Special thanks to this week's blog contributor, Kylie Stanley. Kylie is both a student and part-time employee at SJR State. It has been exciting to watch her Harry induced emotional journey! 

 

Growing up in the early 2010s, I always heard my peers talking about the Harry Potter series and movies. Everywhere I turned, it was “Harry Potter” this and “Harry Potter” that, but I had no interest in fantasy. I was a Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, historical fiction kind of girl—the furthest genres from fantasy. I didn’t try to open my mind to Harry Potter until I was 20. When I started the series on Christmas Day in 2024, I really only started it because I had received a Kindle, and the first Harry Potter book was one of the very few popular books included with my Prime membership, so I gave it a try. The first book’s reading level is around that of a fourth grader, but even as a 20-year-old, Rowling has a way of making you feel like you are at King’s Cross with Harry. I finished the first book in a couple of days, not realizing that I would end the series loving every book while also becoming obsessed with almost anything Harry Potter-related.

As I moved on through the series, the phrase “the books grew with their audience” came to mind often. This statement, along with the fact that Voldemort doesn’t have a nose and Harry Potter slept under the stairs (all because of Jessie and Good Luck Charlie on Disney Channel), were the only things I knew about the Harry Potter series when I started. To say the books grew with their audience is extremely true. The series starts out with a couple of eleven-year-old witches and wizards beginning their school careers at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The first three books are more geared toward younger readers. The fourth through the seventh books are when the series begins to mature for older readers. During this time, readers start to encounter more violence, betrayal, and even death. Overall, I absolutely loved the series and would suggest it to anyone—even if they don’t like fantasy—to give it a try! Now, I’m off to watch the movies to see how they compare (even though we know the books are always better).