Monday, December 05, 2005

norton anthology

ooh, i want this new anthology of children's literature. however, i'm really posting this link to point out that its editor, jack zipes, is one of those horrible literature snobs who feels the need to get in a dig at harry potter (which was too expensive to include). i'm not sure he's really read the books closely--his depiction of hermione as a cheerleader seems to come straight from the movies. in the books, hermione is frequently called "the cleverest witch of her age" and although harry is the chosen-type one, he wouldn't really get anywhere without her intelligence and common sense. particularly in books five and six, she's presented as the only smart one around--not just in the book smart sense, but in the clued-in sense--as harry and ron bumble around full of teenage crapola.

obviously i'm a big hermione fan, and so zipes' comments raised my hackles just a little. :) the anthology does sound really cool though--it's going straight to my amazon wish list. hint hint, relatives, my wishlist is ready to go and there's even a handy link on the sidebar on the left. :)

5 comments:

Alicia K. said...

damn straight! you said that much better than i could.

christinamerge said...

I agree that he cannot have read the books! That's just sour grapes - hating on Harry Potter, because no one has read his favorite children's book from 1857.

Alicia K. said...

christina--that made me guffaw! hee hee!

Anonymous said...

the amazon wish list--arrgh! i remember thinking that that was a great idea when i read your blog--last year. should've started cultivating one of those before december.

Alicia K. said...

heh, i've had my wishlist for like 5 years--it's only been recently (the past couple of years) that anyone's used it though.

anyway, it's never too late! amazon has pretty fast shipping--throw some stuff on there and mail the link to all your loved ones.