I got into Harry Potter because I am a mom. My little girl was just learning how to read and the best way to instill a love of reading is to read to your children. We had scores of small books with large print that she could read along and pick out the words she recognized, but were getting bored with them. She wanted to branch out into the world of "chapter books"!
The store I walked in to had a display of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I had never heard of Harry Potter before (hard to imagine now!) and scanned through the book. It seemed fairly interesting-and it was about kids--my daughter's highest priority at the time was books about other kids. Although the book was a little out of her league at the time, I felt that it would inspire her to want to read more difficult material. Did it ever! We had to read that book twice.
By the time we finished reading the Sorcerers Stone and the Chamber of Secrets, the Prisoner of Azkaban was out. We have just kept reading the entire series over and over, adding the newest books as they are released. As a result of Harry Potter books, my daughter is now in advanced placement reading classes!
Thanks, Harry! Regina Tempelton (Hufflepuff re608 U.S.A.)
Last edited by Regina Tempelton on Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
To start off, I have dyslexia. Which means that I tend to mix up letters and numbers. Reading for me is very difficult. It takes much longer than the average reader to finish a book. To this end, I would rather watch a movie and get an idea of a book than read the book itself.
Earlier this year, my husband and son kept talking about the books and what was happening. Now, mind you, I've been interested in the movies since they came out. But they were talking about things that weren't in the movie. So I finally asked to borrow book 1 and read it. I was hooked. When I was done, I asked for book 2 and so on. I am now about a third into book 5 which is excellent for someone that reads very slowly. I believe I started reading them in June or July and this is now September.
I have my favorite characters in each of the books and my least favorites as anyone does. It's very interesting to go back to my teenage years and the way people acted JK Rowling has right on. I can't believe Ron has blinders on. I can't believe some of the things that come out of his mouth. And it's interesting how Harry deals with the daily predictions of his death. I love it. /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />
I had a smart mouth as a child and it's refreshing to realize that it wasn't just me. That it was the age and dealing with life.
I have my two grown daughters to thank (blame?) for my Harry Potter obsession. I've been a reader all my life. I feel lost without a book to read. My daughters were surrounded with books from the day they were born and so followed suit. They often shared books with each other, once the youngest was in high school (there's 6 1/2 years difference in ages), as they both love the same kinds of stories. But I've never liked science fiction fantasy or vampire stories (they both love Ann Rice), and they're not crazy about murder mysteries or Dean Koontz books (I can't even begin to think what genre he is - horror/science fiction/mystery/thriller?), which are my favorites, so they rarely swap books with me.
I'd read about the huge popularity of a new children's book series, Harry Potter, but didn't think much about it. I was surprised and amused when I learned my daughters were reading them. They urged me to read them, too, but I was skeptical - I rarely like the books they read, and these were, after all, children's books (yawn). Then the first movie came out.
Well, I love movies, so they didn't have to try too hard to get me to go see it. I liked it more than I expected. But I still shied away from reading the books, convinced a children's book couldn't hold my interest. Then I curiously found myself looking forward to the release of the second movie. I loved it. I bought it. Then I bought the first movie. Then the computer games.
Finally, after much browbeating by my daughters, I gave in and said I'd TRY the first book. Two days later, I asked them for the second book, and I didn't stop until I'd finished The Goblet of Fire. Then I read them again. My youngest won a free copy of Order of the Phoenix, so I intended to wait for her to finish it and then read it myself. Two days later I could stand it no more and bought my own copy. The three of us were at the theater at midnight for the first showing of Prisoner of Azkaban. I ordered The Half-Blood Prince two months before it came out and actually became quite upset with my husband when he wouldn't go to the Harry Potter party at the bookstore. I've read the series through Order of the Phoenix four times. My computer theme is Harry Potter. My doctor and I spend more time discussing Harry than we do medicine. My husband thinks I'm amusing but slightly irritating, and my boss thinks I'm completely over the edge.
