Harry Potter and the Well-Remembered Journey: 13 Years of Magical Moments

Of all the stories I’ve ever covered, and there’s been a ton of them, I always will remember fondly the “Harry Potter beat.”

Not so much a beat, really, as a series of moments, ones I will treasure for always — as a mom, a bookseller, a reporter, a writer and a fan.

There’s the first time, in those tightly written pages, that J.K. Rowling nailed my feelings as a parent.

There’s the teacher in middle school, who tried to ban my child from reading the book in her class during free reading time, because the teacher believed the book was an ode to witchcraft.

Likewise, there’s the woman in the drugstore who told me that she, as a Christian, wouldn’t read the book, or allow her kids to, because it promoted witchraft.

I told her I disagreed; that I felt it covered very well those Christian-like things we would love to pass on to our children, those beliefs in faith, honesty, integrity, tolerance, friendship, loyalty and doing unto others as you would have them do onto you.

“But doesn’t it talk about witchcraft?” she asked.

“That’s just the setting for story,” I told her, "the framework around which some pretty impressive eternal truths come to play, such as the strength and promise of a family and a parent’s love."

She seemed to waver.

“But I heard the book has spells in it,” she said.

I marveled at the comment and simply said, “Well, yeah, but it’s not like it’s anything you could actually cast! I’m pretty sure you’d have a hard time finding the ingredients!"

And then there’s the time I took the Hillsborough County School Board to task.

I was a reporter for one of the newspapers at the time, and so you can argue I stepped over my bounds, but I really don’t care. It was that important for me to do so.

My daughter was in middle school, and the first movie was set to release.

The school had promised to take the kids on a field trip, to see that movie, and my daughter was beside herself with anticipation.

Then, I learned that the field trip had been canceled, because a parent from another school had complained to the school board about Harry Potter.

I found out the parent’s name and I called that parent. And that parent told me that he had not meant to interfere with my daughter’s field trip, but that he did not want his child to partake in anything that had anything to do with Harry Potter.

He said the book was about witchcraft.

I asked if he had read the book.

He said he had not.

I said, “Well, I have, and I find the book to be very focused on those lessons I hope my child takes with her from her childhood, that no one walks alone who has friends, that knowledge is the magic that opens many doors, that every living thing, regardless of status or stature or background or birth, is worthy of our tolerance, that family will never desert you.”

The man told me he respected my views but nevertheless would hold fast to his.

And so I went to the school board meeting.

I inquired about the cancellation of the field trip and was told it had something to do with the trip not being “academic.” I made the point that making a movie out of a book that broke publishing records for children’s literature is very educational, showing through the arts how the written word can take shape and form in another medium.

I was overruled.

The night I told my daughter her field trip had been canceled, I saw her look of disbelief, the disappointment settling in. I told her that it didn’t matter, that she would see the movie.

I took her to school the next morning, and then, a couple hours later, I signed her out and proudly announced, for all within earshot to hear, that I was taking my daughter to see the Harry Potter movie.

We had an outing together I will never forget.

I can talk here, too, about my second job at the time, at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, and those magical nights that we opened our doors at midnight to sell the current volume in the Harry Potter series.

To see the hordes of people, of all ages, lining up to buy — yes, a book! — is indelibly etched in my mind.

A book with lots and lots of pages. A book that appealed to adults and kids. A book that people waited hours in line to buy, in great anticipation. A book that many of those people would go home and read from cover to cover, right away, lest anyone tell them what happened before they could find out for themselves.

I don’t know whether purchasing an e-book today would have that same appeal; people held on to their freshly printed copies of the latest Harry Potter novel as if it were a family heirlom.

Together, in communion, they gathered in celebration of the printed word.

The purchasing of the book, the lining up for the movie, it involves us in the moment and it becomes an event we do not want to miss, or ever forget.

I remember where I was in the early days of Harry Potter.

I was with my kid, relishing in the written word, in print.

I was with my kid, anticipating the story’s adaptation on the big screen.

And I will, God willing, be with my grandkids one day, rediscovering Harry Potter and, yes, it’s magic.

Thank you, Harry.

It’s been a great ride — and read.

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