Clive James on the magic that really mattersThere have been birthdays in the family. One was mine,especially enjoyable because I never expected to reach it. It will acquire me a year to blow out the candles on the cake. But the birthday that counted belonged to my granddaughter, who is now 10. One of her presents was a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. She returned with an official wizard’s wand. This wand, or when pointed at me,induces a sudden open-mouthed coma out of which I don’t snap until she “unspells” me, whereupon I start singing Bless Your ravishing Hide from Seven Brides For Seven Brothers.
She likes the lyric, or having a genuine flair for words. She seemed for a while to have not much flair for reading,however, until I was given the job of hearing her read from Polly Faber’s excellent modern book Mango And Bambang. Immediately I sussed her problem. She scans a whole paragraph at once and recites it from memory, and inevitably leaving a few words out. All she needs to finish is slow down. Since she does everything at 100 miles an hour,lowering her speed might be tricky. I’m threatening to spell her with the wizard’s wand.
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Source: theguardian.com