Modern Fantasy - Chapter 6

Modern Fantasy is probably my favorite genre of literature. Fantasy books really draws me in, I usually end up starting one and I spend the whole day and next day reading until its done. The only time I stop reading is to eat or drink, and sleep. I love Fantasy books so much because they really do take me to another world, a world where witches, and warlocks prance about and even animals can talk to you.  There is something that is just so magical and consuming about fantasy books!

When reading this chapter I never realized what an impact fantasy books can have on readers. The author of the book mentioned a story that Lois Lowry told about her son named Ben.... his Barney got attacked my a dog and he then said his Barney died and he needed a funeral. Well, as they were planning the funeral Ben explained to his mother what what going through his head when Barney "died", he said that he was remembering the saddest sentence he ever heard which was "No one was with her when she died", this was from page 171 in the book Charlotte's Web. After reading that from our textbooks it really put into perspective the effect that literature can have on the reader. The fantasy story of Charlotte's Web, subliminally  taught Ben about losing someone and about being alone.
  My all time favorite fantasy literature is of course the Harry Potter books. I think that any of the Harry Potter books could be used as a read aloud in the classroom and many great activities could come about from it. Students could compare and contrast what is evil and what is not. They could make a web-quest of the author J.K Rowlings and learn what inspirations she had when she wrote the book. They could do a project in which they made their own wizard or witch that represents them, and they could write a short chapter for one of the books including their character. There are just so many ways that fantasy can be used in the classroom!