Harry, Turn Yer Swag On

So I think this week's blog theme (Formative Books/Movies From Childhood!) was actually my suggestion, but to be honest, I really struggled to think of a good topic to write about. By and away, the most influential book for me growing up was Harry Potter, though, so I figure that's probably the best place to start.

I know some of our blog-mates are lifelong Harry Potter antis, so I apologize to subjecting you to my experiences, but no other book/movie series had as much as an impact of me growing up. I wrote about this a little in my end of decade post actually, but there's a lot more to be said, so I'll mention just a couple more things in this post too.

Basically, Harry Potter was the book that made me want to learn how to read. My parents read the books to us as kids growing up, and my mom and dad always mention this anecdote about how I would hold my little picture books upside-down next to my dad while he read to me and my siblings, and I would repeat what he said as if I were reading aloud too. They said it was annoying - which, I can't blame them, that sounds super annoying, even if I was a little kid - but I learned how to read at an early age, so maybe it worked. I remember being in maybe kindergarten or first grade, and finally trying to read the first Harry Potter book by myself. It took me what felt like an eternity, and I definitely didn't understand all of it, but I felt so accomplished that I could finally read this book that was such a big part of my life.

And that's probably a big reason why this book felt so formative for me. My whole family loved the series. My parents got really into the books after watching the first movie when it came out (at the time, 2001 I think, they decided we were too young to watch it, because of how scary Quirrell/Voldemort is at the end. My oldest sibling was only 5 at the time, so they waited a few years before showing them to us).

As me and my siblings got older, they let us go to some midnight release parties with them at our local Barnes and Noble, and every time a new book came out, it was passed down from person to person in our family until everyone had read it (it always passed in age order, so I would be the last person to read the new book). It really was a part of my family and something that brought us all together throughout a lot of my childhood. Not to mention a huge part of the culture, of course. I remember wondering, in the years after the last movie came out, whether any other work of fiction would become as influential as Harry Potter, with the fan culture that sprung up around it, and I really don't think anything has. Not yet, at least.

As I wrote those last couple paragraphs, a lot of random anecdotes pop into my head. For a while in middle school, me and my siblings were making a very elaborate Lego Movie using our many Harry Potter Legos - apparently I was a very...difficult-to-please director/screenwriter, according to my siblings...unfortunately I don't think any evidence of our magnum opus survives.

I also remember my friend spoiling part of the last book in 3rd grade (he didn't think it was a spoiler, but from what he told me I was able to infer some things about the ending. Needless to say, I was distraught). I remember sobbing when a certain beloved elf dies in the final book (my favorite character. My family was very worried, justly so, about how I would react to that part). I remember listening to Mugglecast (a podcast about the series) religiously in middle school. Reading My Immortal, the infamously bad Harry Potter fanfiction in middle school with all my friends. Watching A Very Potter Musical and its sequel. Combing through terrible Wizard Rock songs with Caitlin to find the least offensive for our Harry Potter-themed episode of Fake Fans last year. A couple years back, I staged a one-woman show for my family around Christmas, reimagining the series, with decorated spoons serving as the various characters. There are a lot of little memories like that, and probably many, many more. I don't think I've ever loved something with as much of myself as I loved Harry Potter in elementary/middle school.

Over the years, I really fell out of following Harry Potter stuff - I haven't much cared for any of the new Fantastic Beasts movies and it's been years since I've read any of the books or watched the movies - but the original series still has a certain charm for me that I'll never quite fall out of love with, I think.

Oh, and I'm a Hufflepuff, by the way.