This Owl Just In...The Harry Potter Posts (#2: Fast Forward)

Fast Forward to 2008
I had all the Harry Potter books, standing stalwart on the shelves waiting for children to become as enthralled as I was. It didn't happen. My eldest - he for whom I bought the first Harry Potter, back before he was even born - read The Hobbit, Bone, and Scooby Doo. He was 8 - surely a wonderful time to start on the Hogwarts journey. But no. He wanted nothing to do with the books or the movies.

I had seen the first two movies, maybe the third, but then stopped. I had envisioned taking Erik to them, but he wasn't interested. And so I didn't see them either. To be honest, the movies never grabbed me the way the books did, although I give credit to the actors who all do a phenomenal job (full disclosure: HUGE Alan Rickman fan anyway - I swear I liked Snape because he played the part). I still wanted to see them, just not alone. Andrew had no interest either and Erik's younger sisters still were not quite ready for the books, and I reluctantly admitted defeat, enjoyed re-reading them myself, and put them on a shelf in the library.

Fast Forward to May 2011
I have nothing to read.

We've all heard that from time to time. Erik is almost 11 now. He's an avid reader and like me, a re-reader: Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Redwall, Star Wars. But he wanted something new.

Try Harry Potter, I said. I was working in the library. I handed him The Goblet of Fire, thinking the size of it would entice him.

Mom, he said, brushing it away, if I am going to read Harry Potter, I am going to start with the first one.

And he did. He finished it that day. I had lent out The Chamber of Secrets years ago and it was never returned, so I made a frantic call to a friend whose daughter is in Erik's class. He read it the next day. By the end of the week he was on The Goblet of Fire and we had watched a couple of the movies (1, 3 and 4 which were all we had). Within three weeks, he'd finished all of the books.

And was starting again.

I guess Pottermania finally caught up with him.

(to be continued)