Miyazaki does Earthsea, sort of

I am looking forward to the Miyazakiazation of Ursula LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea, the book that is most directly responsible for inspiring my first novel. I adore the whole Miyazaki oevre, so am over the moon that Studio Ghibli is doing this. The catch is that it's Hayao Miyazaki's son Goro who is at the helm of this adaptation, titled in Japanese Gedo Senki. You can read LeGuin's own review of the movie here. We'll have to wait a little while longer for the English dubbed version, in which Shakespearean actor and former 007 Timothy Dalton is voicing Ged. I reserve judgment.

I have to say, Goro sounds like a name LeGuin would have come up with, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, it's going to be a long wait. The SciFi channel's rights from their dreary TV adaptation don't expire until 2009, so it won't be coming to a theater near me any time soon.

J. K. Rowling's Coattails

Hatching Magic is this week's pick for the Washington Post's KidsPost Summer of Magical Reading Book Club.

It's a weird ride, here on the long coattails of J. K. Rowling. On the one hand, it has to feel good to see fantasy books on so many "What to read next" lists. And I personally get a huge lift just being on the same list as such greats as Lloyd Alexander, Ursula LeGuin, Susan Cooper, and Diana Wynne Jones. It's great company to keep. But its discouraging and depressing to read about research that shows that just because a young reader is wild about Harry, it doesn't follow they'll tackle another fantasy writer, or even another book at all.

So I think I'm not alone in wondering how bumpy the landing is going to be.

If you haven't read it, check out Ron Charles's editorial on the Post website, "Harry Potter and the Death of Reading."

I'm looking forward to exploring a used bookstore in Maine, where I can put my hand on a battered paperback, and make my own small, personal rediscovery. Maybe it will be a literary novel, a mystery, some great nature writing...maybe even a fantasy.