But do I care? Not as long as there's another new movie or book to look forward to or old ones to revisit. They've brought magic back into my life, reintroduced me to the child within, and allowed me to meet so many other "children," some in age, some in spirit, here who are just as wonderfully dotty as I am!
Gwyd Aerlyn, Gryffindor, gw609, USA
Last edited by Prof. Gwyd Aerlyn on Sun Sep 25, 2005 8:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
2nd Place Winners - 2007-08 HOL Challenge! Professor Gwyd Aerlyn- Griffindor "I flaunted authority, so they made me one." - Albert Einstein
"Well-behaved women rarely make history." - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
The library was a place I always hung out. My librarian was a nice young lady, probably as old as my mother was, and always a close friend of mine. She had given him books to read since I was little. When I was in eighth grade, the Harry Potter books had already came out, but she was the one who gave them to me. It took me by surprise at how good they were, or how many of the kids from my school had already read through them. There was a whole community of them before I had even started reading the books.
The books were wonderful and opened me up to hundreds of ideas. This was a totally new universe an I wanted more. As the years progressed, I eventually lent my copy to the librarian who got me into the books and even got my mom to read them. My mother had paid for every one of them, but after she read them she had to be the first one to read it! She finished it before the day was over, and I finished it before the next one was.
Each of the books brings me into a new place, but the same world. The characters grew up much like I have since I read the first book. Everything is an old place but revisited in a new format. The characters are growing older, and I feel like they are truthful and interesting. Although the books are growing longer, the story themselves are growing more vivid. These books are wonderful and I recommend anyone who wants an interesting tale of valor and friendship to read them, but then again I'm just preaching to the choir.
I still live in the provinces then, way north of the capital (Manila), but I was getting ready to go to the capital since I got into an international prep school for secondary school. I thought it would be great for me to get ready for a big adjustment and doesn't want to suffer culture shock, so I watched everything in cable to learn some urban lifestyle. (Hehe, just thinking about it makes me feel so silly now!)
So during my osmosis with urban culture I came upon an Oprah rerun late at night. And you know hoe she raves about a book, but what got me interested is she's raving about a children's book. It was the first two Harry Potter books since it was 1999 then. The very next day, I asked my auntie to drive about two hours for the closest mall in our province and bought the first book. So let's say the rest is history...
The third book has very special meaning to me though because my hardbound copy was given to me by a friend who succumbed to leukemia a few months after that. I think I will continue to devour the books no matter what age I am (I'm turning 18 now, and in my second year of college). We really have gone a long way, Harry and I; from endless wait for the next book to come out and even more excruciating waiting in line for them; to my dad's freaking out that I used his credit card when I bought Quidditch Through The Ages via Amazon to Harry Potter my friends and I threw every book/movie/dvd release. Yep, we have gone a long way...
How’d I get into Harry Potter? It’s really weird. It all started in elementary school. All the kids at my school like Harry Potter, but I had no clue what it was! In fact, I thought it was stupid!
Then, the 1st movie came out. All the kids in my grade were all buzzing around about it.
Finally, once it came out on video, I bought it, just to be update with the latest things. It was AMAZING! I immediately fell in love with the story.
I just couldn’t forget about the magic, and the wondrous place called Hogwarts. I watched it over billions and billions of times, and I even made up lyrics to the song played during the end credits! I memorized EVERY SINGLE LINE of that movie. So, I BEGGED my mom to buy me the book. And she did. Once I read it, I became OBSESSED! Page after page I read, comparing the movie to the books, reading all about magic, and Hogwarts, and all sorts of things.
Then the 2nd movie came out. It was so suspenseful, so magical, it was just... cool. It didn’t quite have the same effect on me as the 1st movie did, since it was the second time I was seeing magic and fantasy come alive on the big screen. The 1st movie was like a new phenomenon to me, but this one was a bit old school. After I watching the 2nd movie, I read J.K. Rowling’s biography, and finally, I found the second book, lying on the bookshelf in class. I read it, page after page, engrossed in this little fantasy world again. After reading this book, I was a true fan.
