Joanne Rowling

Dear Joanne Rowling,

I was in fourth grade, and perhaps nine or ten years old at the time, when I got my hands on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I remember being excited and just as equally terrified as I opened that book and began to read. All of my friends had been reading the book and absolutely loved it, while my parents had told me that it was not something I would ever be allowed to read due to it clashing with their religious beliefs. You can then imagine my apprehension with sneaking a copy home from the school library, hidden behind my math folder inside my book bag, and reading it under cover of night in my room.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved to read. In elementary school I would get my books taken away in class because I’d rather be lost in a story than paying attention to the lesson plan. However, as often as I would make trips to the library to check out another book, I never found a novel or book series that really grabbed my attention for longer than a few weeks at most. That’s why, when I finished the very first chapter of Sorcerer’s Stone all those years ago and kept going until I was nodding off with my face in the book, I knew that the story of this orphaned boy with messy hair and a scar was special. However, I don’t think I quite realized at the time how much the Harry Potter series would grow to be a part of my life for years to come.

When you put aside the magic aspect of the series, there are still a lot of valuable lessons to be learned (the importance of love and friendship and honesty, to name a few). I think many people miss out on these due to focusing on the fact that it is labeled a book series meant for children about wizards and such. There’s no rule written down that says kid stories aren’t capable of encompassing life guidelines, after all.

The importance of doing what is right rather than what is easy, even when others push you to side with them is the biggest thing that I’ve taken away from Harry’s story. If Harry had simply given up and stopped fighting, stopped caring for his friends and the fate of everyone else to join the evil side just because it was easier, the story would have ended far differently and not in a good way either. I’ve learned through all of the trials the characters go through during the course of the series that life is hard, it is not always fair, and good may not always prevail over bad but you can’t just give up. I credit my will to keep fighting and never quit to these books. I’m a much stronger person today because of this.

I am now seventeen years old, and a senior in high school. In less than one month I will be going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one on opening night at the movie theater with my friends and family, all of whom are avid Potter lovers (yes, my parents came around to Team Potter as well, much to my relief). I own every single Harry Potter book and have read them multiple times, the spines of them well bent with use and a few pages now slightly dog-eared or stained with occasional inky fingerprints. Of course I am teased by my other more “serious” peers for admitting that Harry Potter is my favorite book series. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t dare change it. I’ve grown up right alongside the small boy who lived in a cupboard under the stairs for eleven years of his life, and in a way I can relate to Harry, Ron and Hermione better than I can people my own age.

The story of Harry Potter has essentially been my entire childhood, contained within the pages of seven wonderful books. Your incredibly, magical story has made me very happy for many years, and will continue to do so until I’m old and in my rocker. There are things in life you never forget, and this story is one of them. I can only hope that the future generations of children will read your story and gain as much as I have from it.

Sincerely,

Kaitlyn Graves