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The Great Books Behind The Hogwarts Adventures

Berkley
July 2009
On Sale: July 7, 2009
336 pages
ISBN: 0425229793
EAN: 9780425229798
Paperback
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John Granger

John Granger
Author Book List

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.