<p>Considering the Prep School Admissions forum is my other main haunt here, I have to say that I am of the belief that the spike in competition and interest for applications at boarding schools geared towards top tier college prep is in no small way influenced by the Potter series. Not too long ago, if you mentioned boarding school to a kid the context would be: “Watch it, mister, or we’re going TO SEND you to boarding school!” Instead, the prevailing attitude seems to be, “Can I GO to boarding school? Pleeeease?!?!” </p>
<p>The Potter books have given lots of kids a taste of boarding school life and they’re not just interested or curious. They have a fairly mature or inveterate grasp of what it’s all about. They understand that they are buying in to a total living experience and not just looking for a school where they will attend school and just so happen to live at, too, only because it’s so far away from home to commute as a day student.</p>
<p>I was ten years old and walked into the sixth grade after summer break only to listen to hours and hours and hours of summer book reports on Harry Potter. I saw diagrams of the castle drawn on the chalk board, watched demontrations of Quidditch rules, and listened to lots of little sixth graders talk about the same book for the first two weeks of school. I pledged not to read them. My sister, two years older, read them somewhere along the line and encouraged me to read them, but I was a stubborn kid and held out. I saw the first two movies on TV, I believe. The week that the fifth book came out I had a gap in my summer plans. In under a week, I read the four books we had at home and the newly bought fifth book. We got the sixth together at midnight–our mother gave in and agreed to buy both of us a copy–and completed it within a day or two (both of us were working over full time at this age, so we didn’t have the luxury of hours to read). We talked about the fifth and sixth together, particularly the sixth, and shared some thoughts. My mother read them all and said she liked them, but she regularly forgot characters’ names and overall didn’t seem too enthused. My father has said that he wants to read them, but he’s never gotten around to it. My sister and I will likely buy the seventh book together at midnight, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to convince our mom to buy them for us (normally we pay for things like this ourselves, so it’s definitely nice). </p>
<p>As someone else mentioned, it is such an interesting and well-crafted universe that I’d really like to learn more about different people and events. My sister and I have read the books multiple times, and I hope to read the sixth (if not all of them) again before the seventh comes out. It puts you in the mood for the universe. I personally find the writing very comforting. I’m used to her writing style, so it’s nice to pick up one of the books and easily fall back in line with her writing. I’ve wanted to buy them on tape for long car rides or plane rides, but they’re pretty expensive, so I haven’t yet. </p>
<p>I like the thought of growing up with Harry Potter, though I don’t know if that aspect correlates to how much the series is enjoyed. I’ve considered in the future perhaps buying my niece the first for her eleventh birthday, though that’s quite a while away, and so on every year. It’s a very good group of books, that’s for sure.</p>
<p>D is a rising senior in college. She isn’t crossing days off the calendar waiting for the new HP book like she might have done when she was younger, but she won’t wait past the first day to get her copy!</p>
<p>HeliMomNYC–Funny story with a great visual! Ha. :)</p>
<p>corranged–I was one of the “hold-out” ones early on, too, and didn’t read the books right away. I remember seeing JKR interviewed on <em>The Rosie O’Donnell Show</em> in '97 or '98 and being intrigued by her hard-luck story–that got me started reading the books more than anything else, as I recall.</p>
<p>D’yer Maker–It’s interesting that you’ve actually seen the interest in boarding schools in the US go up since HP.</p>
<p>bandit_TX–Wow. 6 p.m. for the midnight launch. I’ve always wondered how early people line up at B&N. You know, you can walk right in when the store opens the next morning and pick up your reserved copy/ies at the counter, no problem. I suppose that’s not as much fun, though, and you have to stay off the Internet and away from all other media if you don’t want to know what happens before then. ;)</p>
<p>My daughter and I discovered it at the same time – I learned about it from an article in the New York Times, she when her fourth-grade teacher read it aloud to the class. We were hooked, but I’d say our interest intensified as the series progressed. The books grow in complexity – the last two are really not young adult books, IMO. </p>
<p>We’ve gone to the midnight book releases. When book 6 came out we had to buy 2 copies because she flew to Belize 8 hours after the book was released. (She read it on the plane – I don’t want to spoil it, but those of you who know the series know how upsetting the ending of Book 6 is. She was absolutely devastated and alone in a strange country with strange people. Not a happy situation.) </p>
<p>This year, I’m joining a group of adult girlfriends for a read-in. My daughter and her friends are welcome to join us. They are all HP fans.</p>
<p>As for the OP theory – my daughter is 18. I feel like she’s grown up with Harry. In many of the books, her age has matched Harry, Ron & Hermione’s age when she read them. In some ways, the ending of the series coinciding with her high school graduation seems fitting. I think it’s appropriate to call this generation of kids the Harry Potter generation.</p>
<p>You can go by earlier at B&N and get a ticket for admittance at a certain time and avoid the standing in line. We didn’t know that until last time. Of course. then you miss all the people that come out in costume, and the impromptu HP quiz contests.</p>
<p>S (rising college soph) was a big fan. I’m sure I will be express mailing a copy to him this summer, just like when he was much younger and away at camp. Nice to know that some things don’t change!</p>
<p>I’m seventeen, and I definitely think of Harry Potter as something that’s grown up along with me. I’ll be devastated when the series is over… completely honest here. I’ll feel vaguely like parents who cry when they drop their kids off at college.</p>
<p>Well, we are all big fans of this series in our home… the discounts at the big stores for pre-ordering have allowed me to justify buying each of us our own copies…3 hardcovers and 1 set on CD…and then because we gobble up the hardcovers so quickly, we always donate the extra copies to the library which is happy to have spares. I keep the CD’s and 1 hardcopy…we have listened to every book numerous times like MaryTN has… we have driven back and forth to Sugarloaf listening to Harry…we even do a chairlift game, Name something from Harry Potter for each letter of the alphabet before the lift ends. When my work takes me to VT and back in 1 day, I will listen to a Potter book. </p>
