Actually, I rather like the HP books, as do every kid I know. They do require Coleridge's "willing suspension of disbelief," though.

Personally, I think that Bettelheim is right in saying that literature helps prepare children. My mother used to read us the Arthurian stories, and ever since I've been ready to pull that sword out of the stone and rule all England as the rightful king.

There's also "Terence, this is stupid stuff."

I started writing the HP outakes a couple of years ago (yes, I confess, I wrote them and wattayagonnadoaboutit, huh?) simply because I have a hard time taking a lot of stuff seriously -- and because I liked the use of language in the books.