Wednesday July 12, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER COMMENT Harry simply a good read I like Rex Murphy. But not half as much as I like Harry. And I'm not talk ing about that scruffy creature, our hap less dog, Harry. I am, of course, speaking about what Murphy called so disparagingly in Monday's Globe and Mail - the Harry phenomenon, Harry Potter. It is just like anything else, he sniffs, like^tll kinds of marketing hype: Britney Spears, Pokemon, Back Street Boys. "It's the latest thing....It's the latest ingredient in celebrity-world-electronic-marketing's Great Stew. The news-tainment universe of Elian and M onica, Leonardo DiCaprio and Star Wars, fame-is-betterthan-money-craze-crime-fad-gimmickpalm-pilot-celebrity-sick dawn of the 21st -century world." But as much as I love the mind behind this man, Rex, I have to say to him: when it comes to Harry, you are dead wrong. You see, it is so very unlike anything else be it Britney Spears et al because it is, after all, a book we are talking about. And it isn't some slight 150-page small thing so obviously knocked off as a sequel just to rake in a little cash....it's a hefty 630 page-turner that hooked my guys this weekend. We got the last copy. Luckily. Blessedly. Like most of the world, we woke up to the day of Harry Potter and, in our usual absent-minded fashion, thought it might be nice to get a copy. So why, I said, don't you guys head down on your bikes and grab one? What did I know there were line-ups, sleep-overs, a mad rush to get the copy? Off they went, naively believing they'd ju st be able to walk into the book store and pick up one of many books out that day. And they got the last one. Sitting right there after a kindly wizard pointed out there might be another copy on the pile of pre ordered ones. The last copy, they breathed as they pedalled home. They were thrilled: do you know, they said, it isn't the latest wake board; the biggest super soaker; the best movie that's all the rage this summer...it's Harry Potter. So why. Q ) O A K V IL L E FOR SALE: 8 4 5 -6 6 0 1 DIANE HART pray tell, do we care what's behind it all? Rex says we should care because we are on a great stampede; a "full body immersion into numbing zombie con formity and the need to have everything now because everyone who counts is going to have it now." He says getting the great monster becomes more important than reading it. What nonsense. As parents fighting the screen age where kids are plunked in front of moronic stuff every day, fed on a numb ing diet of mediocrity, we looked at each other in astonishment: this is a book. And our kids' friends are calling one another: did you get it? What part are you at? Isn't it just the best one yet? And I am beginning to feel much like a friend of mine who told me she'd like to go down on her hands and knees and kiss the feet of J.K. Rowling because it got her boys reading last summer. You see, it sounds so easy to get kids to read. After all, we all read as kids. Sure, we had mothers screaming at us in the summer sunshine to get out and enjoy the weather because "IT's TOO NICE TO BE INSIDE" . But we all read books. But I can't remember any of us phon ing each other about a book; talking about how to get it; what our favourite character is....In fact, Harry Potter is a common ground for kids otherwise out of the loop in sports, movies, block busters, Nintendo. This is a phenomenon to be sure. But about a book, for heaven's sake. So Rex, I love cross country check up on CBC Sundays. 1 love the way in which you manage to find your way through the verbiage and get at the key points of almost every issue with insight and humour. But when it comes to Harry Potter, you have to give way in favour of the kids. Because they aren't stupid. Believe me, kids aren't going to take a stinker to their grandmother's and sit at the table reading. They aren't going to stay up until midnight reading in bed. My kids are like most kids: they want what everyone else has. But they know, through experience, the value of that adage about being careful what you wish for -- you just might end up get ting it. And they don't want to be conned by the ever-present marketing machine. What do my kids say? Drew's immersed right now in page 220 and, to be honest, isn't talking much. He took a few minutes to pedal to a dental appoint ment before he was back ensconced on the couch. He shrugs: "People are always jealous of success." v And Kate, she's pacing back and forth lamenting the unimaginative folks who just don't get it. She's planning to e-mail Rex: "Has he read the book?" she queries. Read the book, Rex. Then, let's talk. THE CORPORATION 01 Till. TOWN OT OAKVILLE Used Surplus Municipal Transit Buses and Related Transit Bus Components OT-4-2000 INFORMAL QUOTATION NUMBER: 4 SEALED BIDS on forms provided will be received by the Purchasing Department. Town of Oakville. 1225 Trafalgar Road. Oakville. Ontario, or by mail to P.O. Box 310. Oakville. Ontario. I.6J 5A6 until 4:00 P.M., Local Time, on FRIDAY. JULY 21,2000 Equipment list bid forms and bid envelopes are available at the offices of the Purchasing Department, telephone (905) 338-4197. fax (905) 815-2019. R. J. Coumoyer. C.I.M.. P. Mgr. Director. Purchasing and Office Services THE CORPORATION OE THE TOWN OF OAKVILLE TENDER FOR: Four (4) 40-ft. Heavy Duty, Urban Transit Buses. 102" Wide TENDER NUMBER: T-21-2000 SEALED TENDERS on forms provided will be received by the Town Clerk. 1225 Trafalgar Road. Oakville. Ontario, or by mail to P.O. Box 310. Oakville. Ontario. I.6J 5A6 until 2:00 P.M., Local Time, on TUESDAY. AUGUST 8. 2000 Specifications, lender forms and tender envelopes are available at the offices of the Purchasing Department, telephone (905) 338-4197. The Town of Oakville reserves the right to reject any or all lenders and the highest or lowest as the ease may be will not necessarily be accepted. R. J. Coumoyer. C.I.M.. P. Mgr. Director. Purchasing and Office Services 1225 TRAFALGAR ROAD · OAKVILLE, ONTARIO · L6J 5A6 Le tte rs to the E d ito r Fun night success On behalf of everyone at M unn's School, I'd like to pub licly thank the local businesses and our own school com m u nity, who con tributed to the school's hugely successful "Family Fun Night" on June 14th. M u n n ' s teachers and staff cooked and served 250 hotdogs and 360 hamburgers and dished out 24 cases o f pop. Grade 5 students ran the games, form er "grads" at M ontclair helped out, and many parents helped set-up and run other activities that contributed to a fun evening, while live and silent auctions and a raffle helped bring in close to $6,000 for computers. We'd particu larly like to acknowledge the extrem ely gen erous support of the Outback Steakhouse, as well as the assis tance o f The Bam Markets. Sue Horner M u n n 's CADILLAC PONTIAC BUICK Ltd Parent and Fun Night Coordinator CADILLAC PONTIAC BUICK INC. (J U S T W E S T O F D O R V A L) on selected models " HAM. Q.ELW , TOR. X S. SERVICE RD. * I KERR WYECROFT RD. SPEERS RD. ^ iW + E --l 4 1 0 S O U T H S E R V IC E R D . W .