Was It Really So Long Ago?

This date made history. It was the first day of a multi-year franchise movie experience. On this date in 2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone opened nationwide. Three young frightened and overwhelmed young wizards were walked up the central aisle in the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sat on a stool at the head of the room, put on an old, scruffy-looking hat, and were sorted into their houses. Suddenly kids of all ages who had read the book(s) were transported into a visual world where magic existed, muggles walked next to wizards completely head-blind, and wonderful people like Dumbledore and Hagrid existed to pull all of us out of our mundane existence.

What had been a popular book became a landslide movement. We lined up to buy each new volume, making sure that we were getting our copies when they were released at midnight. We stood in more lines to buy our tickets to each movie, and we watched as the three lovable kids we had first met on this date in 2001 grew in power, personality and magical skill. We celebrated their triumphs, we wept over their sorrows, and we cheered them on with enthusiasm.

The Harry Potter books are not the best written books ever thrust into the world's literary stage but they accomplished something important that few other books have achieved over recent years, they caught the imagination of children throughout the world. Kids voluntarily put their noses back into books. So whether JK Rowling wrote a masterpiece that will last through the years to come, or whether she only wrote a conglomeration of disjointed phrases, empty characters and poor plots, who cares? She got young people of all ages excited about reading a book again. I'll happily give her every ounce of credit that she so richly deserves for opening the door of reading to a generation of children. Thank you JK Rowling, and thank you Harry Potter.

Mischief Managed.