Don't Get Comfy, Harry Potter

Hogwarts creator will get honorary degree

(NEWSER) - Harvard students will get a Hogwarts send-off at their spring commencement this year, reports the Crimson, with Harry Potter author JK Rowling as the keynote speaker. "Perhaps no one in our time has done more than JK Rowling to inspire young people to experience the excitement and the sheer joy of reading,” said the university's president. More»

(NEWSER) - Eager readers around the globe took part in a massive midnight fete that combined jubilation and bereavement as they snatched up copies of the final installment of the Harry Potter saga. Fans lined up from Ohio to Singapore, many of them in costume, speculating on the fate of their favorite characters and enjoying Potter-themed parties thrown by bookstores. More»

Nonprofit Harry Potter Alliance uses books as inspiration

(NEWSER) - Harry Potter’s battle against injustice in the wizarding world has prompted fans to take the fight to the Muggle universe, the Los Angeles Times reports. Inspired by moral teachings of Albus Dumbledore, Harry’s mentor, the nonprofit Harry Potter Alliance has registered voters, collected some 13,000 books to donate to community centers, and raised $15,000 for displaced persons in Darfur and Burma. More»

Books lack moral weight as Potter gets off easy

(NEWSER) - Harry Potter is a fitting hero for a generation of readers: his powers arrive on a silver platter, and from there it’s “all zapping bad guys, no taking out the trash,” writes Kyle Smith in the New York Post. While heroes like Luke Skywalker face obstacles to achieving their potential, JK Rowling’s creation, "like many of his generation, is the Cosseted One from an early age.” More»

Study indicates literary decline might be reversing

(NEWSER) - The percentage of Americans reading fiction has increased for the first time in years, a new study by the National Endowment for the Arts indicates. The reported 50.2% of the population who picked up a book for pleasure marks a turnaround from a statistical decline in literary culture over the past two decades, the New York Times reports. More»