In a recent interview, a character actor from Scotland who portrays the popular Inspector Rebus has launched an odd attack of sorts on those in the education field who favor children reading the Harry Potter novels. The Scotsman reports that actor Ken Stott (who also appeared in “The Girl in the Cafe” directed by David Yates) said the following during an interview with Radio Times:
“If we’re going to make a fuss about children reading books, do it with Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books, not JK Rowling.
“I can’t believe idiot educationalists are praising children for turning up at school and reading Harry Potter.”
In a small bit of irony, the Rebus series are based on works by author Ian Rankin, a longtime friend and neighbor of J.K. Rowling in Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. Stott continued on in his interview about his future, noting “I’ll remain a grumpy old man.” We wish him continued success with his grumpiness!
Well that was a rather rude thing to say. I’ve read His Dark Materials and sure they’re great books but they’re also fairly complicated for children to get into. With Harry Potter children find it a bit easier to get into reading. This may be a bad comparisson but the HP books are the gateway drug to reading. They build up in plot and story with each book allowing children to grow. With these books children will find it easier to get into books like His Dark Materials and even Lord of the Rings.
I just find it funny that he would mention His Dark Materials cause usually you hear the argument that children should be reading Lord of the Rings! LOL! Oh, well. Maybe he’s just mad he hasn’t been cast in an HP film and they’re almost done with the series. ;)
Personally, I see this whole “children can read _ but never _” as a huge problem. If a child wants to read any book, so long as it does not have inappropriate content for their age, I see no reason why they should not be allowed to read it. If a seven-year-old picks up the fifth Harry Potter book, encourage it! It will probably be tough reading for someone that age, but it won’t hurt them. It can only help them learn, because if you read a book you enjoy, you are 100% more likely to pick up another, and another after that. Basically, I think, if a kid likes Harry Potter, they’re much more likely to like Shakespeare.
that is so funny, so what he really objects to is that kids aren’t reading the books that he wishes that they would read…
bizarre you can’t argue with the fact that the HP book have influenced thousands upon thousands of kids to read books when they normally wouldn’t… most kids wouldn’t even know who Philip Pullman is if it wasn’t for Harry Potter, and his books wouldn’t be being made into major motion pictures if it wasn’t for the success of the HP movies.
and as far as content is concerned the dark materials series is significantly different from HP as well, and nowhere near as deep or insightful… but I digress
Pullman’s Dark Materials are quite good, but I cannot believe anyone would prefer children reading that to Harry Potter. I mean, story line, writing sophistication, characters… JK Rowling is supreme in every way.
Sounds like someone is upset he hasn’t been cast in the films … :P
Posted by DorisCrockford on September 25, 2007, 06:05 PM
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Hypocritical elitist snob. His Dark Materials is good, but it’s no more noteworthy than Harry Potter. I’m betting he has not read the books because he can’t see the words with his nose so high in the air.
What an idiot. He probably doesn’t even know that David Yates directs the movies, even though he was in a Yates film himself. Yeah I’m stupid. I mean, I’m just busting my butt in medical school, but that makes me an idiot. I guess the billion other people who read Potter are idiots also. But he’s not. How arrogant can you get?
Oh yeah, and also I guess all these sites, Leaky HPANA, Veritaserum, not to mention all the conferences and debates and theories and papers are idiots, according to this no-namer. He didn’t offer any points to support his statement and that is because he hasn’t cracked open a HP book himself. He just wants to make some noise by saying absolutely nothing. It’s not like I value his opinion over mine, but it seems like he expects me to.
What if Harry Potter becomes a “trampoline” for kids to enjoy reading and eventually they move on to read things like His dark material? Would that be idiotic too?
If the books had poor grammar and spelling mistakes like say, the internet, then fine. This is typical of a man who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Git. In my opinion, I think the HP books are far superior to HDM in key ways. I’ve read both series as a 30-something adult, and HDM is full of character and plot inconsistencies between the books, complicated vocabulary, and boring passages. I couldn’t even finish HDM’s last book out of disgust, and I’m part of the academic world—how is a young reader supposed to put up with it?
Who is this Stott guy, anyway? Britain’s version of Tom Cruise (in the idiot/fanatic sense)? Well done to all the teachers out there who encourage kids to read, and thanks to JKR for sharing her wonderful imagination with us.
"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," said George, frowning. "And he [i]has[/i] been sending a lot of letters and spending a load of time shut up in his room.... I mean, there's only so many times you can polish a prefect badge."
oops! that should be whose of course