Comments on: Why We Need Harry Potter http://www.columbusmuseum.org/blog/2011/07/21/why-we-need-harry-potter/ cma Mon, 06 May 2013 19:35:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Amanda Kepner http://www.columbusmuseum.org/blog/2011/07/21/why-we-need-harry-potter/#comment-174 Amanda Kepner Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:20:30 +0000 http://www.columbusmuseum.org/blog/?p=797#comment-174 I appreciate the acknowledgement of being a reluctant HP fan. I myself was a late comer to the wonderful world that is Harry Potter. My first exposure was really through my little brother. He is 9 years younger than me and back when I was in high school he and my mom were really into reading the books. I myself had nothing against them, I just thought they were youth books and I wouldn’t find them interesting so I never picked one up. Then the first movie – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – came to theaters in 2001. My brother had just turned 11 (and I was 19). My mom invites me to join them and I take the offer for a free movie. After that my mind was blown and I was a full-on fan. I saw the first 4 movies before I picked up the books. Once I started I read the first 6 volumes straight through.

This series give me and my younger brother something we could discuss as equals. Being so much older than he is we have always been at different stages in our life and never had much to talk about. As he was a long time fan of the novels, I found my little 11 year old brother’s perspective on that first movie the most interesting and fascinating thing I had ever heard. It was really special to be able to share something like that with him.

And I can’t wait to see the evidence of the imaginative spark that HP has given to an entire generation (or two) of readers. Imagine a world where anything is possible – a world where we could change something with a few ancient words and a simple swish and flick. Or perhaps just imagine a world where children are allowed to play freely, experience the world intuitively, study what interests them and love learning. Or imagine a world where a child can teach an adult because that child happens to be an expert at Batman or how to build sandcastles. Or imagine a world where people are not afraid to take a chance on a new idea, try something unusual and experiment. Personally I think all these things are magical.

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