Monday, September 09, 2013

Six of the more notorious teachers in fiction

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Melissa Albert tagged six of the more notorious teachers in literature, including:
Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter series).

It’s tempting to put Snape on this list, but I think Umbridge is a better example of true evil in a Hogwarts professional. She’s a bigoted, backward-thinking witch who uses her powers in government to stem progress–and to be placed as a spy and interim headmaster at Hogwarts, where she preaches a “theoretical” magical education, ensuring students be helpless against Ministry forces (and Voldemort). And who can forget what went down during Harry’s detention? No clapping erasers for Umbridge.
Read about another teacher on the list.

Dolores Umbridge is among Emerald Fennell's top ten villainesses in literature and Derek Landy's top 10 villains in children's books. The Burrow is one of Elizabeth Wilhide's nine most memorable manors in literature.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban appears on Amanda Yesilbas and Katharine Trendacosta's list ot twenty great insults from science fiction & fantasy and Charlie Jane Anders's list of the ten greatest prison breaks in science fiction and fantasy.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone also appears on John Mullan's lists of ten of the best owls in literature, ten of the best scars in fiction and ten of the best motorbikes in literature, and Katharine Trendacosta and Charlie Jane Anders's list of the ten greatest personality tests in sci-fi & fantasy, Charlie Higson's top 10 list of fantasy books for children, Justin Scroggie's top ten list of books with secret signs as well as Charlie Jane Anders and Michael Ann Dobbs's list of well-known and beloved science fiction and fantasy novels that publishers didn't want to touch. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire made John Mullan's list of ten best graveyard scenes in fiction.

The Harry Potter books made Melissa Albert's list of more than eight top fictional misfits, Cressida Cowell's list of ten notable mythical creatures, and Alison Flood's list of the top 10 most frequently stolen books.

Hermione Granger is one of Melissa Albert's top six distractible book lovers in pop culture.

--Marshal Zeringue