20 Reasons I Love Harry Potter

1. The books helped me discover my love of reading. 

I started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in 2001, just four years after it was released in the UK and three years after it was released in the US. I picked up that first book right after I finally mastered reading, and it took me three weeks to finish it. By the time I got to the fifth book, it was only taking me a day or two. But for an eight year old, three weeks is pretty impressive.

I was immediately obsessed. The wizarding world of Harry Potter was exactly what I needed in my life. The second book took me two weeks to read, and I managed to finish the Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets in time to see the first movie.

2. The movies made me realize what I want to do with my creativity. 

I walked out of that theatre with my head in the clouds and a firm resolve to create something as magical as what I had just witnessed. The way the filmmakers had taken words on a page and made their own magic out of it was amazing to my little eight year old mind. That was the first time I realized all the incredible possibilities for creative people.

3. The characters are seriously sassy, especially little Mr. Potter himself.

In the books, Harry often loses his temper. It’s understandable, it can’t be easy being “The Boy Who Lived” and all that. The best thing about his temper is how sassy he gets. He sasses the Dursleys, his friends, Snape and McGonagall, and even Dumbledore.

And he’s not the only one. Fred and George gang up on their brothers, bombarding them with sass. They leave their mother alone though, they don’t have a death wish. Hermione manages to be sassy without even saying anything, though she does drop some one liners that make my heart melt. And Ginny is incredibly sassy and will yell at Harry when he’s being stupid, which I really missed in the movies. I love book Ginny.

4. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are fantastic best friends.

I love how the movies made a point to give their troublemaking trio some beautiful friendship moments. Little jokes, uncontrollable laughter, spontaneous hugs…spontaneous handshakes were also good. They take care of each other. They don’t always get along, and Hermione took a couple months to even befriend Harry and Ron, but they stick together and take care of each other.

5. J.K. Rowling writes a wizarding society that redefines magic in the modern world.

Harry Potter lives in a magical world that exists in the modern world, invisible to “muggles” and using magic instead of everything from technology to cleaning supplies. Everything is so cool. They travel through fire, send letters that scream at you, and have pet owls. Rowling created this amazing world with it’s own school and government and news. She created a combination of myths, legends, and her own imagination that resulted in this billion dollar franchise.

6. Dumbledore is the wise eccentric professor everyone needs in their life.

There are always a few moments in each book/movie where Dumbledore sits Harry down and proceeds to give some truly inspirational bits of advice. People tend to feel strongly about the two different Dumbledores. I think they show both sides of his personality. Richard Harris gives us the wise grandfather who loves sweets. Michael Gambon is the energetic eccentric who can disappear from a room with nothing but a Phoenix to help.

7. The very title, “The Boy Who Lived” inspires children to believe in the impossible.

From the moment Harry discovers he’s a wizard, he always discovers he’s supposed to be dead. Voldemort killed everyone and anyone, but Harry escaped with nothing but a cool scar and a creepy memory. He survived against all odds, showing readers that it’s possible to survive anything.

8. Harry is determined to always do the right thing…although that often involves breaking the rules.

Harry is incorruptible. He has his good and bad moments. He can be rash and annoying. But he is a good person and fearlessly faces Voldemort, even when he’s only a tiny 11 year old. Harry moves the story forward with his determination to defeat Voldemort, though that determination might be misplaced at times.

9. Fred and George are hilarious.

I love twins, partly because I have a twin, but Fred and George are the funniest part of these stories. Their quick banter, constant jokes, and endless mischief never cease to entertain. I’m amazed that they would hand over the Marauder’s Map to Harry in his third year. They still have a couple years to go at Hogwarts and they did not have to give up that goldmine of information. and yet, that map made Harry’s adventures so much better.

10. The Weasleys take Harry in as their own and give him the family he always wanted. 

Harry doesn’t have a family. He has the Dursleys. It’s pretty sad. But he and Ron become best friends and Harry gets adopted into the Weasley clan. I’m pretty sure if Harry thought Arthur and Molly would accept money from him, he would have given them his fortune in a heartbeat.

He has some great moments visiting the Weasleys for holidays and vacations, going to the Quidditch championship with them, de-gnoming the garden, and driving their flying car. It makes sense that he would just marry into the family.

11. There’s a sport played on flying broomsticks. 

Flying brooms are usually associated with craggy old witches who live in the forest, but these books make them cool. Harry Potter flies a broom and chases a golden ball with wings. It sounds crazy, but it’s awesome and brings those school rivalry scenes that people can relate to.

