I am a big defender of 'Harry Potter ' and I think any book that gets kids to read are books that we should cherish we should be thankful for them.

Nearly all monster stories depend for their success on Jack killing the Giant Beowulf or St. George slaying the Dragon Harry Potter triumphing over the basilisk. That is their inner grammar and the whole shape of the story leads towards it.

I understand why society especially American society is gravitating toward fairy tales given our economy. We've been exploring the world of witches and wizards for years. We've been exploring the world of vampires for years. Clearly the public - I mean I feel like all of this was ushered in by 'Harry Potter' - in my own fannish beliefs.

'Harry Potter' gave me back self respect. Harry gave me a job to do that I loved more than anything else.

And religion causes most of the problems war and economics of course and study your history or you're going to repeat it and if you're burning a Harry Potter book you need some serious counseling you don't get it you're missing the whole point.

Most modern science fiction went to school on 'Dune.' Even 'Harry Potter' with its 'boy protagonist who has not yet grown into his destiny' shares a common theme. When I read it for the first time I felt like I had learned another language mastered a new culture adopted a new religion.

I think movies do play a valuable role in turning people on to the act of reading. I think that phenomenon just creates readers. At first they're going to love 'Harry Potter ' or they may love 'The Hunger Games ' but after that they're going to love the act of reading and wonder 'What else can I read?'

There's definitely a large fan base for the 'Twilight' and 'Harry Potter' movies that need their next fix.

I have three kids who like Harry Potter so I was sort of aware of it. You can't really move from it: it's on buses in stores it's everywhere. One of my kids has read the books the other two are too small but they like the movies.

I've always thought that as long as directors and casting directors don't see me as just Harry Potter I'll be OK. People have shown a lot of faith in me and I owe them a huge debt. They're letting me prove that I'm serious about this.