Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
             Every decade seems to produce reading material that provokes the wrath of parents, teachers and librarians, all of whom are 100 percent certain these books will corrupt children's reading and souls to the core. Back in the 40's and 50's it was comic books. In the 1980's it was the Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High books, the Goosebumps in the 90's, and now Harry Potter in the new millennium. But what is it about Harry Potter that's breaking records causing 35 million children worldwide to throw in their walkmans and Gameboys in favor of print? It appears that J.K. Rowling invented something that children were craving for years, an interactive and fun way of learning the valuable art of literacy. Harry Potter takes the skeletal shape of the generic children's fantasy novel with the general trimmings of monsters, goblins and the ultimate battle between good and evil. However, Harry Potter's originality appears to be that it takes the form of a type of children's handbook on reading. Perfectly written and structured, this novel attracts children to read, helps them to learn how to read, enriches through morals and lesson taught all the while suggesting the beauty of the wonder present in the imaginative and real world...holiday's
             A sophisticated and structured form of writing lies at the heart of Harry Potter, making it more than just a quick and easy commercial type of book. This novel had more words than any major children's book to date at the time of it's publication. Rowling ordered her 300 page novel with the understanding that children needed to be attracted to reading more words in order to become prodigiously better at reading. Its child friendliness permeates from the second you feel the colorful and ornate cover of the novel lure you with its prominent gold lettering. The novel raises a child curiosity by ...