the last film will be epic

I was in seventh grade when the first Harry Potter film came out. I can remember sitting in a dark theater with my cousin and parents. We were on the far side of theater, the second or third row back from the row where you can place your feet up on the bar- {do all theaters have this row? anyway...} My mother loved the film as much I did, whereas my cousin could care less about the wizarding world. After that I sat in study hall every day, reading as much as I could about the boy who lived. Several of my peers read it as well.

I've been a Harry Potter fan ever since. It still baffles me how someone can be as genius as J.K. Rowling. The woman is downright brilliant. She created the most wonderful, lovable world- and all while sitting in little coffee shops as a single mother. When I pick up a Harry Potter book, it's impossible to put it down. I started rereading Deathly Hallows last night and thought I'd never get to sleep.





I've been obsessed with the computer game at one point. I've owned every book and DVD the day it was released. Half the time I had to wait for mother to read the book because she's every bit a fan as I am. We switched off every other book. Sometimes she'd read it first, sometimes I would. I can remember reading Deathly Hallows for the first time as mom drove us home from Target. Of course, I couldn't wait until I was home to start reading it. I would gasp at several scenes and I'm sure my mom wanted to slap me- not really, but you get the idea- for frustration of wanting to know what was happening.




I've had several arguments with religious friends about whether or not Harry Potter was "satanic" or something or other. "It's teaching children witchcraft," some would say. My argument: How is Harry Potter any different from any other fictional story? There's witches in several Disney movie classical films. And J.K. Rowling didn't actually create real spells. Again, it's fictional. In fact, J.K. Rowling identifies herself a Christian. & anyone who has seen the movies or read the books can tell you it's a story on good versus evil, and above all promotes love and friendship. I can think of far worse things that children watch these days. Now of course, I do think younger children like my nephew should wait until they're a bit older to watch the later films because of the violence.





Last summer I was absolutely giddy when I arrived at King's Cross station in London. I was equally giddy when I purchased a British version of Half-Blood Prince {like the one featured above} at a book sale not far from the London Eye and Parliament. That same summer I went to the midnight showing of the Half-Blood Prince, and you can bet I'll be doing the same for the next two films. Who else had severe goosebumps while watching the newest trailer? Summer 2011 and I'll be saying goodbye to something that's been a part of my childhood much more than even the Toy Story films. Note: I cried while watching Toy Story 3.




But I suppose I'll never really have to say goodbye. The magical world of Harry Potter is always a page- or trip to Universal Orlando- away. ★

What are your thoughts on Harry Potter, readers? & Sorry for going overkill on the HP pictures.