I went book after book. First, POA, then GOF. It was as if that now that I discovered this new world, I wanted to know all about it! I knew more about Harry Potter in one year than people ever knew in their life! So, that’s how I got into Harry Potter. When OOTP and HBP came out, I was quick to email my friends the day after I got it to see what they thought of it. I was THIS close to revealing spoilers. Every book about Harry Potter, whether it was about the mythology behind it, or going in detail about the characters, I read them anyway. You’d be surprised to see how many books about Harry Potter are out there! When I found this website, I thought it was PERFECT! I could actually fulfill my dream of learning all about. So here I am, a first year, entering this contest.
Mine is simple really. When Harry Potter came out in theaters, I didn't want to see it for some reason. But then when it came out on DVD and Video, we (my family) rented it and I fell in love with it! I then started reading the books and the more I read them, the more I loved Harry Potter! And now here I am! I have not read a HP book under five times! /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />
I made this sig myself. feel free to PM me
if you would like me to make you one. |Amy James Vision|Keeper of the Secrets|
|Chocolate Freak|Snape Hater|Harry Potter Lover|
How did I get into Harry Potter? My girlfriend and I were going to the pool one hot summer day and I had nothing to read. I usually would only read Horror, or romance books. She had already started to read Harry Potter and book 3 was already out. She handed me Chamber of Secrets and told me to humor her by reading the book. Well I had finished the book the same day. I could not get enough, I continued to read the next two. Within two weeks I had already finished all the books that were out and just waited for more to be released. Now I own the collection and the movies. I can't get enough!
"I'd Rather Be Hated For Who I Am Then Loved For Who I Am Not"
I remember the first time I heard of Harry Potter was when I was in third or fourth grade, my mother was web surfing and called me over. Curious I turned to the cumputer screen to see an overveiw of the first Harry Potter, I read it of course but then as my mom asked me if it sounded interesting I spoke quite decisively "no." She seemed a bit dissapointed so I asked her why she asked, she was just curious she had heard it had sounded good from some of her friends.
I didn't think very much about it, went on my merry life and almost forgot about the incident.
Then later that year or the year after (I'm a bit fuzzy) my teacher did an after lunch read and the first book she read was Harry Potter. After the first session I was interested, when I saw it in a book order I asked my mom to get it for me and she gladly accepted. Shortly after I had a paper-back version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone being an avid reader even then I quickly read from the beginning of the story and surpassed my teacher's in class read.
Finishing the book I was hooked, but my paperback copy was battered. We encountered the first three books in the series at Cosco and I didn't have to beg my mom too much before the three hard back books were in our shopping carts and we were on our way. I quickly tore through the other two and couldn't wait till the next one. Just to think if my teacher hadn't read it to us I never would have touched it. /blink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blink:" border="0" alt="blink.gif" />
Well, I remember I was in second grade actually. My friend was reading the first Harry Potter book. So were two of my other friends. They read in class,during lunch, during break. All the time. Whent the teachers called them and they were reading Harry Potter under their desks, they just didn't answer. They seemed no to hear. Only when someone poked them did they come out of their 'Harry Potter World'. I realized them doing this a few times and wondered what was so interesting in that book?
My friend told all about it and she told me to read the summary in the back and insisted she tell me about the book. After this, I seemed so interested in it. Scholastic book orders came around, and Harry Potter one and two were there in a pack. I thought, I am so ordering these books. They seem so interesting. So I ordered it. Two weeks later the box from Scholastic came with my books inside. They just happened to come with a very nice bookmark (the bookmark was silver and was in the shape and drawing of Harry). I put them in my desk and set down to read them at break. It was so interesting to me I read the first book untill break ended and read in the hallway all the way to my classroom. Since then I've become so attached to Harry Potter and have read them over and over again. I've got my three friends who read the books during class to thank.
