The Harry Potter Series

I was teaching 5th grade at Enterprise Elementary School when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone first hit the shelves at bookstores. Never being a fan of much fantasy, I had not anticipated the flurry of youngsters that would rediscover a love of reading. Students that I could not get to read at all were not devouring this text with intense motivation. I had not witnessed this kind of enthusiasm for a book in well...ever. Children were beginning the book one day and finishing it the next day. Their parents were telling me that they could not get their child to go to sleep because he or she wanted to finish the book. I, of course, could not be left out of the fervor. I knew that I must read it to stay up to date with my students. Like them, I could not put the book down and read it in one sitting. When I closed the book, I knew what these young people must have been thinking: "When is the sequel due out?" The school librarian and I started a Harry Potter book club as an after school program so that parents who protested against reading the book would not feel obligated. What fun memories those are! What I enjoyed about the Harry Potter series was that, in my opinion, an author had made the fantasy genre come to life. Rowling ingeniously wove together a story that had just enough realism and just enough fantasy to whet the imaginative appetites of readers at all levels, from all backgrounds, both male and female. My favorite books in the series were The Sorcerer's Stone, Prisoner of Azkaban, and The Half-Blood Prince. All in the series are ripe with discussion topics and themes: good v. evil, values and beliefs, trust and friendship, the importance of family, decision-making skills, honor & courage, and more. I realize that this kind of tale, of witches and magic, is not for everyone; and, I certainly encourage parents and teachers to discuss the fantastical aspects of fantasy literature with children as part of genre study. However, I have enjoyed "watching" Harry and his friends grow up, and I think most young people will, too.