Last Saturday, my mom had her friend Sunny at Barnes and Noble for the big Harry Potter party.
Sunny’s a short-eared owl, native to Pennsylvania. She was injured in a collision with an airplane at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport, and lost a wing. She’s now one of the Western PA Wildlife Center’s education animals. My mom had her book reserved and picked it up that same day, and by monday, she’d finished it and was ready to pass it on to me and my daughter.
My mom is 60 years old, a voracious reader, and stopped her education four credits short of a PHD in elementary education. So what is she doing reading kids books? For that matter, what are any of us doing reading kids books?
More below. But no spoilers, because I haven’t finished it yet!
The popularity of the Harry Potter series is unparalleled. It’s been enough to make J. K. Rowling richer than the Queen of England. The latest installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, sold nine million copies in the first 24 hours. In the US alone, the total sales of Harry Potter books comes to over 77 million, and that does not include DVDs, ancillary books, and promotional toys and the like. The amount of money generated by this series is mind-boggling.
It’s beyond the money, though. Harry Potter is a sensation, all over the world. Harry’s been translated into every language imaginable. He sells well everywhere, from Holland
France
Germany (which I think has the coolest cover art)
Italy
Spain
Japan
and Russia
People are serious about these books. English language collectors want the UK covers and the US covers-just for the difference in the artwork. And they get other “foreign” covers when they can.
I have to tell you that as an aspiring writer, I am pea-green with envy.
The books are interesting, for sure. It’s a good story with compelling characters. But the first book was the best, so far. The second book was also very good, and that was where Ms. Rowling, a single mother formerly on the dole, (UK’s welfare system) ensured she’d never go hungry again. Since then the books have been more uneven, less well-written, and to me, somewhat tedious, but by darn, I still want to know what happens to the characters! Like me, billions around the world must know what happens to Harry, Ron, and Hermione next. They must know the secrets of Lord Voldemort and Dumbledore, and of course Hagrid and his scary but endearing magical creatures.
I do mention that to me the books are getting rather tedious. I’m reading the sixth now, somewhat more than halfway through, and I keep telling myself to press on, and am constantly reminded that this is a series written for young adults. As such, it is very, very good, but not as good as Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series, which began with The Wee Free Men and A Hatful of Sky, and promises to continue.
The truest test of success is parody, isn’t it? And there are quite a few Harry Potter parodies out there, according to Wikipedia.
So what makes you wild about Harry, or not wild about it? (Please, no spoilers!)
And as always, what have you read lately?