I hear ya, Andy. However, HP and JK tend to be polarizing for whatever reason. There is no doubt in my mind that JK's and/or WB's team of lawyers are at the heart of the matter. Thank you, to all that set the record straight on the article.
I fully intend to read the HP series over my long slow season at work. Several thousand pages of well written fantasy sounds like a good way to pass the time until spring. However, I do feel that JK is indeed a plagiarist. There are way too many similarities between her characters, situations, and ideas from previously written works for her to have not borrowed some things. That said, who doesn't lift directly from other sources? Supposedly, Sam Raimi lifted the idea of his cult classic "Evil Dead" directly from an obscure Italian zombie movie (the name escapes me right now). "Robocop" is a cybernetic (and brutal) tale of Christ. Even the Old Testament story of Moses' basket floating down stream to be plucked from the river by nobility is supposedly based on an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic carving.
What JK has done is use whatever material she had, borrowed or created from her own mind, and perfected it into a story that is engaging and fun to read for kids and adults alike. My main problem with her regarding this story was that from the article it seemed like she herself was going after the float. That didn't sit well with me. It was irresponsible of me to pass judgment on JK off of one article, even if I believe that some of her sources are uncredited. Bottom line: She's gotten kids to read. That's a good thing. The principles an legalities of her work can be hammered out over time, but kids with their nose in a book instead of pressed up against the TV is never a bad thing.
