“Until the very end.”

July 31st is a big date in any millennial reader's literary calendar.  Especially this year.

(Wait. You don't know? Oh, sorry... it is J.K. Rowling's birthday and thus Harry Potter's birthday and thus the release date for the new book)

This new "8th Harry Potter book" is really hard NOT to get excited about.  I mean for those of us who grew up on Harry Potter this is it- the next chapter, the story continuing, all the excitement, all the feels.  But I'm scared of getting my hopes up too high and being SOOOOO disappointed.  I mean it's the script to a play... different format, different characters, different time.


I have such vivid memories of the world basically stopping when the next Harry Potter book came out.  Kids sitting at the pool, completely engrossed.  I remember a summer at camp when the book came out and parents were driving out to camp to drop off a copy for their daughter.  Social media wasn't really much a thing so there weren't concerns about #spoilers.  It was just fun to see so many people caught up in one thing (kinda like how Pokemon is this summer).

When I was a freshman in high school I had to read a book "for fun" as part of an assignment for my English class.  I chose the first Harry Potter book, hated it, and never finished.  My brother and mom had both read it (and I'm pretty sure all of books 1-4, which were out at that point) and were fans.  When the first movie came out that following November we all went to see it.  Annnnd I was officially hooked.  I quickly caught up on my reading (starting with book 2 of course) and stayed a loyal fan since.  I have vivid memories of the summer of 2007 when the final book and the 5th movie both were released.  I waited until my work as a camp counselor ended and read the book on our beach vacation.  Mom even let me keep reading during dinner because of the part I was at.  We went as a family to go see that movie at the beach* (and we never go to the movies at the beach).  Harry Potter is part of our family culture.

When Husband and I started dating, he had not bought in to the HP phenomenon yet.  (#dealbreaker) He told me that he wouldn't start them until he finished reading Narnia.  Needless to say, we kept dating, he finished HP in record time (a self-proclaimed slow reader) and Narnia didn't get finished until after we were married.

As a teacher, I clearly remember a girl my second year who always had a HP book with her (and was ALWAYS reading it).  I also met a parent who was extremely opposed to HP (a type of person I had heard about but never really met until then) and wanted their son to have no part these books. By the time I finally starting allowing kids choice and really pushing independent reading, it was several years later and HP was often one of my first suggestions (except for one kid- the younger brother of the boy from my second year... his parents never got on board).  

I made teacher friends who had a shared love of HP.  For months I got together with several of them (+ spouses) every week for dinner and we would watch something together- often the HP movies.  I went with 5 of them to HP World in Orlando for a bachelorette party.  (And yes, it was epic)

My 6th year of teaching I finally got a whole group of students who were already big fans.  I was working hard at that point to read lots of new (to me) YA fiction in an effort to help guide and encourage my independent readers.  But by December, I gave up and joined this group in re-reading HP together.  We listened to the HP soundtrack Pandora station frequently in my second block class that year**.  They used to guess which movie particular songs were from (and were usually right). 

The Harry Potter Book Club started that year.  Six boys- 2 of whom were already fans and four reluctant converts, read through the books together, "met" with me during our library time to discuss them, and stayed after school to watch the movies together.  Oh the power of peer pressure. 

A few of the girls from that group, who were not already fans, also became converts, under the pressure of their soccer coach.  One girl went home that summer with the first few books (as a total HP hater) and showed up at Open House a few months later ransacking our classrooms looking for the next book.  

One of the last things we did as a grade level before I left teaching was have a HP day (as a way to assess their knowledge of reading signposts, obviously).  The kids got sorted into their houses (I'm a Ravenclaw), wore HP related clothes (which was a huge bummer for me as I didn't fit in to any of my HP shirts being so pregnant), and watched one of the movies.  Siblings of students from my 6th year were in my class by then and it felt like a full-circle thing.


Little Man is obviously too young (at only 8 months) to care anything about this new book (or the movie that comes out near his birthday).  But I hope (and fully expect) that one day we will be able to share it as well.  It will become part of our own family culture.  After all, the only thing I bought for my future child (before I even conceived) was a complete set of HP books. 
They are already in his room. 
Waiting. 
Until Hogwarts can welcome him home. 

And let the magic live on.



*that was the worst movie theater experience I can remember. Half of the screen/film was shaking for the first half of the movie.  Then the other half of the screen/film was shaking for the rest of the movie.  People were furious, demanding refunds... it was crazy.
**not HP related, but I have a great picture of them doing the Hunger Games salute during class when a HG song came on one day