Signed,
Katie Potter (Gryffindor, ka683, USA)
Last edited by Katie Potter on Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I got into Harry Potter when my excema got realy bad and I missed a month of school in 8th grade. I was getting realy bored so my mom suggested I read so my brother gave me Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. My first thought was the common 'This is a stupid kids book' but then I started reading it and became an instant fan. That halloween, I dressed as Hermione. Since then, I have written Harry Potter based fanfictions and you're more than likely to find me on a Harry Potter website than anything else!
When did I get into Harry Potter, gee it was so long ago, like last March. 'hehe I was way ahead of my college classes and decided to check out some books from the library for a bit of light reading over the spring break holidays. (now who does that sound like?) The only one they had at the time was PoA. I was hooked after the first page. I went back to the library the next week and checked out 1 and 2. Finished them over the weekend and continued with 4, and 5. By this time I was counting down the days until HBP came out. Now I can't believe I will have to wait 2 more years to read the last one! Now when I meet people one of my first questions is "Do you like Harry Potter?" I am surprised how many people out there of all ages say Yes. I love it! 'hehe /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />
Pandora Padmini (pa631, the South 'hehe)
Last edited by Pandora Padmini on Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
How I got into Harry Potter. I remember when the books first came out. I remember thinking, that’s cool that these children’s (so I thought) books are getting so popular, helping get kids enjoy reading. It wasn’t until book 3 came out, that I said to myself, ok I’ll break down and read the first one. I think the first book was on sale or something, so I bought it. I was seriously in amazement how good the books were/are. Come to realize that these books weren’t just for kids after all.
Let me just say it took me 3 days to finish the first one. I was hooked. For that Christmas all I wanted was a set of Harry Potter books. I flew threw the next 2 books, and waited so patiently for the fourth book. I began telling everyone about how awesome these books are. I even got my 65 year old mother into these. She of course accompanies me to all the movies too. Since I have started reading the books, I have been to two midnight releases of the latest books, wanting my copy as soon as possible, reading them in a matter of days, and then rereading them over and over again. I have yet to get my husband to read them (he doesn’t read much anyways) but he has defiantly enjoyed the movies.
My story about how I got into Harry Potter is very new indeed, but at the same time a little bit old, I'll be 22 next month and when I was at High School (that was almost 4 years ago in my country) I used to have a classmate named Karina who used to take Harry Potter's books to class, I remember everyone thinking that she was stupid or childish or something because she read Harry Potter and Tolkien books, and I'd never talked to her so much but we had this great conversation one day and she showed me "The Philosopher's Stone", at that time I had started reading Tolkien books and (we were Seniors) some friends I had who read Tolkien as well had had told me that HP was for kids and Tolkien was for grown up people, which now I completely disagree, but at that time I believed, I must be honest.
I never read HP until last year, and 3 years had passed since I first saw a Rowling book in my life, but yet again, I hadn't read it, I read all of Tolkien books and one afternoon I remember so clearly (because I was kinda low) I went to the nearest Book Shop and bought myself "The Philosopher's Stone". I read the whole book that same night, and I couldn't stop until now, it made me feel so happy and so outta this world, I must say that HP Books gave me the peace I needed in a very difficult time, and I came to realize that it didn't matter if it was a "kids" book or not, it just made me so happy, I wanted to go back again and again with Ron, Harry and Hermione thru the dungeons and I wanted to finally see Voldemort's face to tell him some things, that was happiness, pure happiness, and I also figure out that we're always trying so desperetly to grow up, because this is what we're told since the day we are born, "you'll understand when you grow up", I think that if more adults had a little bit of HP in their lives this world would be better, not because it takes us out of reality, but because it makes us feel that no matter what we do, or how bad we think our lifes can be, we can always trust in friends, family and ouserlves, and that's how I feel everytime I open a HP book. And the matter of Family, I come from a family where we always had to strugle very hard to have our needs, my mom and dad were always working to give me the best they could and sometimes we had to let go some things, that and being an only child was what make me feel so keen on Ron's Family, I wanted to have a brother like him, and his Family make me feel a lot like Home, this sense of warmth that this stories can make us feel are unbelievebly beautyful, there are loads of people who need to know about the Weasley Family to get to understand as well what it is to have one, to build one day per day.
