Treating Fiction as Sacred

I recently discovered the amazing podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, and it has taught me about an entirely new possibility for interacting with fictional works, i.e. treating them as sacred.

So what does this mean? Essentially, it has to do with taking a text seriously in order to examine what rewards it has to offer. This doesn't mean that the text or the creator are considered in any way to be perfect, but rather it's more about applying a certain rigor and ritual to a text in order to enhance our understanding. The podcasters explain that a text is made sacred not by any inherent value, but by having a community of readers that treat it as such. How cool is that!

And if you're wondering whether or not you have to be religious in order to apply this practice, you absolutely do not. It has nothing to do with your individual religious beliefs, or lack thereof, but it has everything to do with carefully reading and considering a text in order to learn what hidden blessings the story can offer us.

Each episode, the podcasters give a close examination of a single chapter through a chosen theme, kicking off their conversation with a related story from their real lives. As they discuss, their goal is not to critique the text, but to take the text as written and to see what they can learn about that week's theme from the choices the characters make. They then apply a spiritual practice to a section of the chapter to see what other new understandings can be revealed.

This podcast has given me permission to talk about something that I've always known to be true: the fact that books like Harry Potter have had a profound impact on my life. I think too often, especially as readers and writers of middle grade fiction, we are told by society that the literature we love doesn't matter, that it can't be taken seriously or that it simply doesn't have any true literary merit because it was written for children. How wrong the critics are, and I think this podcast pushes the discussion even one further, not only saying that literature for children has merit, but also validating the idea that it can offer real benefits and blessings for our lives.

The challenge that I'm going to undertake after listening to this podcast is to go out and find other texts that I can treat as sacred and to see what I can learn from them. My challenge for you, if you haven't done so already, is to head on over to Harry Potter and the Sacred Text and give this awesome podcast a listen.

At the end of each episode, the podcasters offer a blessing for one of the characters in the chapter they've just examined. At the end of this blog post, I would love to offer a blessing for the creators of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, Vanessa, Casper and Ariana. Thank you for introducing me to a new way of interacting with my favorite stories. As a reader and a writer, your podcast has really helped me to more thoroughly understand the impact that stories can have on our lives. Thanks, and keep up the good work!

Going Home Again with Harry Potter

Ever since I discovered Harry Potter in my mid-20s, I've never stopped reading it for more than a few months. Whether it's the UK editions or the French or the new illustrated volumes, picking up Harry Potter is like going home again. Great books, either for children or adults, give us a sense of belonging and comfort, while at the same time challenging us to see the world in new, magical ways.

My love of Harry Potter is what inspired me to become a writer, and I hope to emulate at least one tiny piece of J.K. Rowling's magic in every book I write. Much of her magic, however, remains a mystery to me. Like how she makes readers care so deeply about her characters. Perhaps it's the way she introduces them and immediately tugs at our heartstrings, like Dumbledore, who despite being a formidable wizard, is immediately likable thanks to his mild demeanor and his weakness for sherbet lemons. This is similar to Hagrid, who, although he breaks down a door and appears like a wild man, his eyes “glinting like black beetles,” proceeds to ask for a cup of tea and offer Harry his first ever birthday cake (50).

Even her minor characters are introduced with whimsy and the utmost attention to detail. For example, from The Chamber of Secrets: “Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue which exactly matched his eyes…(63).” What a perfectly endearing way for us to meet a character whose vanity will eventually lead to his downfall.

There's so much to say about the many-layered world that J.K. Rowling has created, but I want to come back to the most important aspect for me: the sense of coming home. Like most people, my head isn't always a happy place to live in, but I know that whenever I need to escape or calm down I can slip into the wondrous world of Harry Potter, where love triumphs over evil, where surprises hide around every corner and where larger-than-life characters feel more like old friends. If I can one day write something that gives readers that same sense of going home again, of finding a pleasant and necessary escape, then I will have truly accomplished my goal as a writer.

 (Quotes from the 2014 UK paperback editions)

Middle Grade Movies to Entice Reluctant Readers

Just about everyone loves movies. They’re big, exciting, and capture our ever-shifting attention. But they can’t compete with books for stimulating thought and imagination. 

Both books and movies have an important place in our culture and in our learning. But with all the hype and fun surrounding movies, how do we persuade reluctant readers to give reading (and their imaginations) a chance?

THE PERKS OF READING

• Novels spark readers’ creativity, they prompt us to ponder life and to consider new and different places and situations. 
• When we take the time to read a novel, we are investing in it. This investment pays off. 
• Novels provide hours of entertainment. The stories stick with us, even years later. 
• There’s also a payoff of increased knowledge, thought, and mental development. 

MOVIE VERSIONS OF BOOKS CAN MOTIVATE READING

Despite the awesome perks of reading, sometimes it’s tough to convince kids to crack open a book. But if they know the book has been made into a movie, sometimes that can be just the motivation they need. Especially if Mom or Dad require the reading before the movie watching. 

This has worked wonders in my family. The kids not only read the books, but sometimes develop a fascination for a series that grows into an appetite for reading in general. 

They also start to realize films must gloss over detail to fit into a couple hours. They start to recognize the richness of the reading experience, both in the added detail and in the room for imagination.

With this in mind, here’s some great middle grade books that have been made into movies. Enjoy!

MIDDLE GRADE AT THE MOVIES

Harry Potter (series)

Percy Jackson (series)

Chronicles of Narnia (series)

The Hobbit (series)

Wonder

Goosebumps (series)

A Wrinkle in Time (series)

Hugo

Alice in Wonderland

The Golden Compass

What are some of your favorite middle grade books that have been made into movies? What do you love about the film version and the book version?