Harry Potter unlocks the magic inside our imaginations
Saturday, July 28, 2007 11:22 PM PDT
By Chris Skaugset / For The Daily News
Printable version
E-mail this articleI have been waiting patiently, or not so patiently if you ask my family, with a see-sawing combination of joy, excitement, dread and sadness for the release of the seventh and, alas, final Harry Potter book.
At 12:01 a.m. the book was released to great fanfare across the world. The greatest literary phenomenon of all-time was coming to a close. My mind was filled with the joy that the next book was coming out; the excitement of discovering what would happen to Harry and his friends; the dread of wondering who would not survive; and a deep sadness that this wonderful, magical world of J.K. Rowling’s imagination would produce no more Potter stories.
I discovered Harry Potter one day in 1998, while browsing through a copy of Publisher’s Weekly. As I looked at the fiction bestsellers I noticed a children’s title. It stayed on the list for weeks afterwards, and that piqued my curiosity.
After the next few titles were released, Publisher’s Weekly changed their bestseller lists and created a children’s book bestseller list so that the adult list wouldn’t be dominated by the Potter books.
Even though I hadn't read a children’s book (except what I read to my son) in years, I went to one of the local bookstores and purchased a copy of "Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone."
I was amazed at what I found as I was pulled instantaneously into the life of Harry and his world.
I read many wonderful books as a child that I still love today, but nothing ever grabbed hold of my imagination and my sense of wonder like the characters, stories, and setting that Rowling created.
I was hooked and so was the world. Suddenly books and reading became front-page news stories.
More than anything else Harry Potter has opened up the joys of reading to a whole new generation (and reminded older generations).
Dr. Seuss blew away the beginning reader books with his wonderful use of language that let kids know that reading could be fun. Rowling has taken readers the next step, creating life-long readers. The ripple effects of Harry Potter have lead to a renaissance in children’s publishing, with numerous titles, authors, and stories available in numbers like never before.
When I finally sat down on Saturday and read the last book, I was expecting to be amazed. Instead, I was blown away.
With only a couple of short breaks during the day, I read the book straight through, unable and unwilling to not finish the story. Rowling's writing has been getting better and better throughout the series and, even with her occasional overuse of adverbs, "Deathly Hallows" is the best written yet.
It has the perfect combination of action, adventure, character development and surprises throughout. "The Prisoner of Azkaban" had always been my favorite of the series, but this has surpassed even that.
Finally, no matter what the reader thinks of the final book, the magic will continue on in the minds and imaginations of its readers. It is not only Rowling's creative books that will live on. But their timeless themes of friendship, adventure, growing up, love and, yes, magic (not necessarily the magic of spells but instead the magic of wonder) also will continue long after we turn that final page and close the book on Harry Potter.
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