After I read the 1° one I couldn't stop and now 3 days after the 6° came out I was already reading it, I don't mind saying I LOVE HARRY POTTER BOOKS and they have been the reason why I smiled sometimes, so let's just say that if being an adult means being a sad and machine person I'll stay where HP is and try to make a change by making someone smile.
Neia Black, First Year, Gryffindor, ne606, Argentina.
Last edited by Neia Black on Fri Oct 21, 2005 12:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I was 10 the summer Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was published. My aunt gave it to me for my 11th Birthday which was December. By that time I knew some people who had read it and really liked it. I was kind of annoyed at being given the book, I thought it was childish, I was in the 5th grade and so grown by then. /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />
I have always loved to read, and I read incredibly fast, so I picked it up one morning over the Christmas holidays that year and finished it before I went to bed that night. I fell in love with the world of Harry Potter immediately.
My mother abandoned my family when I was young, and I have always wanted a mother like Mrs. Weasley. Ron cracked me up and initially, he was my favorite character. I buried myself in the books, wishing that I could be a part of their family, But over time, as I grew more mature, I was able to let go of the sadness (and self-pity) I harbored, and finally abandoned the notion that my life had to be that way for me to be happy. I fell in love with Harry, because I realized I was so much like him.
After reading that book, and buying the first one the next day with Christmas money, I waited impatiently for the 3rd book to come out. And the 4th. It's a good thing they started making the movies then, because I was forced to wait 3 years for The Order of the Phoenix.
So here I am now, a Senior in High School, still a fanatic. I have escaped into these books on more than one occassion in my life. The beginning of my 8th grade year was a time in my life that I doubt I could have made it through without them. I skipped 7th grade and found myself in HS a year early, with no friends or associates, even. My brother had already graduated the year before that and I was alone completely. Even my friends had a different life, different things to talk about, because they went to a different school, and I felt like an outsider with them, too. So I started collecting Harry Potter stuff, and rereading the books to fill up my free time. Unfortunately, I never found HOL until this year.
I made new friends eventually, and the next year my old ones came to HS too. But I have always still loved Harry Potter. I have read all of the books over and over, more times than I even want to try to guess. I know people who's granparents read it, it's an ageless story. I guess there are some things you just never grow out of. Emily Vale || Gryffindor || em656 || USA
Last edited by Emily Vale on Fri Oct 14, 2005 2:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
Well, once upon a time (a few weeks before Christmas in 1999), I was helping my mom wrap some Christmas gifts. (‘Helping’ as in poking around in boxes and asking, “Oooh… Who’s this one for?â€) I happened upon a hard cover book on the arm of the couch. Having always been an obsessive reader of absolutely anything, I had to pick it up and look at it. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Hadn’t I read something about that somewhere?
Curiosity got the better of me, and I opened to the first page… and that’s where the obsession started. I was about halfway through the first chapter when my mom poked me and said, “I need to wrap that now.†I asked her who it was for and she told me that she was sending it to her friend’s son. (And she said I couldn‘t read it before we sent it.) “Can we go to the bookstore, then? Pleeease?†I asked her. She laughed at me and said no.
Christmas morning finally rolled around, and I’m sure you can guess what one of the things I found under the tree was. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I started reading it that morning, and had finished it by the afternoon.
I went out and got the other books a few days later, and finished reading them just as fast. Since then, I have gone to the midnight releases for books 5 and 6, and the slightest mention of anything Harry Potter (or HOL, for that matter) around my family earns me the ever-popular (and very sarcastic) heavy sigh and eye-roll combination. I guess they just don’t get it. /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />
I have always been a reader and I love to read books. However, I hate to admit that while I was growing up I never heard about the Harry Potter books. It wasn’t until 2001 and the first Harry Potter movie was coming out (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone) that I ever heard of Harry Potter. My interest was piqued, but for some reason I could not force myself to read the books. At that time I thought of Harry Potter as mostly a children’s book and I couldn’t bring myself to read it. The trailers for the movie seemed interesting, but I still was not getting into the Harry Potter hype. My friends convinced me to watch the movie with them. When it was over, I thought the story was interesting and cute, but I still could not bring myself to read the books.
