you say harry potter; we say laura wilder
July 14, 2005, Dan Craft wrote an article with the above title; it appeard in the Bloomington Pantograph. Great article. Look for it (I found it on elibrary).

In part, Craft wrote:
Do you suppose if there had been mega-bookstore chains and the Internet 60-odd years ago there would also have been "Little House on the Prairie" midnight book release parties down at the local Borders and Barnes & Noble to herald each new Laura Ingalls Wilder arrival?

Or that selling a copy of, say, "Little House in the Big Woods," before the midnight release date would be considered a literary felony of the severest order? And that Wilder and her legal team would be ready to pounce on the nearest offender?

Or that kids would be surfing the Net on fact-gathering missions, trying to verify the various rumors flying through cyberspace about the fates of Laura, Ma, Pa, Mary and baby Carrie?

Or that Wilder would have been tempted to franchise her books into lucrative multimedia cash cows, from an "On the Banks of Plumb [sic] Creek" theme park to "Little House" video game series, complete with virtual-reality sod house and THX-certified sound effects for the prairie fire?

We can wonder, can't we?

Obviously, Dan Craft has never met the likes of US.
- posted by pioneergirl at 2:20 AM