Reader Response
     Jan.25,2011  Heather Brownlee

     I am responding to a biography of J.K. Rowling.  It is titled The Wizard Behind Harry Potter by Marc Shapiro.  I have read 230 pages out of 260.  This text is non-fiction.  The genre of this text is a biography.  It is a biography because it is the true story of  a person’s life written by someone else.  This biography includes real events and quotes.  It is about how J.K. Rowling came to be a world known author tracking right back to when she was born in 1966.  The setting of the biography is mostly in the United Kingdom but it also travels out to different parts of Europe and North America.  It is from the author’s perspective but it includes thoughts and feelings of J.K. so it seems like it is more from her point of view.  However, since the thoughts and/or feelings did not come from Joanne (J.K. Rowling) directly they may not be entirely true.  Words new for me in italics were names of companies such as New York Times.  The chapter titles are just like those in chapter books- they're a bit of a teaser.

Retell    My favourite part of this text was definitely  when J.K.  overcame her fears and sent the first book, “ Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's  Stone”  to a publisher.   Throughout the biography it explains how Joanne was always very secretive of her writing.  Many people had suggested that she get some of her earlier pieces of writing  published but she did not have the courage to follow through with it.  I like this part because she pushed through her fear and allowed herself to become vulnerable which is very hard for someone to do.  If she hadn’t Harry Potter would still  be  a secret world in Joanne’s head.  I think the setting of the biography is very important to  the setting of all the Harry Potter books.  The setting of the biography is the setting of  J.K.’s life which mostly takes place in The United Kingdom.  Each Harry Potter story is very close to its  British roots.  The setting, characters, clothes, foods and traditions all have to do with being British.  If Joanne had grown up somewhere else the  setting for Harry would also be different (he would have a different culture).  The British aspect of Harry Potter is what makes it so unique and therefor that much better. If Harry was of a different nationality everything would change and I can’t say it would be for the better.

Relate   This text really makes me think about how hard it is to be a single parent.  The biography frequently refers to how J.K. has been a single parent ever since her daughter was only two weeks old.  She was completely on her own and she struggled a lot.  Due to her financial state she was forced to go on welfare.  However the welfare did not cover child care so she could not get a job since their was no one to look after her baby, Jessica.   From the biography I can really feel how hard those times for Joanne were, luckily Joanne had a talent that she used to her advantage.  She barely had enough money to supply food for her daughter let alone herself.  I always knew from TV or other people that it was extremely hard to be a single parent but after reading about Joanne’s personal experience I actually understand now and can relate better.  If I could ask J.K. anything I would ask her how she creates such an amazing world, where she finds the inspiration for all her wild ideas.  I know from reading the biography that things in her own life contribute to her stories but there are so many details,  how does someone piece them all together?  How does she create such complex characters and settings?.

Reflect     I like how the author of this biography, Marc Shapiro made this text seem like it was from the perspective of J.K. Rowling even though it isn’t.  When a text is from  a character or subject’s point of view you as a reader build a deeper connection to them.This text helped me to understand the complex Harry Potter books better. Now that I know more about J.K Rowling I often think about where the author (Joanne)  got her idea from for a certain character’s personality or how two scenes were intertwined so smoothly, while reading her stories.  This helps me to make deeper connections to the stories since I may know where her inspiration for a specific part came from.  Also, when I read some scenes in her books I feel like they had to do with Joanne’s life since I  now know  more about her.  For instance Harry’s last name is “Potter”  and while reading the biography I noticed that  one of Joanne’s child hood friends had the last name Potter, maybe that is where she got the famous name from.  I admire J.K. Rowling because she is so humble.  It doesn't matter to her how famous she is or how much money she makes.  The only reason she started Harry was because she loved to write and for those few precious hours a day she could escape to her own secret world where she didn’t have to worry about poverty or her dying mother.  The biography makes it very clear that Joanne had no intentions  of becoming a world wide known author and an extremely successful one at that.  She is still to this day shocked at how popular her books are.  I like this rare characteristic of Joanne because it is nice to be reminded that there are still very accomplished people today who are humble and don’t have the huge egos that we so often see in celebrities or people we know in everyday life.  It takes a strong person to go through the popularity of J.K. Rowling and still stay very firmly attached to their roots.