<p>My youngest son looked very much like Daniel Radcliffe when each was young…and I remember the 1st movie because my guy got his first pair of glasses the day the 1st movie opened in the theaters. He had Harry Potter glasses of course. I was always grateful to JK for having Harry wear glasses because it is a bit of a trauma for a child when they first put them on. Anyway, we all went to London a few years later and took the train from Kings Crossing to Cambridge and he was stared at in Kings Crossing by a lot of people…we think they were wondering if there was some sort of special filming going on!! They had a special exhibit at the British Portrait Museum where they showed JK’s outline for the first book on 1 sheet of paper. That page in the display case really spoke to me…such a world crystalized on that sheet of paper. </p>
<p>There are so many fabulous web sites tied into this series… with great fiction and speculation about the story…is Dumbledore really dead? Is Snape good or evil…one of my favorite items from the books was the Mirror of Erised… seeing what one wants to see! </p>
<p>We have enjoyed all the movies also…I don’t think I could say that if the lead characters had changed … it is as though we have all been on a journey together. I do like that there have been different directors. I am intrigued by the idea of a Harry Potter attraction at Universal Orlando.</p>
<p>D is 16 and LOVES HP and can’t wait for the new book. S–almost 19–never read them but watched the movies (He was so totally into Lord of the Rings when he was 14/15). 13yo S is re-reading the HP series now (He’s a math kid who hates to read and these are some of the few books he’s gotten into). My 11yo S was about 5 when he saw the first movie. On the way home he tried to put a curse on his dad and was SO disappointed that it didn’t work. The whole family still teases him about that.</p>
<p>When D left for college last fall and I was wondering what I would do with all my free time, she made me promise to read all the Harry Potter books. She hounded me through the fall. I started reading the day she left for Spring semester and finished the “Half-Blood Prince” a few days after she came home for summer (which was on 5/5). Since she came home, I’ve sat through the 1st three movies and will have to see the 4th before the next one comes out. </p>
<p>I must say she was right (and i’m reminded of this ALL the time), they are an incredible read. I don’t enjoy the movies as much since they have to cut so much to fit into a “reasonable” time period. </p>
<p>D had her aunt order the upcoming book months in advance to get some special edition copy. These will always be in her hard bound collection. </p>
<p>Oh yeah, that reminds me, I got my copies from 1/2 Price Books or the library. I would have been sent to Azkaban if I’d damaged <em>her</em> copies!</p>
<p>Going back & reading other posts reminds me of when the 2nd or 3rd book came out. D was VERY sick, but drug herself and us to B&N for the midnight release to get her advanced order copy. She came home and slept for a couple of hours, got back up, and read the entire thing cover to cover on the couch that day.</p>
<p>I have some special Harry Potter memories in my family. I have worked in the children’s publishing field almost my whole career, and I never, ever would have believed a children’s book series could have such an impact. </p>
<p>I read the first HP very early on, and my D (about 9) read it and loved it. When the second book came out, J.K. Rowling came to the large bookstore in our city and did a reading. It was during the day and I took my D out of school and we went. It is one of my best memories of her childhood. There was only one smallish class of children there plus about ten other people including us. J.K. read from the second book, we bought autographed copies, and my D asked a question that J.K. said no one had ever asked her before (as to whether the people in the paintings had lives within the paintings beyond just looking out). she was lovely and charming and funny, and so nice to all the children.</p>
<p>I always bought two copies of each book, one for my D and one for my H to prevent arguments.</p>
<p>I had an extra copy of the first book and gave it to my brother-in-law after he fixed our computer. He raced through the book and called to say he had just gone out to buy the others. This was the first book he had read since high school!</p>
<p>I think the best impact Rowling had was to make publishers realize that kids can read long books. There were a few of her books that I thought desperately needed editing, but my kids were of the opinion longer is better. I have a good friend who writes kid’s books and I remember visiting her one summer when she was under orders to cut a third of her manuscript. She said it was depressing because the constant comment she gets at book signings is “I wish it were longer!” to which she can only reply, “It was. It was.”</p>
<p>Some of you may want to check out Harry and the Potters, a couple of brothers and their friends who have been very successful with a low-fi band performing songs exclusively about the series, mainly at libraries and bookstores. I’ve never seen them, but everyone I know who has was very enthusiastic, and Pitchfork (the indie-rock web Bible of my children’s generation) rated their initial 2005 tour as one of the top 5 events in music that year. I have heard four or five songs – extremely cute and literate.</p>
<p>My 17 year old son read all the Harry Potter books, and he’s awaiting the release of this newest one. We pre-ordered on amazon months ago.</p>
<p>My 15 year old daughter isn’t nearly as taken with Harry Potter. She watched the movies, and read one or two of the books, but I don’t think she’s even aware that the last book comes out this summer.</p>
<p>My daughter has two sets of Harry Potter books, her hardback copies that no one else can touch and her paperback copies that can travel with her!! The paperback copies have been to the beach, on planes, trains, and automobiles!</p>
<p>My younger D doesn’t care much about HP, but my older D, now 22, is a rabid fan. She has been writing HP fanfic on several sites for years, and has dressed for various parties/releases. For the last release she dressed as one of her own fanfic characters, in a beautifully made Gryffindor costume that looked just like the ones in the movies. This year she’ll be going as Tonks. Her highlights of an England/Wales trip we took last year were visiting several filming sights, including the one where Malfoy was turned into a bouncing ferret. She also ran around London and other towns buying the British releases of the books. She has hand-made banners in her walls and collectibles all over.</p>