I hate very few books, because even if I don't like them, they at least have some redeeming factors. This is one of the few books that I have read that have earned a place in my "Better used as a doorstop" pile. I lost count of the number of factual errors I found (Jane Austen did NOT write Jane Eyre), not to mention the problems with grammar and usage. In addition, the analysis of the text was thoroughly unoriginal. It seems like the book was rushed to print as quickly as possible just to capitalize on the Potter mania. After reading that the author is an English major, I can say that I am embarassed to have a degree in English. Come on, at least the editor should have caught some of those errors! ( )

Beacham’s Sourcebooks for Teaching Young Adult Fiction Exploring Harry Potter by Elizabeth D. Schafer

Why I picked this book up: I picked up this book because I fell in love with the Harry Potter Series when they first came out. I first read the first book because a lot of children were reading them and I wanted to know what they were reading. After that first book I said, “Forget the kids, I’m reading these because they are good!” I flipped through it before I bought it and because it had so much stuff in the Potter books I decided to buy it.

General Thoughts: This book really is a sourcebook like it says in the title. This book did not cover all the Potter books but the ones it did it went deep into them.

Why I finished this book: I finished it because there were so many thins that it reminded me of in the Potter books that I have not really thought much about and it brought back some fun memories of when I read them.

Rating: I’d give it a 2 out of 5 star rating. ( )

A lot of themes and discussions have been included in this book, and it is very useful for discussions with teenagers in schools and book-reading clubs. It does not develop so much on the items, rather, it opens the debates, the discussions, and we have the possibility to go further (outside of the book), if we choose to. I'd say it is useful for group reading, both at school level and in reading clubs. ( )