A recent Wall Street Journal article profiles newcomer author Erin Morgenstern, whose debut novel The Night Circus is due out next month. The article posits the question of how far publishers are willing to go to find something to replace the Harry Potter cash train they have been riding . Yet, in profiling Morgenstern, the WSJ (inadvertently, perhaps) reveals much about the way the machinery of the publishing industry resembles the Gamemakers of The Hunger Games, but without ever really noticing that the most popular books, like Hunger Games and Twilight are those which are not so much Harry copy-cats as those which draw on the “bag of tricks” used so adroitly by Rowling. Follow me after the jump for more observations on these paradoxes and more.
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Publishing Gamemakers Desperate to Conjure up Another Rowling
What do they teach them in these schools? College courses in Harry Potter and Reading Selections we Actually Enjoy
Last week, I worked late registration at my college, helping students as they tried to get everything sorted out for their semester. Although I think our classes are plenty fun, some of the larger institutions obviously are way ahead of the game with classes that, at least in title, connect to Harry Potter. Even in non-Harry-themed courses in colleges, universities, high schools, junior high, and elementary schools across the country, students this fall will be reading some of the books we discuss here. In my own Expository Writing classes, my students will be reading The Hunger Games, which I began implementing a year ago. Join me after the jump to see a list of Fifteen Fascinating College Course for the Ultimate Potter Scholar (as posted on the Best Colleges Online website) and for some conversation about the books teachers are assigning this fall. [Read more…]
Hunger Games Movie Updates: A Flaming Poster, Study Guides from Scholastic, and an “On The Ground” Report from an Extra
We’ve had several great pieces of Hunger Games movie news lately, so here’s a full post with a little something for everyone who is intrigued about the filming of Suzanne Collins’s remarkable story. Join me after the jump for thoughts on the fabulously fiery poster, the study guide from Scholastic, and a very detailed report from Jay, friend of this blog, and recent survivor of the District 12 Reaping (Way to go, Jay! Just one more year, and you’re home free, since I don’t think your mom let you take out tesserae). He tells us all about how being an extra for the film was a whole lot like actually being a Tribute. [Read more…]
Ditch Professor Binns’s Class and Have a Blast from the Past with Harry Potter and History
In its latest installment in the History and Pop Culture Series, Wiley Publishing has just released Harry Potter and History, edited by Pace University Professor (and friend of this blog) Dr. Nancy Reagin, who also edited Twilight and History. It’s a wonderful collection written by historians from a diverse array of backgrounds covering topics from the real life Nicolas Flamel to the parallels between events in real human history and the history created by J.K. Rowling for her wizarding world. [Read more…]
Leaky-Con After-Action report
Yes, I know it’s been well more than a week since the Leaky-Con crew departed Universal Studios Resort (though I suspect some of them may have tried to sneak back in and live there), but with all the excitement, I’m just now getting to a more thorough response to the event, along with a few pictures! Those of you who were able to attend, I hope you’ll add your thoughts about sessions or events that I didn’t get to experience.
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