I am not a Harry Potter fan.
Neither of the movies, nor the books, nor all the regalia that goes with Pottermania.
But I'm probably also premature in just saying this because it's all based on assumption.
Not once did I read a Harry Potter book...not even aloud to my kids.
Not once did I see a Harry Potter movie.
"I don't like that kind of stuff. I don't like fantasy." (as if the romance book publishing industry, in which I worked for close to twenty years, is not made up of fantasy!)
I simply never gave Harry and his cohorts a chance.
Perhaps it's "my bad."
My son, who's now twelve has been reading the Potter series for several years. In anticipation of the newest book, which was released yesterday, he began rereading earlier volumes in the series. He also introduced his sister, who will turn 10 next month, to Harry, and she began reading the first book on Friday night, much of Saturday, and even taking the book to shul when she went back later in the day.
My husband preordered the latest book in hardcover for my oldest son. Of course, it was to be delived yesterday, on Shabbat. So before Shabbat, we -- I! -- had to prepare a box on our front landing, along with a note: "Courier/Postman: Please leave package in box below."
When we got home from shul around 12:30, there was no package in the box. But somewhere in the time that we ate lunch, between 1:00-2:00, it had arrived. And luckily, the book wasn't packaged in anything that had to be torn; it could just carefully be slipped out of the cardboard holder and then held and admired by my son. My husband had ordered "the adult version." My son was disappointed about that...until we found out that only the cover/jacket art was different than the standard version.
Yesterday, my oldest son was reading an earlier volume throughout all of Shabbat; today, he began to tackle the newest version.
Thanks to Harry Potter, today was what I believe to be the most peaceful day in our household -- with my daughter reading her first Harry Potter, and my older son reading his newest Harry Potter, and my youngest son lost in his Pokemon adventures on GameBoy.
And if that wasn't enough, later in the day, my oldest son watched a Harry Potter film on the computer and the other two watched one on DVD.
Harry Potter is welcome in my home anytime; not only is he a wizard, but he also makes a great baby-sitter.
You think if I gave Harry half a chance, and check him out, he might just work his magic on me, too?
