J.K. Rowling released the first of her seven books in the series in 1997. Now unfortunately I wasn't one of the kids who discovered Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the year of it's release. And I wasn't one of those kids who stumbled across the book in a bookstore or library either. Rather, the only reason I discovered HP was because my grade 8 teacher, Mr. Simone, forced my class to listen while he read it every afternoon. And boy, am I thankful he did.
At first, I acted like most of the other kids and pretended to dislike this 'silly tale about witches and wizards'. But secretly, when the rest of my class slumped down in their desks and dozed off every afternoon, I stayed awake, wide eyed, and eager for what would come next. By the end of the school year, Mr. Simone had not finished reading the book because we ran out of time. To my pleasant surprise, my Mom had a copy at home, and I devoured the rest of the tale in one evening.
Since 1997, J.K. Rowling has released six other books, which follow Harry's seven years of adventure and schooling at Hogwarts. This past summer, it was with bittersweetness that I completed reading the 7th book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And although the series is technically over - the movies, the t-shirts, the figurines, the journals, and memorabilia - all still live on. The Harry Potter books are a series I know I will return to, as J.K. Rowling's intricate detail and imagination make the books worthy of multiple reads. Though the hype for HP grew most dominant in the new millenium, it is important to remember the origin of the marvel - and that all happened in the 1990s.
