July 13, 2009
We have been fully immersed in the world of Harry Potter. Since the newest installment premieres at midnight Wednesday morning, Doug and I decided to have a Harry Potter marathon this past weekend, and we finished up today with The Order of the Phoenix. Every single one of the movies has at least one moment that makes me cry, and I fully expect the same from the upcoming film.
Although my daughter is going to be one of the teens standing in line for the midnight showing, Doug and I will not be joining her. She's going with a big group of her high school friends, but he and I have decided we'll make a date night of it once the hype dies down a little (if we can hold out that long). We've tried so see as many of the HP movies as possible together, so it's an outing that we are really looking forward to. It'll also give me an opportunity to preview the movie for my two little ones, who are both also looking forward to seeing it. However, Nicholas especially is a bit skittish, so it helps to be able to forewarn him of potentially scary scenes. As long as he's sitting by me and can put his head on my shoulder, he's fine.
Though Harry Potter has a huge fan base, there are also a lot of detractors. There are those who say that J K Rowlings is too simplistic, or too predictable. There are those who would argue that as an author, she caters to the elementary school-kid reading palate, and that she doesn't even do that all that well. In our household, though, the books appealed to both adults, the avid reader teenager, and the reluctant reader pre-teen. As a matter of fact, I credit the series as one of the main reasons that my reluctant reader has now become the kid who can't put down the book--any book. He encountered Harry Potter at just the right time in his development--it peaked his interest and made him realize the worlds that could be opened up to him through reading. How could you not endorse that kind of influence? Harry Potter was the first book and movie series that had such a broad appeal that it became a common language--a familiar world--to all of us in our home.
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