Teenagers are no longer reading Harry Potter books in their legions, it emerged this week, as J.K. Rowling’s series dropped out of the top ten favourite books for secondary school pupils. Instead, teens are reading books aimed at primary school children. This is disquieting news. Of all the books teenagers can access, they should be reading the Harry Potter books.
They’re not perfect, of course. For one, the storylines are derivate: orphan raised by aunt and uncle encounters a bearded old man, goes on an epic journey with his buddies, undergoes tasks and magic training, and defeats ogres before encountering the dark lord in his lair. Our hero emerges victorious! Star Wars anyone? Lord of the Rings? In fairness, all three sagas are manifestations of a monomyth found in most cultures, as outlined by anthropologist Joseph Campbell in his 1949 work The Hero With A Thousand Faces.
Less forgivable are Rowling’s transparent metropolitan liberal leanings.
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