i confess...i'm a harry potter fan

Accomplice bought me Harry Potter 5 (Order of the Phoenix) as a gift but she couldn’t understand what the hype is about. When I reserved The Half-Blood Prince and got my copy on the first distribution date she still couldn’t understand why I wanted to read it ahead of everybody else. She liked the films, however, and she is looking forward to the Goblet of Fire (she even wanted buy guaranteed seats tickets for us for November 16).

Honestly, I started reading it when the third book came out. Most of my students (Beryllium 2002) were reading it and lugging it in school so I borrowed The Prisoner of Azkaban. I finished the first chapter and got hooked immediately. I guess its magic caught me (or is more correct to say I caught its magic?).

I knew I had to start from The Sorcerer’s Stone so I borrowed a copy and read it on the MRT while commuting to and from work. My students were nice enough to lend me the rest of the collection.

I was lucky because I found book 1 in the corridors of Pisay. I asked around but nobody claimed so I kept it. I bought my hard copy of the third book at Booksale Robinson’s Imus for only Php375 (nice deal, huh?); paperback copies of books 2 and 4 I got from Booksale SM Dasmariñas for only Php450.

There are several reasons why I like the series:

1. The series has re-introduced the skill and art of reading not only to the children but also to adults. In the midst of one-click information and tri-media accessibility, people have flocked to bookstores to get a copy or borrowed from people who already have them.
2. J.K. Rowling writes well-crafted stories. The novel as a whole is well-written and the words are easy to grasp. Besides, readers can easily relate to the subplots.
3. The characters, though they are magical, are real. Harry Potter can be any orphan, any athlete, any student who gets into trouble all the time. Ron Weasly can be your bumbling friend. Hermionie Granger can be your smart (bordering on the know-it-all) classmate. Draco Malfoy is the misunderstood, pressured youth in the classroom. Professor McGonagall can be your stern yet motherly mentor. Severus Snape is the bitter adult who never got over his bad high school life (in an ordinary teen flick, he can be the serial killer material). And if you started reading the series when you were ten, you can understand the growing up problems the lead characters went through.
4. The novel is very imaginative. Who would’ve conceptualized a game that works on basketball, soccer and hockey rules with a twist? It really is an interesting read.

Negative write-ups came out but I think it’s an exaggeration. Some said it’s real witchcraft. Some even suggested that J.K. Rowling is a practicing witch. No matter, it’s always the parents responsibility to guide their children. Besides, kids read a lot of other worse stuff on the internet and the magazines their parents buy. They see enough evil in the news. They see enough violence in films. They see enough cheating and scheming in TV shows.

My verdict? Children: Watch it with caution. Parents: guide your children.