Book Review – Exploring Harry Potter
Author: Elizabeth D. Schafer
Publisher: Beacham Publishing
Binding: Hardcover
Publication Date: 2000
Published just after the release of the fourth book but before the release of the first movie, “Exploring Harry Potter” states that its intended audience is students, teachers, and parents. However, after reading the book, it is unclear whether any of these groups would actually benefit from reading it. For example, parents and teachers should know that London is a large city in England, as should, frankly, any student capable of reading this book.
Schafer includes a variety of information in her book, including biographical information on JK Rowling and the history (and controversy) surrounding the Harry Potter series. There are also trivia sections, questions for discussions, games, glossaries, and such. The bulk of the book is spent on the series itself, in the form of plot summaries and topical groupings. Unfortunately, most story information could just as easily (and more entertainingly) be obtained by reading the Harry Potter books.
Further, Schafer’s work suffers from irritating factual inaccuracies: she misspells characters’ names, and gets plot details wrong.
Worse, Schafer’s work suffers from simultaneous over- and under-analysis. She states, for example, that the name Hermione “can represent… hormone, both alluding to her feminine tendencies to be sisterly and motherly to her friends.” (pp. 53-54). Are we to believe that only females – not males — have hormones? And is really true that “hyper-parental” Hermione more “motherly” to Harry than Hagrid and Dumbledore are? And I always thought that prudent Hermione represented the voice of reason, commonsense, and caution! What makes this section of the book particularly funny and ironic is that the author concludes it by accusing Rowling of stereotyping her female characters.
An example of under-analysis… Schafer comments that “Harry does not… offer to share his wealth” with the Weasleys. (p. 51). Would it not be rude (and inappropriate) for a child to reimburse his friend’s parents for sleepovers? Would it not be ruder for that rich child to tell adults, “Hey, let me spot you some cash. You’re looking a little low”? Would it not humiliate Ron Wealsey – already sensitive on the subject – to have his friend give him money? Perhaps some of those reasons are why Harry takes every opportunity to share his wealth with Ron by offering gifts.
Despite having obviously done a lot of research, Schafer does not connect her research to the Harry Potter series. In some places, she gives no explanation at all for her “insights.” For example, Professor McGonagall’s “Scottish last name hints that she is both bold and bitter.” (p. 58) How so? Are we to believe that people of Scottish ancestry are bold and bitter? And how does “Pettigrew’s missing finger symbolize his inability to make his point effectively”? (p.66) From where does the author get the notion that the basilisk “has a gaze that is deadly, symbolizing the blindness of racism”? (p. 69) What does this statement even mean?
If I did not go very far into the book to quote the above examples, it is because I did not have to; “Exploring Harry Potter” is chock full of such unsatisfactory and muddled reasoning. Schafer’s book is a difficult read – not because it is at a high reading level, but because her “analysis” is little more than random connections of Harry Potter trivia to history, mythology, psychology, and other disciplines. It is as if she believed simply inserting the words “symbolizes” or “represents” into every other sentence is a reasonable substitute for critical examination and genuine insight.
Should you choose to read this book, you will (within a few pages) understand why the cover states that it is “NOT approved by J.K. Rowling.” What is particularly sad is that the Harry Potter world and series are so rich that they should easily lend themselves to the fascinating commentary promised on the book jacket. Instead, my recommendation is to look elsewhere.
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