Want to feel old? Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was first published on June 30th, 1997. On September 1st, 1998, almost twelve years ago, it was published in the United States under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I was eight years old at the time, and far too cool for anything as pedestrian as reading, and so was late to the phenomenon that would come to define my generation. In fact, I didn't even pick up the book until some years later, at the age of 11, on a family trip to Seaside, Florida.
Needless to say, when Harry and I finally met, I fell totally, dangerously in love. I devoured the book in about two days, and insisted that my mom buy me the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the minute we got back to Chicago. I bought each of the next five books on the day they were published, and have seen every movie but the sixth on opening night. The first part of the seventh and final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out on November 19th, 2010, and the second part comes out on July 15th, 2011. I plan to be at a midnight showings of both. As with the release of the book version of HP7, the release of the second part of the final movie - over fourteen years after the release of the first book - will be a bittersweet thing. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that my generation grew up with Harry Potter. What will we do when the series ends? How will we navigate the post-Potter world?
The answer, my friends, is the inaugural Thing To Be Happy About: we will simply read the series again. And again. And again.
I spent a significant portion of this summer re-reading all seven Harry Potter novels, and was absolutely astounded by how much I still enjoyed each one. At the ripe old age of twenty-one-in-less-than-three-months (!!!), I probably shouldn't have been as completely engrossed in the series as I was. I am, after all, an English major, and spend the majority of my time reading Serious Adult Books. And yet, from the moment I picked up the first book to the moment I set down the last, I was a woman obsessed. After all these years, the books are still as entertaining, captivating, and inspiring as they were when I first read them. And, in the manner of all over-achieving English majors, I think I've figured out why.
In the Harry Potter universe, "kids" aren't just kids. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are eleven years old when first meet them, and they still manage to outsmart and outfight every "adult" bad guy they encounter. Consider the plot of the first novel. Professor Dumbledore has decided to hide the Sorcerer's Stone at Hogwarts, and enlists the help of several other professors in making it as safe as is humanly possible. Harry and the gang begin to suspect that someone is trying to steal the Stone, and decide that it is their responsibility to protect it. Keep in mind that less than a year prior to this decision neither Harry nor Hermione even knew that Hogwarts existed. Keep in mind also that every adult they encountered assured them that: 1) the Stone was safe; and 2) no one was after it.
You know the rest of the story. Ron wins "the best-played game of chess Howarts has seen in many years", Hermione protects Harry from almost certain death with "the cool use of logic in the face of fire", and Harry...well, Harry uses "pure nerve and outstanding courage" to keep Voldemort from coming back; at least, for a year or so. These three eleven year olds single-handedly kept the most evil man in the Wizarding World at bay after less than a year of their magical education. This same pattern is repeated in each of the subsequent books. J.K. Rowling gives her young characters the abilities and confidence to save the world. If that's not inspiring, I don't know what is.
If you know me well, you know that right now I'm driving myself absolutely insane studying for the GRE. My self-confidence is at an all-time low, and I'm (foolishly, I hope) operating under the assumption that my entire future depends on the outcome of this single test. Last night, after studying for far longer than is healthy, I got in bed with my roommate's well-worn copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I flipped to the last few chapters of the book, a section I knew I would appreciate. I'm not going to lie - (SPOILER ALERT, as if you haven't read it already) Dumbledore's death hit me just as hard as it did the first time, and I couldn't help but cry. But when I reached the end of the book, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to drop out of Hogwarts and go out to find Horcruxes and fight Voldemort, I felt a swell of confidence. Are you laughing at me yet? It's a little ridiculous, I admit. But if a seventeen year-old Harry can defeat the most evil man in the world (and believe me, he can), then who's to say that I can't defeat this stupid test?
So here's to J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series. One of these days (hopefully many, many years in the future) when I read the series to my kids, I know that they will be as amazed as I was and continue to be. And that's certainly something to smile about.
gtfd
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