Are toys based on Harry Potter books a good idea?

Related story Pro: Movies, CDs, hype, bring it on

I naively thought that J.K. Rowlings' whimsical Harry, the children's - and adults' - character du jour, would be spared the mass-marketing frenzy that often plays into the hands of a captive audience. After all, there have been three releases in the seven-book series, and the well-written work has been standing on its own merits, destined for classichood.

But children now are so conditioned to having complementary toys and gadgets to go with almost every book, and manufacturers and businesses are so accustomed to making money in the process, that it's hard to break the cycle. I have to wonder, though, if all those marketed goods don't compromise a young reader's freedom to imagine.

As a child, I read Charlotte's Web, Little Women, Nancy Drew and countless other classics, not ever wishing I could cuddle with a stuffed pig or restyle the chestnut pigtails of a Josephine doll. Instead, I recall poring through the pages, living with the character one adventure after the other, until The End. Long after the book, I would build on the experience using my imagination. I'm still building.

Technology makes it so convenient today to take reading and imaginary play to the next level. I can see it now, a bespectacled Harry using his wizardry in a Saturday morning cartoon. The superficial fun won't stop there. He'll start to appear as a figurine in a cereal box or on the end of a key chain. And youngsters in between reading The Chamber of Secrets and The Prisoner of Azkaban will be diverted to the latest computer game where the entire plot is played out digitally.

Will the market be so saturated by the time the series is completed that Harry will have lost his appeal? Will the toys and other stuff become so popular that youngsters won't want to bother with the book?

Parents and devoted consumers need look no further than the huge bags of has-been toys discarded each year to see how fleeting the fascination. In the next phase, your child will barely recall the Madeline dolls tucked away in the attic, or the Alice in Wonderland video that was passed down to a younger cousin. The Cat in the Hat topper will become fodder for pranks.

But ask the devoted reader to recite the rhyme from Dr. Seuss' beloved work or repeat the cherished Ludwig Bemelmans words about the 12 little girls in two straight lines, and those memories don't fade.

Maybe there is a need after the reading to cash in on merchandising. I'll buy that if it means that a good reader emerges in the end.

But nothing takes the place of a good book. I pray that C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia series continues to escape the madness.

Jean Nash Johnson plans soon to reread her girlhood copy of Little Women and her daughter's copy of Charlotte's Web.