Visiting Harry Potter

by Julie Hatfield
Children love to be transported – through books – to places more exciting than where they live. As Maria Tatar, Harvard professor, children’s literature culture teacher and author of “Enchanted Hunters; the Power of Stories in Childhood” notes, “the stories of childhood draw children into enchanted other worlds…” such as Oz, Neverland and Hogsmeade, where in the latter, “the combination of meticulous scenic construction as well as elaborate dialogue gives readers the sense that they are not just eavesdropping on Harry’s world but planted comfortably in the midst of it.”
The H...