how about we agree that if it wasnt for her.... 90% of kids who do read for leisure WOULDNTVE without her books... i know, for atleast myself, because of how rigorous my school work was and all the classes i had to take the only times i read in my leisure time HAS been harry potter for the most part.....

the way she created a whole new world while still basing it off the current world... i actually think more than storytelling, but the way she actually created this false hope in people by having a "real world" and a "magic world" where kids reading think that theres a chance this place actually exists... its the same kinda thing with peter pan except "better" because these magical places exist in the heart of london, in the same railway station, etc....

i didnt say she was elegant in her word choice... but her themes and messages speak volumes.... if u think about it.... so much of her stuff can be related to christianity, or current and past wars.... and she has SOOO many political messages on display in the form of magical blood lines, that if u read her last 3 or four books from a political viewpoint u would get so much more out of it than a good story.... theres the whole muggle hatred, and muggle-born hatred of the dark leader... he even condemns half-bloods and wishes to return to a natural bloodline... sounds alil like Hitler doesnt it? especially if u believe all those suspicions that hitler was himself part jewish, just as voldy is half-blood.... even not dealing with "suspicions" of wat hitler is, but the simple fact that the perfect aryan individual was blonde haired and blue eyed, and the fact that hitler was DEF not this, is enough to see the connection...

or to look at the bible connection... theres a shit load:

lucifer: one of gods greatest homies, but didnt like the fact that he was subjected to being equal to everyone else including people on earth........ so he rebels... changes his name to satan, and starts his own group.... voldemort was one of the greatest students ever at hogwarts under dumbledore but didnt like the fact that muggle borns and half bloods would get that hogwarts education or any other benefit that purebloods also got, so he rebels, and his plan is to purify that blood line, changes his name from tom riddle to LD... starts the Death Eaters

and i refuse to continue but theres alot of shit in these books that u shouldnt just talk about stories... yes her writing might not be the greatest... but rowling touches on every theme imaginable... shit Harry (Jesus) even has the second coming...

theres the power of love, there vengeance, violence, politics, social struggle, terrorism, maturation, teenage angst, fate, friendship, DEATH and loss, reincarnation, obviously good vs bad or as dumbledore put it right vs. easy, foreshadowing, flashbacks, plot twists, isolation and loneliness, an Outsider motif with people like Harry and Voldy, responsibility....... basically ANY theme EVER in any book is covered in this...

just cuz her language wasnt elegant doesnt mean shit to me... cuz wat she did prolly took more effort, research, and hard work than most writers out there today... i mean... it took her 7 years to just order out the whole world and story before writing and releasing the first book.... u read george orwells essay on the English language and ull discover that ALOT of writers u think write beautifully are really just foolish.... writing should be about getting your thoughts across, not trying to "impress" (really confuse) the reader with ur vernacular and tired metaphors, etc....

and dont act like it was unreasonable for people to not like somethin because its so popular... u know its true in so many cases... u probably know so many people who have hated a band once theyve blown up......... they "sold out" or "went mainstream"... "OH NO not that!!!" people LOVED 50 cent wen he first came out... now everyone just discusses how he could be so wack and still sell so many records...... i didnt mean to accuse u like you ARE one of those people... but most people i know who talk about hating harry potter books have either never read them or go in reading the books with a pessimistic mindset, lookin for reasons to not like it....

and i dont get why u make it seem like Jk tried to sucked out as much cash as possible??????? first off it is not her fault the books blew up, and i doubt that if u were given the opportunity u wouldve turned down a major movie studio wanting to make movies for all 7 of ur books.... she didnt like shop the book around to movie corporations, it was very much vice versa..... but anyways, excluding sales of anythin like toys, fake HP glasses, broom sticks, etc, ill run some quick numbers:

so far her books have sold roughly 400 million copies i believe
the movies so far have grossed over 4 billion...
she is worth about 1 billion....

which means if u take out booksales, she only made 25% of movie sales.....

