I admit that I’m extremely late
getting to the Harry Potter Party, but I recently began reading the book
series. When Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone came out I was a busy single
mom of three young children with a ton of responsibilities and reading just never seemed to fit into
the schedule. When the movie was released, I took my youngest son to see it and
I was in total awe. Sure, it was long, particularly for children, but it was
truly magical.
Now that I have more time to read
for my own enjoyment I find myself happily gravitating to children’s books and
the Harry Potter series was a natural choice. I decided to read the series, in
order of course, and have completed the first two books – the aforementioned
Sorcerer’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets.
Regarding Harry Potter and The
Sorcerer’s Stone, at first I wasn’t all that impressed with J K Rowling’s writing – that
is, the mechanics of her writing. What I do think is she’s an amazing world-builder
and that’s what makes this series so phenomenal. Readers become completely
engrossed in the magical world of Hogwarts, Magic and Muggles. Sure, there are
some glaring plot holes that adult readers might find glaringly obvious, but
when we remember that this is a children’s book series these things are easily
forgivable. And the author's writing improves tremendously as the series progresses.
There’s no denying that J K Rowling’s
success with the Harry Potter series has probably far surpassed anything anyone
could have ever imagined. It’s not often that a book is turned into a movie,
but an entire book series being spun into a movie series is quite an awesome
feat. And let’s not forget that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal
Studios continues to break visitor records year after magical year. A clear indication that there's no short supply of Potterheads in the world. Affection
for the series shows no signs of waning anytime soon.
Would I recommend reading the
series? Absolutely! The books are fun, fast-paced, non-wordy, and spectacularly
glorious. Readers can quickly find themselves immersed in the tales of Harry,
Ron, Hermione and the rest of J K Rowling’s characters. If you read for the
sheer pleasure of it, then I encourage you to begin the series. If you read the
Harry Potter books as a child, I encourage you to revisit as an adult. You’ll
be seeing things through an entirely different perspective.
James & the Dragon by Theresa Snyder
