Harry Potter Week

It started with a trip to see the fifth movie. We see a movie in a theatre approximately once every 12-16 months, since it entails a big drive. But HP5 was the opening night in our family Harry Potter Fest, a two-week-long gala in our home. We continued the Film Festival component at home with a revisiting of the first four videos in the privacy of our living room. And Sophie and Erin began re-reading the first six books as we awaited the 7th's release.

We've been JKR fans since way back. I bought the first book in January 1999 for Erin, then almost-5. There was no hoopla back then that we were aware of. It was just one intriguing pick off the shelves of the tiny independent bookstore that was in New Denver back then. I asked Jeff, one of the owners, about it. He highly recommended it, and mentioned a couple of other kids who had loved it too. In a very small town, you know whether your kid shares the book tastes of other local kids, and we knew that if I. had liked it, Erin would too. It was an instant hit. Over the next year, she read, or we read together (for the scary parts) the next two as well. And I don't think a year has gone by since that she hasn't read all the HP books available. We've waited impatiently for each release since then. The younger kids have had all the books read aloud to them and independent re-reads have been frequent. Noah isn't much of a novel-reader, but seems to have the best mind for detail of all of us and soaks everything in in the course of a single readaloud.

Erin is now on her second read through the 7th book. The rest of us are savouring our first go through it at a slower pace, as a readaloud. We're close to the end now and will be sorry to be done.