Books,  Guest Post

Series Week – Day Three

27 February, 2012

Hey Guys! Today I am introducing you all to the wonderful Melissa over at Melissa’s Midnight Musings. She has kindly offered to write this guest post for all of you guys! It’s all about Harry Potter and I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I did!
I can’t thank her enough for helping me out!


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To begin, I’d like to thank Faye for letting me do a guest post here on her blog. This is my first guest post, so please bear with me. As with any sort of writing task, I sat here staring at the blank page, wondering what I should write about.  Finally, I decided that I would write about my favorite series. Hands down, that is Harry Potter.


I didn’t know this until recently, but the first book was published in 1997. I didn’t discover it until December of 1999.  I was actually in the hospital at the time recovering from major surgery and trying to keep up on homework in the hospital schoolroom. I noticed some of the other kids were taking turns reading aloud. I glanced over at the cover and thought that the book looked neat, and asked if I could listen in. (Anything to distract me from my awful algebra homework!) 


I listened in, and liked what I heard. I told my dad about it, and he told my aunt, who got me the first book as a Christmas gift that year. I devoured it in one sitting and couldn’t wait for more. The next time we went to the bookstore, I pleaded with my dad to let me get books two and three (hardbacks are expensive!) Thankfully he bought them for me. I came home and locked myself in my room to read them, barely stopping for dinner. As soon as I got each of the subsequent books I would do the same thing, locking myself in my bedroom to read late into the night.

There are so many reasons why I love Harry Potter, I don’t even think I could begin to describe them all. My favorite has to be that the story takes you away from all of the stresses of everyday life and transports you to a world that a small part of all of us wish existed. A world  with action, adventure, magic, spells, and castles with secret passageways and shifting staircases.


I love Rowling’s creativity. It shines through in each and every one of the characters.From their names, to their quirks, to their personalities, each of her characters is well rounded.  And her attention detail isn’t just in the characters but in all elements of her the story, even down to the minor elements.As I read I often felt like I was there with Harry, Hermione and Ron, wandering through the castle, and going on all of their adventures. One of the most clever elements, for me anyways is  the Mirror of Erised. I’m a sucker for any kind of word play, and even though that’s a tiny example, I smiled and said aloud to myself, “Oh how clever” when I read it, and I still smile every time I read it.

There’s also the fact that Rowling takes several serious themes and incorporates them into her stories in a way that a wide range of readers can understand, without “dumbing it down” as it were. Normality is a big theme in the books, at least in my view. Harry. depending on your view. isn’t “normal” (Please note I use that term very loosely as I don’t much care for labeling) It’s quite plainly expressed in the way the other characters refer to him as “The Boy Who Lived” A similar category to Voldermorts “He Who Shall Not Be Named” Harry isn’t “normal” in the Muggle world, because he can do magic, and his relatives view him as a freak because of it. He isn’t “normal” in the magical world because he survived Voldermort’s attacks and he shouldn’t have.


Or what about how Rowling incorporates such a serious illness like depression into her stories through the Dementors?  I’ve heard depression described just like the Dementors, like it sucks all the happiness and life out of you. I don’t think I’ve ever read such an interesting concept comparison.

Of course it’s not all gloom and doom, there’s a lot of fun in the books too. From Fred and George and their constant joking around, to Hermione’s constant academic prowess and the trouble that often entails. The Weasley’s are some of my favorite characters, just because they are such a tight knit family, and they love each other so much. But, they’re also very welcoming to Harry and others in the magical world, they’re very understanding and I appreciate that quality in them.


I also like how Rowling roots for and lets her  “underdog” characters succeed. Even though Harry and Voldermort are the main players in this saga, each character has a distinct and unique role to fill. And some of the more minor characters are the most memorable, like Luna and Neville. They may not seem like much at the beginning, but it is wonderful to watch them grow and evolve as the books progress. There’s actually a part of me that wishes I were more quirky like Luna. She’s so in tune with herself and what she believes in.

Actually, now that I think about it. I can identify many traits in each character that I wish I had. For instance, I wish I had Hermione’s smarts. I’m smart, but not like she is. I wish that I could retain large amounts of information to call up at a moment’s notice. I wish that I were more of a practical joker, like Fred and George. I wish I could be brave like Neville, and stand up to others when I need to. I wish that I had Dumbledore’s quiet wisdom, and wicked sense of humor.


I don’t think I can choose a favorite character, or book, because I love them all so much. Honestly, I wish that J.K. Rowling would write more about the wizarding world. There’s so much she could do. She could write prequels, or write offshoot books exploring other wizarding families and their stories. She could write anything and I think a lot of us would gobble it up as fast as we could. As much as I wish she would write more about Harry Potter, even if she never writes another word about him and the world she created, I’m just grateful to her for sharing that world with all of us. She sure did her job as a writer she sucked us right in.

 No matter how many times I read them, the books always give that sense of wonder and awe. I think I’ll be forever waiting for my letter with my ticket to Hogwarts.


I’d like to hear some of your thoughts, as fellow readers, on the series, or about anything I’ve mentioned here. And, if you haven’t read the book, do you want to?

Thanks again to Faye for letting me do this guest post, it’s been a great deal of fun getting to write about a series that I love so much.

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