There will be a post to come later, of course, that will include my reaction to that experience, but today I would like to share with you something I found a couple of weeks ago, stuffed in the cover of my reading journal: A notebook page from 8/8/00 with my initial reaction to reading the very first Harry Potter book.
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| The notebook page and a newer copy of my first HP book (Chewy, my aptly named beagle, ate my first one!). |
So, without any further adieu, I give you my very first impressions of Harry Potter hours before I experience, perhaps my last of this original series:
8/8/00 Tuesday
Last night I finished reading Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. I loved the book.
I, at the age of 23, found the book captivating and it is easy for me to see why and how this book has such a large following of young readers. Harry has all of those wonderful features we look for in children's books.
First: the lonely child with talents that go unnoticed in a world almost too common for him. The story can easily be paralleled to the underlying ideas found in Cinderellla. Cinderella, a common slave in the world of her step-family, was a sought-after beauty in the royal family. In the same light Harry, blatantly ignored by his step=family, is a highly revered savior in the world of magical wizards and witches.
A second feature commonly found within children's stories is the idea of overcoming the bullies. The great thing about Harry Potter is that it tends to be a bit more realistic than most children's literature where the main character has only one bully. In every aspect of Harry's life he meets some sort of bully to deal with. His cousin, aunt and uncle set the scene early in the story showing us, from the beginning, that Harry Potter has a strong spirit (perhaps foreshadowed by his "strength" during his infancy when faced with his first bully Voldemort). Then, when it seems that Harry is on his way to utopia - away from his family and bullies - he finds yet another set of bullies in Malfoy and Snape. Harry's conflict with each of these bullies remains throughout the book, not disappearing after one momentous victory. As in real life, these bullies are not easily swayed. In fact, even at the completion of the book we can see that Harry's happy ending does not include the complete ending of his bullies.
I think this is one of the great draws of this book. Harry is a character many children can relate to (even if they are not in-the-closet wizards or witches) because, beyond his wizardry, Harry is quite an ordinary boy who, in our world, has to fight for himself - completely. This ordinary boy manages to go on even with all of his foes - Harry does not allow these people to bring him down or interfere with the progress of his life.
What a wonderful role model for the children of today. What a wonderful role model for us all!
I had so much more to learn about Harry! Even so, as you can read, he impressed me from the start.Last year I read a fantastic book called Harry Potter's Bookshelf: The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures
by John Granger that truly opened my eyes to all sorts of literary analogies that could be made with the Harry Potter books. I highly recommend this book to all Harry Potter fans. I loved it.
Well, enough of all that. I have great preparations to make:
- What Harry Potter t-shirt am I wearing tonight?
- Which earrings?
- What kind of caffeine with I be using to keep myself awake tonight?
- Is my phone charged in order for me to take pictures of the midnight madness at the movie theater?
Are you going?
Are you happy/sad/excited?
Are you dressing up or just watching the spectacle?
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