Say it ain't so, Harry!

It's like my childhood is coming to an end.

Not that I'm saying the adaptations are particularly good (Steve Kloves, I'm looking at you), and not saying that I really even liked Deathly Hallows (which I really didn't...or at least can only remember that damn epilogue, which obscures everything else), but I've grown up with Harry Potter and to see it come to an end...

I remember when the book first came out. I was eleven and visiting London. The Philosopher's Sorcerer's Stone wasn't out in the States yet, but I remember seeing the British edition in the bookstore and wanting it. I had to wait another year for the first two to be available. I can remember when my mom brought them to me at summer school. I was 12. And as the books were published and the movies made, I went through Middle School, High School, College... Now I've graduated, but instead of feeling like it's something that I should be embarrassed for liking, I'm nostalgic.

Really, my age group grew up with the books, more so than for any other. My brother and sister (almost 16) are too young to remember anything before really the Goblet of Fire. Many of my friend's older siblings operated in the "read but don't admit to liking" category. My age, it was okay to read the books and be enthusiastic enough to dress up as characters for parties or midnight showings. I can remember every book coming out, how I stayed up all night to finish them, how i bawled when Sirius (spoiler alert) died, how much I hated Dobby's annoying use of third-person. I can remember reading Order of the Phoenix in the pool, sitting on a floatie with my next door neighbor, our arms out over the pool ledge so as not to get my hardcover copy ruined as we each held a corner. Every film was seen with no less than 6 people, all friends who were just as enthusiastic about something that reignited memories of our childhood as we were about the plot holes or ridiculous acting.


Too bad my computer ate the pictures from where I was dressed as Katie Bell. My sister now wears the shirt I made to sleep

The books got a generation of kids to read again. But not just read, research, learn about history and myths, write... Whether or not you like the books or think they're ~literature is not the point. It was the first series in a long while that got kids excited in reading, but not just about Harry Potter, about The Dark is Rising, about The Golden Compass, about Lord of the Rings (though the movies helped that as well), about The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe, Chrestomanci- books that have repeatedly struck a magical nerve in kids.

They're good books, with a damn solid story and some awesome character development. And the characters are flawed, which is so nice for kids who are often made to feel that it's either the right way or failure. If these protagonists, these heroes, can make mistakes- then maybe it's not so bad for the average 13 year old. And the films, for all their flaws, opened up even more eyes to the books, and by default other books. It let kids have a bit more make believe. I, for one, know it got me to write.

And now we're at the end. The actors are ready to move on, the author's ready to move on, I'm ready to move on.
Though, when the time comes for that BBC 300-hour epic version of the series 15 years from now, I hope they know who to call for the adaption.


Damn, don't I sound like a crazy fan. I swear to God, if you meet me I won't be dressed in a cape. Unless it's halloween...or something. And like I said, it was my childhood..and awkward teenage years. You gotta give me a break.