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comment by kleinbl00

You're arguing that Harry Potter owes a lot to TH White. Sure, obviously. That doesn't make it derivative of The Once And Future King.

"Derivative" means, at its most basic, "imitative in a negative way." Having written 500 words or more on how Harry Potter is not the most amazing new thing under the sun, I think we can stipulate that JK Rowling owes a lot to basic literary tradition.

But that's a long damn way from being "derivative pap."