Thanks for sharing these endouraging letters. A writer works in solitude, wondering if s/he is communicating as they wish. The project goes out and they think of other things they wish they had included. The writer waits anxiously tio see how their “baby” will be recieved, and if readers will be as edifed by it as the writer was by writing it. This book should have a long life in classrooms and beyond for a long, long time.

My husband is now reading the book and loving it.

Here’s my review at Barnes & Noble, for any newcomers who are interested in this must-read book:

Why Everyone, Not Just Harry Potter Fans, Should Read This Book

Posted July 7, 2009, 4:09 PM EST: You needn’t be a Harry Potter fan to enjoy, appreciate, and benefit from John Granger’s newest offering. For both literary geeks and those who read merely for pleasure, Harry Potter’s Bookshelf is a magic carpet ride to understanding books. Even beach reads can contain within them story elements and genres revealed in this book. As always, Granger offers his literary x-ray goggles to see below-the-surface story structure, symbolism and meaning, to reveal the depth and detail that make a book not only work, but “do a work” within the reader. Harry Potter’s Bookshelf opens up Harry Potter and English literature as keys to one another in a personable, entertaining way. Granger’s sparkling prose, witty style, and often laugh-out-loud summaries of Great Books (Harry as Gothic heroine!) and Harry Potter passages, make this book a page-turner. Invoking icons from Homer to Star Trek, Granger explains complex insights in a manner accessible to teens and adults. Using the four layers of meaning (surface, moral, allegorical and anagogical, i.e. mythic/edifying), Granger enjoyably expounds on literary genres and authors that influenced Rowling, and how she remarkably “rowled” them all together in creating her epic. These genres include Austen’s narrative misdirection a la pride & prejudice/twists, gothic romance, detective mystery, the boarding school story, postmodernism, satire, the Hero’s Journey, and the Everyman allegory. He concisely and clearly explains the eye imagery, circle meaning, eye imagery, and literary alchemy scaffolding of the Potter books. I believe this book should be required high-school reading, because it prepares students to understand classics assigned in their courses up through college, and books they’ll read throughout their lives. Adult readers will have new appreciation for the books already on their shelves, and may find themselves rereading that “boring” Great Book–and Harry Potter–in a new and revealing way. For understanding Harry Potter, John Granger’s your man–and there’s so much more to discover. Check out his other insightful books-How Harry Cast His Spell, Unlocking Harry Potter, and The Deathly Hallows Lectures. Put on your x-ray goggles and jump on his magic carpet for more rides through storytelling magic.

Tough one to choose, I bet. But, I’d go for the embarrassment angle myself!

And, by the by, both letter writers were correct. That’s why we ancient ones from the first blog incarnation keep returning………….

At some point, I need to sit down and re-read Harry Potter’s Bookshelf. There is so much in there. I’m sure I missed or have forgotten some things.

Pat