When I think of culturally relevant things I have lived through, without a doubt, the Harry Potter series is the most positive culturally relevant thing I have been alive for. These books got people in bookstores at midnight. The young and the old chatted away swapping theories on what was up with Sirius Black, Dumbledore’s fate and what the horcruxes were going to be.
Oh, J.K., you plunged me into a world of magic and wizards and kick started my adolescent reading. Never had I desired a book as badly as I wanted Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows. I’d never had conversations with my friends about what would happen next in a series of books we were reading, but holy hell did we have long, long, long conversations over Harry.
J.K. Rowling, thank you for creating a character I could grow up with. Thank you for creating books which made me laugh, made me cry and gave me people to look up to. I loved the characters who were courageous in the face of insurmountable evil. The characters were clever, kind, resourceful, yet not without faults. Thank you for showing me strengths comes in many forms, whether it is championing for SPEW, whizzing around on the Quidditch field or being a member of Dumbledore’s Army or fighting Death Eaters, you have given me many positive examples to look to.
Thank you for making me feel like I was part of a larger community, and that, hey, reading is really cool.
Thank you for Hermoine with her crazy hair and beautiful brain. Thank you for the Weasleys, even Percy, but mostly Fred and George. Thank you for Tonk’s changing hair colors. Thank you for Professor McGonagall, I love that she’s a hardass. Thank you for letting Neville be a BAMF, I literally squeeked in delight over that.
Finally, thank you for inspiring Hank Green to come up with this:
This Post is part of a week-long Author Appreciation Week series spearheaded by Heidi R. Kling
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This is probably my favorite post on your blog yet, since I too grew up with Harry Potter and had long discussions about it with friends. I sincerely adore these books, and I think you capture how a lot of people who grew up with these books must feel. Excellent!
LOVED your post and I agree completely with you! I am lucky have had been around when this series was coming out and being a part of craze. I was lucky to feel the expectations for each book and squee like crazy when I got my hands on them =)
I LOVED the song too!!! amazing!
xoox
LOL I've never heard that song before, that was awesome!
I really think Rowling did amazing things to the book industry and to YA fiction. She is amazing.
What a beautiful post–made me cry!
The Hank Harry Potter song is hilarious.
Thanks for participating!
Your post is awesome, April. I loved your "thanks for creating a character I could grow up with" comment. So true.
Completely agree; I get the feeling that a lot of people will be thanking Mrs. Rowling this week.
Hear, hear! What a wonderful post this is. And lol, I LOVE Hank Green 😀
What a beautiful post! 🙂 I'm so glad you had these books to read and enjoy!
Great post! I wish I'd been able to grow up with Harry Potter but I didn't get to them until after I was already in college. Still, it made me feel everything you do! Except I was a Death Eater chick! Give me some of that Lucius Malfoy, baby!
And what's a BAMF?
Awesome post April! You captured what made these books so great. These were the first books that I talked about with friends, we would dissect the littlest things and try to guess what would happen next. Hopefully, her next set of books will be just as good.
What a great pick and a fantastic post! I know exactly what you mean, I was obsessed with getting the last books in the series and spent ages talking about them everywhere, lol. But I'm so proud to be a part of this phenomenom and I agree that it's one of the culturally most important things of our generation!
Ohman, I love that song! I discovered a while ago something called wizard music. At least I think that's what it's called. I was shocked at the number of Harry POtter based bands, most of which I actually liked. Stephenie Perkins (author)'s husband is actually in one.
Anyhow, is that actually a picture of J.K. Rowling? It's weird, but I think it might be the first picture I've ever seen of her.
Oh right, there we go, he just said it at the end of the song (which I am now going to listen to again) – wizard rock. Me likey! 🙂