Thank you for reading! And that's interesting what you say about the reverence for things - just the ordinary creations of this world, living and nonliving. Yes, you do get that more in Lewis than in Rowling, for sure. I've been very puzzled by her last couple of books and my reactions to them; thus all the essays. I am glad you've been enjoying my musings. But, seriously, there is a harshness and lack of empathy in these last Potter books that absolutely baffles me, and, once you spot it there, it mars the entire series, for you can spot it in the earlier books as well - as early as POA, and even in COS, which had been my favorite up to OOTP. Add in the crudeness in Rowling (all those unnecessary wand jokes, for instance) and the lawsuits, and I am starting to wonder exactly why people like John Granger find her works Christian?

Had a glance at The Neverending Story just now, and it seems a little too distant and intellectual for me, if you know what I mean. But I did get the sense that it tries to show imagination as a spur to moral and emotional growth, and I do approve of that message. I may take it out and give it a chance.

Thanks again for your comment!