SOURCE: “This Is More than Hype: Harry Feels Like Me,” in Globe and Mail, July 10, 2000, p. R3.

In the following review, Canadian children's book author Robert Munsch lightheartedly gives his reaction to the success of the “Harry Potter” books and explains his reasons for enjoying the series.

So I walk into The Bookshelf in Guelph, Ont., and there is a whole shelf of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire residing in the recommended reading section.

This is interesting because the recommended reading section at The Bookshelf means just that, a whole shelf of books that the staff recommends. Publishers do not buy space here—so it's usually an imposing bookcase full of highbrow stuff that I pass on the way to the science-fiction ghetto at the back of the store.

And there is a kid's book sitting right in the middle of this recommended reading. Actually, there...