12. Each witch and wizard have a patronus, an animal representation of themselves.

The fifth movie has this great scene where Harry teaches Dumbledore’s Army the patronus spell and there are silver animals flying all over the place. Harry’s stag is joined by Hermione’s beaver, Ginny’s horse, Ron’s dog, and Luna’s bunny. Pottermore has a patrons quiz now, letting everyone answer the burning question of what their own patronus is. Mine is a robin and it’s beautiful.

13. Hogwarts is every kid’s dream school.

It would have been so fun to go to school in a giant castle with moving staircases, talking pictures, and secret passageways. No wonder Fred and George stirred up so much mischief, the possibilities are endless. Also, whose idea was it to build a school right next to a giant forest full of dangerous creatures? Wizards are crazy.

14. While Voldemort is the ultimate villain, there are still other villains that move each story forward.

I’m going to be honest, I love Umbridge. I wouldn’t want to meet her in person of course, but she is a fabulous villain. She’s really the only villain who is not associated with Voldemort. She’s a polite pink catastrophe, and Harry spends his fifth year at Hogwarts provoking and avoiding her. Even McGonagall is nice to Harry because Unbridge is so nasty. I love every moment in the movie when Umbridge is in between Snape and McGonagall. So much sass in one image.

And then we have all of Voldemort’s followers, willing or not. Snape and Malfoy antagonize Harry and his friends throughout the school years, and both get a lot of blame for anything that goes wrong.

15. We get a sense of British culture. 

The third movie gets this the most with the school choir, but even just the fact that all these kids go to boarding school in an old castle is much more British than American. The first book even had different versions released, one was more British and the other more American. It’s interesting to read British slang and places that actually exist in England, like Kings Cross.

16. Hermione Granger changed the conversation about female heroes. 

Hermione Granger is fantastic. She is smart and brave. She is valued because of her intelligence, an intellect that saved Harry’s life several times. She bosses Harry and Ron into being her friends, breaks into a school vault, makes an illegal potion, turns back time, figures out the Triwizard tasks, starts up a secret army, and keeps Harry and Ron alive while they’re on the run. Also, she breaks into a bank and the ministry of magic.

She definitely has help, primarily from Harry and Ron, but Hermione is a serious force to be reckoned with. She is not just that famous kid’s best friend’s love interest. She is not just the one bossy girl in the class. She is the brightest witch/person of her age/generation and Emma Watson portrayed her perfectly.

17. I read the first four books with my mom before finishing them on my own, then later to my little siblings. 

I remember sitting on my mom’s bed while she read the books to me. Mostly it was just because she was suspicious about anything with magic and wanted to make sure I wasn’t reading anything inappropriate. But I appreciated those precious moments.

Then I read to my little siblings, filling their heads with the tales and adventures of “The Boy Who Lived”. They can read them on their own now, but I’m glad I got to introduce them to the wonderful world of Harry Potter.

18. Even though Harry is the chosen one with an enormous amount of stress and pressure on his life, he still finds moments to be a kid.

There are several fun moments when Harry actually acts his age and not like “The Chosen One”. He and his roommates (Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean) goof off with magical candy. His fellow quidditch members and Gryffindors find time to celebrate, usually led by Fred and George. But it’s nice when Harry can enjoy some lighthearted moments.

19. Minerva McGonagall is fiercely loyal to Hogwarts, Dumbledore, and keeping Harry alive.

Nothing gets her riled up more than when anyone questions Dumbledore, and she will defend Hogwarts from any threat. It’s so cool in the last book/movie when she enchants the statues and suits of armor to defend the school.

From scolding Harry for his idiocy to feeding him biscuits when he yells at Umbridge, Professor McGonagall is constantly trying to keep this poor kid from stumbling to his death. Even from the very first chapter, she is watching Harry all night while her friends and family celebrate the end of Voldemort. She’s stern and strict and incredibly loyal.

20. J.K. Rowling weaves an intricate web of a story.

The fact that there are elements in the first book leading up to the very last book takes nothing short of genius to accomplish. Rowling not only accomplished it, she succeeded beautifully. She creates these adventures full of bravery, cunning, and sheer guts. Each book gets progressively deeper and more complicated as the overall purpose unfolds.

I am truly impressed by these seven books. After I’d read the first three, I waited desperately for each book to be released. I counted the days until each movie hit the theatre. These stories have marked milestones in my life, one of which was buying my own copies of the books. They’re in the prime spot on my bookshelf, right next to my giant _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone_ movie poster.

 Happy 20 years of magic and happiness.