About Our School

Classrooms

Featured Programs

Parent Resources

PTSA & CSC

From Kids

History

BROMWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (214)
2500 East
Fourth Avenue,
80206-4214
(Columbine Street at East Fourth Avenue)

Telephone:
(303) 388-5969
Fax: (720) 424-9355
E-mail: Bromwell@dpsk12.org

Mr. Jonathan Wolfer, Principal

The Age of Harry Potter

Our students are lucky to be living in "the age of Harry Potter," for Harry inspires a love of reading in children that is simply beyond comparison to any recent literary event. Indeed, it seems to be more closely related to the phenomenon that accompanied the Beatles arrival in America back in the Sixties! I have to admit that I've also been swept up in the excitement now and again.
--S.R.

IF YOU LIKE J.K. ROWLING, TRY THESE AUTHORS...

T.H. White
J.K. Rawlings owes a great debt to White's The Sword in the Stone, which was much more colorful, meaningful, and eccentric than the Disney cartoon of the same name. In the book, young Wart is tutored by Merlin, and the lessons involve magical transformations and breath-taking adventures. Hmmm.. sound familiar?

John Bellairs
This prolific author wrote many books for kids that lean towards the gothic horror genre. In one series, orphan Lewis Barnavelt finds out his Uncle Jonathan is a wizard -- and so is he! In another series, young Johnny Dixon is assisted by the mysterious Professor Childermass in his explorations of haunted houses, secret tunnels, and old graveyards. Bellairs also wrote The Face in the Frost, a more fantasy-oriented book that is truly delightful.

Lloyd Alexander
Alexander has written The Chronicles of Prydain, a series of five books that owes a great debt to Tolkien and Lewis. The young hero is the orphan Taran, and he lives in a fantasy world populated by elves, witches, and dragons. Like Harry Potter, his adventures are alternately humorous and hair-raising, involving comic friends and scary enemies. Disney made an animated adaptation, "The Black Cauldron," which did not do much justice to the books. After writing this series, Alexander went on to write other acclaimed fantasy books for kids.

Susan Cooper
Cooper is the author of The Dark is Rising Sequence, books about a group of children who encounter black magic in present-day England and must help resurrect King Arthur for the great final battle between Good and Evil. The books are more serious in tone that some of the others listed here -- and are, perhaps, more scary and thrilling as a result. As with Rawlings and Tolkien, Cooper's books seem to appeal as much to adults as to children.

Brian Jacques
Equal parts The Wind in the Willows and The Hobbit, with a dash of The Canterbury Tales, the Redwall series concerns the medieval adventures of mice and other forest animals who live in or near Redwall Abbey.

T.A. Barron
This Colorado author has written the marvelous novel Heartlight, wherein young Kate becomes involved with her grandfather's experiments with light and is led into a conflict with an alternative reality. Barron has followed this novel with a series of acclaimed books about the life of young Merlin in ancient Britain.

Bruce Coville
Coville, a prolific author who began his career with satiric novels for kids, has jumped on the fantasy bandwagon with a series (two books so far and more to come) about The Land of Unicorns. They center upon Cara, who can leave our world behind to venture into Luster, the land of the unicorns, a place that is under frequent attack by strange and malevolent sorcery. Kids who like the series may want to look for an even better book, The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle. It has often been called "the best fantasy written since The Lord of the Rings" by critics. Don't be misled by the execrable animated cartoon of this story if it ever comes your way!

Avi
Another prolific and popular children's author, this Denver resident wrote Midnight Magic, a mostly humorous book about a quest undertaken by characters (including a "magician who doesn't believe in magic") who live in a fantasy world.

Eva Ibbotson
This author's The Secret of Platform 13 is Harry Potter in reverse -- it concerns four friends ("an ogre, a hag, a wizard, and a fey") who venture forth from a magical world on a quest that takes them into modern London.

FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS...

1. Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
2. Redwall by Brian Jacques
3. The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
5. Half Magic by Edward Eager
6. Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
7. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
8. The Secrets of Droon by Tony Abbott
9. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
10. The Harry Potter books on audio

In addition to the "Book Sense 76" list, here are some suggestions from the Denver Public Library for Harry Potter fans:

1. Poppy by Avi
2. The House With a Clock in its Walls by John Bellairs
3. The Boggart by Susan Cooper
4. Matilda by Roald Dahl
5. The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop

THE NEXT POTTER?...

Pirate's Passage, written and illustrated by Nova Scotia's William Gilkerson, is about a precarious friendship, with suspense and the history of Western piracy woven in.

The Alchemyst, by Irish fantasy master Michael Scott. It's about real life 14th-century alchemist Nicholas Flamel, who also appears in the Rowling books.

