I am totally cheating for today's book review. And you know what? I am okay with that.
Today is the last day of school for me, and one of the things I am looking forward to this summer is all of the reading I intend to do. That means more recent book reviews on this blog!
But this week I am looking at a whole series, one I read years ago, one that changed children's and young adult literature, seemingly forever. One that brought so many new readers into the world of make-believe. Earlier this week, the first Harry Potter book, The Philosopher's Stone, turned twenty.
First of all, that is hard to believe. Twenty years.
I don't know if I have ever seen people line up for a book to come out, but I did see that happen with this series.
Was I in those line ups? No. I had decided not to read the books until they all had come out. I know that part of the experience is that waiting, that lining up with like-minded people, that discussion over "What will happen?" and "What do you think ____ means?" The analysis of each hypothesis, each attention to finite detail, is all part of the process.
And I missed out on that.
I get to experience it with other things, but yes, I was late to the Harry Potter phenomena.
So it was more recently than twenty years when I opened up book one and read that "Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."
I am looking at the whole series for the purposes of this review, but I am happy to answer any questions that you may have pertaining to any of the specific books. I would also love to hear your comments on the series!
Rarely, if ever, has a series transfixed the world the way that the Harry Potter books did, and continues to do.
At the risk of upsetting a whole whack of people, here is my honest, unbiased, review:
The books are not perfect.
There. I said it.
Now put down the rotten tomatoes and let me finish.
The books are not perfect BUT that doesn't really matter.
Some things are so big, that they become a force in and of themselves.
The Harry Potter series encouraged kids to read. As a teacher, I LOVE that. It got parents to read the same books as their children. It helped make the word "nerd" much more positive in connotation. It encouraged children who felt that they didn't quite fit it. It taught us that a trip to the library could literally save lives. It gave us a world of magic and friendship and loyalty, where adults worked alongside kids and ghosts chatted with students over dinner and anyone could save the day. It grabbed hold of people and drug them through adventures and lessons and past interesting characters.
So, the problems with the books don't really matter. Especially when we look at them as a series; there are a couple books from said series that I did not like at all. There were plot holes and obvious developments and places where Rowling was trying just a bit too hard.
But you know what?
I don't care.
Because Rowling gave us a fantastic world, and characters, that we all fell in love with.
And really, that is all that matters, and all that should matter.
Because that is so much bigger than anything else in any story.
Happy birthday, Harry Potter. And thank you.
What was your favourite Harry Potter book? Your favourite character? (Mine is obviously Hermione, [then Dobby, then Ron...])
I would love to hear your comments on Harry Potter, or anything, below! And don't forget to subscribe to my monthly newsletter, by clicking here. My newsletter comes out the first Tuesday of the month. That's pretty soon! If you don't want to miss out, be sure to sign up.