Bidding Adieu to Harry Potter

This Sunday at 4:55pm lights will go down in a theater at the Alamo Drafthouse and I'll say goodbye to a very old friend. I was 20 years old, going to Kent State University, and I was a woman on a mission. See, my boyfriend had just broken up with me, I had shaved my head, and I needed a book. My on campus bookstore had a small stack of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I picked one up on a lark, and thought to myself, "Well I hope this J. K. Rowling person is good. He'd* better write one hell of a story."

And was it. I ate this book like a person eats Thanksgiving dinner. 18 hours later I was back in the bookstore and buying  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I needed to start this story from the beginning.

The Harry Potter series is not great literature. Don't get me wrong, it's written well, but it's not the end all be all of fantasy. But, and this is a big but, it did several very important things. First, it gave kids a reason to read and then talk about what was being read. I cannot tell you how important this is. Toss a kid a book and he or she will read it, get a kid to talk about it, and things change. It becomes an entirely different world. It also sets the stage for that to happen again and again. Suddenly, a life long reader is born.

Second, it gave parents and excuse to read with their kids. If a child starts singing the praises of a book parents tent want to get involved. This is excellent. Getting a family reading together is one of the best things that could ever happen. When Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out I went to a midnight release. It was a mob scene. Trust me when I say this, I've been to many punk rock concerts. I saw the band Ministry, and participated in the mosh pit. Nothing compares to the crowd at that book release. It was like a well controlled riot.  I was run over by strollers, pushed out of the way by little old ladies, and given a death curse by more than one 8 year old. I've also never been happier to see that many families in one place so excited about a book. Even though my foot was swelling up to the size of a balloon, and I my ribs were a tad bruised.

Third, it's one of the few series that grew with the reader. In the first book, Harry is 11 and attempts to find his footing in a new world. He's awkward, famous for reasons he doesn't understand, and isn't able to emotionally process the world around him. By the end of the series Harry is 17, an adult, and has matured. As Harry ages the books get progressively darker and the situations he faces get increasingly dire.  Rowling intended him to emotionally transform, and the slow way she reveals that is refreshing. It made reading the series easier knowing that Harry wasn't stagnate or one dimensional.

As the theater darkens on Sunday afternoon, I'll feel a tug in my chest. It's going to be slightly sad for me to say a final goodbye to this series. I've read every word, watched every movie, and enjoyed it immensely. I suppose all good things must come to an end.


* I quickly caught on that J. K. Rowling is a woman. At that point in my life, the club of women fantasy authors was very lonely. It was a table for one that sat Ursula K. Le Guin.  This year four out of the five Hugo nominees are women. Rowling's influence is tangible.

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