Suzanne Collins's five-book series that starts with Gregor the Overlander. These books tell of the adventures of an 11-year-old New Yorker who has fallen through a laundry chute into a fantastical subterranean world beneath the metropolis.

The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan, which is about Perseus (Percy) Jackson, a 12-year-old who learns he's a demigod, plays with mythology and draws in both well-read kids and reluctant readers.

The Warriors series, animal fantasy stories by the pseudonymous Erin Hunter ("The girls like them because they're [about] cats," one young man told a librarian, "and the guys like them 'cause there's fighting").

Plus! Stormbreaker, a spy thriller by British author Anthony Horowitz, Cornelia Funke's Inkheart and Inkspell, Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy, Christopher Paolini's Inheritance trilogy, and the Pendragon adventures by D.J. MacHale.

...AND FIVE FAVORITES FROM J.K. ROWLING HERSELF!

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
"My dad read it to me when I was 4 and sick with the measles."

Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
"It's a very girly book. I still reread it."

A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter
"It freaked me out, because the father drowns in a swamp hole. But it's a magnificent book."

Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
"She always said exactly what her characters were eating. I found that really satisfying. That why you always get lists of food at Hogwarts."

Manzmouse by Paul Gallico
"It's superb."

4TH GRADERS DEFEND HARRY POTTER

"The Harry Potter books are bad for kids because they are all about sorcery, which means they promote Black Magic and devil worship."
There is a big difference between worshipping the Devil and talking about the Devil. If people think they are the same thing, those people are crazy!
-- Amanda
Without the black magic, there's no problem in the books. Without a problem there's basically no story for the characters!
-- Calla
The bad magic makes it more exciting. Also, everyone knows it's fiction.
-- Kevin
It's just a book. It is entertaining and should not be taken seriously.
-- Garen


"The Harry Potter books are filled with unicorns and giants and a lot of other stuff that is simply not real. Normal children should just read about normal things. Such weird stuff is a waste of their time, and doesn't help kids prepare for real life in the real world."
It is hard for some children to know the difference between reality and fantasy. Kids could pretend their sticks are wands and before you know it they are whacking each other on the head!
-- David
I absolutely do not think that Harry Potter is a waste of time. Stories like these take you on an amazingly wonderful trip to places you've never been.
-- Alexandra
I think we should have a variety of books, just like we have black and white people or black and white film and color film. Maybe it does not "prepare us for the real world," but can't we have some fun?
-- Tatiana
The Harry Potter books encourage imagination. It's not a waste of time. Not every book needs to prepare kids for life in the "real" world.
--Keegan
It is not a waste of time to read about these things, because they can really interest and excite you and open your mind.
-- Aaron
Our world would be bland without imagination. You need imagination to invent things. Leonardo da Vinci imagined a bike and a helicopter before they were ever invented. Architects must imagine a building before they ever begin building it in the real world.
-- Mason
Harry Potter, even if it's make-believe, deals with some feelings that are in real life, like jealousy. That does prepare you for real life, because real life is full of feelings.
-- Pearl

"The character of Harry Potter himself promotes bad behavior. He constantly breaks the rules at Hogwarts and at home, so he's a poor role model for kids. He teaches them that it's okay to break rules and defy authority."
He has good reasons to break the rules. He breaks the rules to save the school and himself. He never breaks the rules just to be bad.
--Alexander
Sure he breaks the rules, but that makes it interesting, and when he breaks the rules he does get punished.
-- Kassandra
Just because Harry breaks the rules it doesn't mean we will, too. Besides, every time he breaks the rules, he saves someone's life.
-- Anne
Harry Potter is a good role model because even though he gets in trouble, he also shows friendship, love, courage, and bravery.
-- Dylan
The characters are strong role models. Hermione studies very hard to learn magic. Instead of watching t.v., the kids at Hogwarts are always reading.
-- Katie

"Children may say that they like the Harry Potter books, but sometimes children like things that are bad for them. They can't really be trusted to decide which books are good and which ones aren't."
Kids understand good versus bad. We're more responsible than some adults give us credit for.
-- Peter
I'm insulted! People who want to ban these books this much can go ahead and ban them from their own kids, but not us.
-- Madelyn
Sometimes children do like stuff that is bad for them, like too much candy. But I think that children can be trusted to decide which books are good and which aren't. By the time kids are old enough to read Harry Potter, they have read many other books, and they can tell whether it matches up to the other books they have read that are good for them.
-- Ellen

In conclusion...
If Harry Potter books are bad then reading itself it bad!
-- Ryan

'BEWARE of BEANS' UPDATE