^&^^ and thats only box office... not even DVD sales....

www.potterpuppetpals.com

^lmfao, hilarious. Watch the video. The ending is gay, but the beginning and middle are pure gold.

She answers a lot of unanswered questions is this, it's long as fuck, but still...

http://mugglenet.com/app/news/full_story/1156

DUMBLEDORE!!!

lmao, yeah, I've seen videos from that place before I believe.

Too bad Harry Potter's the only books you've read, TeamOne. Oh, man, her villian is comparable to Hitler! How exotic! How original! Not really. Stop being so amazed at such ridiculously un-subtle symbolism. Harry is not Jesus. Read Orson Scott Card's essay on the matter.

There are legions of books out there that are better than Harry Potter. They touch on more subjects, and touch them better, and touch on more adult subjects, and they have better writing. Because Harry Potter has the shitty writing, especially The Deathly Hallows. Half of the book are the characters not knowing what to do next; a quarter of it is a deus ex machina that allows them to run into every single character from the past; almost a quarter of it is ridiculous relationship plotlines; and the rest is Voldemort being stupid. Not to mention that 100% of it reads like a crappy fanfic, and hardly matches up to Goblet of Fire, a book which in itself was rather stupid looking in the long run.

Read better books. Order I recommend reading:

1. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolf(four books, they're being published two-in-one now, Shadow & Claw and Sword & Citadel)- incredibly deep books, beautiful written, massively complex.
2. Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb- a coming-of-age fantasy far superior to Harry Potter. There's an after trilogy, the Tawny Man, as well, which is just as good.
3. Dark Tower by Stephen King - seven books, he says that the series is his magnum opus.
4. Lord of Light by Robert Zelazny - deep book, focused on Hinduism and Buddhism, very action-packed and entertaining as well.

yea... all ive read is Harry Potter... thats why i said in that very same post to read some George Orwell shit....

and i sort of disagree with ur whole deus ex machina idea about the book (its true for a lot of aspects for the first couple books but) if u were an extremely careful reader, u couldve figured out many of the answers for the final books....

You said read an essay. Different from reading a book, obviously.

You can disagree about the deus ex machina all you want, but it's there in plain sight.

That's an illogical conclusion...how could you possibly know or even test that conjecture?

Children have been reading since the beginning of time and will continue to do so. JK Rowling was just smart/clever/talented enough to convince millions of people to "buy" into the idea of Harry Potter.

Good for her...

more people should do that with their own brands if they want to be that successful

^^^ there actually have been studies.... (the only problem with alot of these studies is that many kids who read Harry Potter in their spare time dont end up reading any OTHER books, so it hasnt really opened them up to reading other people also)

and George Orwells book is called "A Collection of Essays"

.....

Theres a new harry potter?

The Harry Potter series are fictional novels meant for pleasure reading, not meant to be a thematic masterpiece of epic proportions. Lmao. Omg Hitlers a bad man and so is Voldemort! I see the connection! Wow!

JK Rowling might not be the most technically skilled writer of all time, but she did manage to come up with a unique world that has kept millions of readers hooked because of it's interesting nature, well designed storylines, and real life parallels. You can't dispute her ingenius ability to create her own world and tie everything together so that it makes sense (in the context of her world). Her storytelling ability has fascinated millions of readers, I don't know why you are disputing her ability to do so. As far as technically skilled writers, she isn't even up there, but as far as storytelling ability, she is clearly one of the best of all time. Sometimes she is held back a little by her character development, but for the most part, that is decent. In any case, her main plotlines are always very well thought out. Bottom Line: who cares about the bullshit you're talking about? And that TeamOne is talking about? I read to be entertained. And I think most writers are given way too much credit when it comes to "making comparisons to God etc" -- their comparisons aren't even intentional most of the time, it just comes down to the fact that these kind of themes are a part of human nature. I remember an interview where Robert Frost corrected some scholar who was saying his poetry was symbolic of this or that. Then he said, "no, I wrote it - it's not".