Book Challenge Day 1: A Series You Wish Had Gone on Longer

You never forget your first time.  Oh, the magic, and the excitement, and the WONDER of it all.  I will never get over the Harry Potter series.  I have students who have told me in the past few weeks (as they have been selecting their first independent reading books) that they made it through two or three, but they never finished the series, and I. Am. Horrified.  How anyone could stop in the middle is just beyond me!  JK Rowling's story arcs in the series are just so inspiring and creative, taking all of the best bits of the hero's journey and completing them for not just one character, not just two characters, but COUNTLESS characters in varying degrees.  

When the series was released, and the hubbub and the furor over the books began in earnest, I was in college. I told myself that clearly this was a gimmick, and I would never read those silly books.  A boy wizard? Why does anyone even care?  However, fate and my Mythology professor had other plans.  As a junior in college, I was assigned Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as my Mythology textbook.  What?!  Are you kidding me?!  I'm in college.  I don't want to read some children's book!  I had read the book within the first week of the semester, and as Ms. White taught us about all of the incredible mythological references in CoS, I began to see the genius of JK Rowling.  

I bought the first book, read it, reread the second book, read the third book...and hit the wall.  Goblet of Fire had not been released yet.  And, oh, the anticipation of waiting for the next book to come out!  The reading of leaked hints on the interwebs about what the new story arc might be!  The thrill of standing in line at midnight to pick up the newest book!  These are things that I will never get back, and it saddens me.  I have read countless series books in YA literature (in fact, I have ranted about them here).  There hasn't been another series yet that I am willing to stand in line at midnight to get, much less drink pots of coffee in anticipation of reading the entire book.  This is a true story:  the night I got Deathly Hallows, I stood in line, got home around 1:30 am, started reading, and did not stop until 2:00 pm the next day when I finished it.  Those books inspired a dedication in me as a reader that I had never experienced before, and I fear I will never experience again.

I could write about the emotional highs and lows of the series that created the soppy Harry Potter fangirl that I am, but I would hate to deprive any Harry Potter neophytes of the incredible experience of reading them for yourself.  Needless to say, they are my most highly recommended piece of YA literature.  

I am not sure how I would feel about Rowling continuing the series.  I disliked the Epilogue portion of Deathly Hallows.  I don't know how much of the magic could continue after the story lost Lord Voldemort.  I have not read the new short story that Rowling released on Pottermore, nor have I sought out any of her other novels.  I don't think I could bear reading them and being disappointed.  

I have reread the series fifteen times (Wow!  Seeing it in writing makes it that much more crazy!).  I am sure I will reread it again.  Every time is magical and exciting, but there is nothing like going into it blind and experiencing the story blow-by-blow.  I am sad that I will never have a first time with it again.  But I am excited by the first times still to come.  Last year I read it over again with my best friend, who had never read it before, and it was awesome to see someone else become a soppy Harry Potter fan.  My son is eight, and I think the time is drawing close for us to read it together.  And every year I have a few students who love it, and we bond, and a few students who read it on my recommendation, and we bond, and that is a great experience.  

So, do I wish the series had gone on longer?  Yes, and no.  I miss it.  I miss the experience.  But it's perfect the way it is.  In closing, I have to pull from my repertoire of favorite quotes.  Alan Rickman (who plays Snape to perfection in the movies) had this to say about the series:  "When I'm eighty years old and sitting in my rocking chair, I'll be reading Harry Potter.  And my family will say to me, 'After all this time?' And I will say, 'Always.'"

Always.