J.K. Rowling's celebrated Harry Potter series continues to captivate young and old reading audiences alike with its engaging characters and exciting plots that keep readers craving more. Just in time for the much anticipated movie release of Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince, comes a new spin on the Rowling's fiction that is sure to pique the interest of literature affectionados everywhere.
John Granger offers a literary companion to Harry Potter by revealing an understanding of the series through great writers Rowling often cites as her favorites, such as Austen, C.S. Lewis, and Dickens. John unveils influences that include everyone from Shakespeare to Stoker, George Orwell to Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley to Agatha Christie, and divides the book into chapters that discuss each influence. In the process, Granger reveals the layered meanings writers share with reader who look close enough to find them.
Readers are invited to romp through the literary traditions embedded in Rowling's fiction and to consider questions such as: Have you ever found profound similarities between Harry Potter and Huck Finn? Has Severus Snape ever made you think of a Gothic villains straight from eh pages of a Bronte novel?
HARRY POTTER'S BOOKSHELF examines Rowling's works as an introduction and extension to some of the greatest books in history, while encouraging readers to enter the magical worlds of Austen, the Brontes, Sayres, Shakespeare and Swift (just to name a few). Become part of the Potter-mania sweeping the nation by commemorating and exploring the influences and literary heroes of one of this century's most prolific and legendary authors, J.K. Rowling.
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