we had carried a book review by 11-year-old Sujit Thomas on J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. In his view, the Harry Potter series is far superior to Enid Blyton, or even Roald Dahl.
But there are opinions and opinions on Harry Potter. We present the views of 10-year-old Moen Sen, a student of Loreto Convent, Delhi, in an attempt to see why some books become more popular and what makes them tick.
Harry Potter is everywhere — popping out of the newspapers, flashing on
television, booming over the radio. Wherever I go, I see Harry Potter. At
Nirula’s, the fast food outlet in Delhi, a boy forgot to give his order — his nose was buried into a Harry Potter.
My friend Aradhna was crazy about him. I, too, got after my mother to get
me a Harry Potter. I decided to keep the book for a train journey so as not
to get bored looking out.
I had heard it was better than the Enid Blyton stories. I waited for the day I would be able to read Harry Potter peacefully on the train without having my mother getting after me to study.
When the day came, I was very excited. I sat comfortably on my berth and started my
first Harry Potter. I kept reading, waiting for the exciting part. But the
imagined excited part never came. I dozed off.
Later, when my mother asked me how I liked Harry Potter, I was in a fix. If
I told her the truth that I did not like what her friend calls “Hari Puttar” (“Puttar” means son in Punjabi), she might get mad at me. After all, it was quite expensive and she had got me two of the Harry Potter books.
On the other hand, how could I not tell her the truth? That I had not liked
it.
“Ma, I think I’ll read the other book and tell you,” I told her.
I was worried that my friends would tease me if they got to know that I didn’t like Harry Potter. I had heard it was so good that children had stayed awake
all night the day the fourth book was launched, just to read it. But I didn’t find
it exciting.
The story seemed to be dragging on and on. Not like Enid
Blyton’s — nice and short, or Roald Dahl’s crisp writing. Though, I must admit it was exciting in parts. It seemed too out of our world and was very difficult to imagine.
In Roald Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory’, too, we had to imagine a lot, but it did not drag. I tried the second Harry Potter as well, but even that was not exciting.
I finally told Ma meekly, “I didn’t seem to like it.” Looking at my
expression, she started laughing. “That doesn’t matter. Each to her own,”
she said. I was so relieved. Ma wasn’t mad at me after all.