2002 rolls around and another Harry Potter movie is coming out in theatres. This was when I finally decided that I needed to read the books. I knew from experience that the movie adaptation of a book was not always the greatest and a lot of stuff is usually omitted. By the time Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets came out I had only managed to read the first book. Sadly enough I never did go see the movie in theatres.
Finally in 2003, the fifth installment of the Harry Potter series was being released. The excitement and publicity over the release of this book finally motivated me to read the series. So I had gone to the local public library and checked out the first four books in the series. By the time I finished reading the third book I realized that I was hooked. Harry Potter was an exciting and highly entertaining series. It made me laugh, it made cry and it made me shout with anger.
By the time Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban came out in theatres, I had already finished reading the series and I was anxiously waiting for the next book to be released. In order to relieve my anxiety I decided to join the online HP world. I loved to read everyone’s stories, theories and predictions. I happy to see how many fans there were out there and that I was not too old to enjoy Harry Potter.
How did I get into Harry Potter world?
Well, first I must addmit I hadn´t heard a word about Harry Potter until the 2000. And that´s something that amuse me because I have been chatting, surfing, etc etc etc in the internet since 1996.
My sister lent me the first book because she thought I would like it...well she was right. I read the book in less than 3 days (for the time I use to dedicate to work and family that was really fast) and after that it hasn´t been stopped at all. I bought one after the other until I read Goblet of Fire (that I couldn´t wait to read it in the evenings and read it all in work hours *hopeless*). Thank God I live in the border with California (I live in Mexicali, Mexico) so I have been able to be in every first day of all HP movies along with my sister hehehe....
Now, I have the first five in spanish (Half-Blood Prince hasn´t been printed yet, I think it will be out in december or until next year) and I have all six in hard covers in english (us edition though).
I have read the first two books to my little boys (who some of you haven seen in pictures) and they have seen the movies (not because I put to them but you will understand it is impossible by now to not hear or see anything about Harry).
As a mexican I am proud of what Alfonso Cuaron did with Prisioner of Azkaban. I think he did an excellent job and I wish he could have done Goblet of Fire. I will be in front line to see the movie on November 18 of course, haven´t invited my sister yet but I think she will come with me like always before...
I´m proud to be a member of HOL since the beginning and I expect I can give more time to this wonderful place than I had done in the last couple of years.
It is wonderful to use our imagination to imagine so beautiful places, so wonderful lives, so awesome stories and at the end, feel it like it was us who are living it.
Thanks JK Rowling for have rocked my world....
Well the first two books came out right in a row (None of that whole waiting 2-3 year deal back then) /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" /> But anyways I am 15 years old right now and only a few months after they came out about 7-8 years ago I heard about them. First my mom read the first one since obviously I was only an ickle third grader back then.(8 years old!! Crazy how time flies) And she loved them so essentially my lovely mom got me into them.
The first two books she read out loud to me then we read them together. Eventually, I had to hide the book from her or else she would read ahead when I was sleeping! Which was very unfair. You have to remember now as I was reading the first three books I was just in elementary school so we would only get through one maybe two chapters a night. There really is not to much to my story, only that I have been an extremely dedicated Harry Potter fan since the beginning..and will always be!
Over the past 7-8 years I've read the series numerous times. I read them over and over again when I was in middle school. Seriously when I was in 7th grade I refused to read anything else. I was insane /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> So that is my lovely story. I just want to say a TREMENDOUS thank you to my mom because without her who knows if I would even have started to read J.K Rowling's book... Oh and as a side note... Thanks J.K Rowling because without you I would be missing a huge, huge part of my life.
Amanda Hensgen (Gryffindor, am654, USA)
Last edited by Amanda Hensgen on Sat Oct 22, 2005 5:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
