There are reasons for not reading J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series: They’re children’s books; you’ve already seen the movies; you’re sick and tired of hearing about Harry Potter and just want to leave it alone.
There is no argument against this last reason. I understand the feeling and it’s your choice. Life will go on.
But you’re missing a lot of fun if you dismiss them as children’s books. In the first place, a good children’s book can be just as satisfying for adults as for children. And in the second place, most of the series are not children’s books. The first volume, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States) is, and maybe the second as well, The Chamber of Secrets. But both are compelling and leave the adult reader wanting to know more. The next five books are darker and despite what publishers or critics say, they are adult. The fact that children read them is a testament to children’s ability to appreciate literature.
As for the movies, they’re very good. Faithful to the books. And it is fun to watch the young actors grow up faithful to their characters over the seven years covered by the series. But if you like to read, immersing yourself in these engrossing books can be addictive.
It’s not about the magic
Unless you’ve been in a lunar colony for the last 20 years you don’t need to have the story explained. But here it is anyway: Eleven-year old orphan Harry Potter, who has been raised by his neglectful aunt and uncle, learns not only that he has magical powers but that he is famous in the wizarding world for having survived the fatal curse that killed his parents. He goes to Hogwarts, a boarding school for wizards and witches, and over the next seven years becomes embroiled with his new friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in the battle to foil the return of Voldemort, the dark wizard who killed his parents.
The books are set in a parallel magical world, but the stories are not about magic. Magic is just a tool for wizards and witches; something to be harnessed and used just as technology is in the non-magical world. That is why the wizarding world has so many 17th-century trappings; it has no need for the technology that shapes so much of our world. Although the wizards hide themselves from us, the two worlds are not really separate and they have much in common. Such as politics and bigotry. And kids are kids, magical or not, and growing up can be difficult and dangerous in either world.
And that’s what the books are about—growing up, learning about the real world and facing the evils that threaten us whether we are muggle or magical.
Voldemort is dangerous not because he is a powerful evil wizard, but because he is powerful and evil. He is a fascist, inspiring followers with a totalitarian vision of racial purity. This is a threat that the muggle world fought 70 years ago, but which—like Voldemort—is reemerging today.
Standing on her own
Some so-called Christians have challenged the Harry Potter books as unchristian because of the magic. To quote Hagrid (keeper of the keys at Hogwarts), “Codswallop, in my opinion.” There is nothing satanic in them.
On the other hand, the books also have been criticized as derivative of the Christian mythos and of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Rowling acknowledges the use of some Christian imagery to illustrate the themes of death and resurrection. But these themes are not unique to Christianity, and there is no theology in Harry Potter. If there are parallels between Harry Potter and Tolkien and other gospels, that is because they are all telling the story of Good vs. Evil. It’s been told many times, by the Sumerian authors of the Gilgamesh epic, by Bram Stoker in Dracula as well as by Rowling and subsequent authors. What determines the quality of each work is how it is told, not whether you can find parallels with other works.
Rowling has told her stories focusing on the growth of her young protagonists. They get help from adults, but, as in life, the adults are not perfect and what is expected of the youngsters is neither easy nor altogether fair. Again, as in life.
Don’t think that these books are completely grim, however. They are exciting, funny and touching. Harry and his friends grow convincingly from pre-teens to young adults under more trying circumstances than a more generous world would have given them.
With more than 500 million copies of the books in print, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding one at your local library or bookstore.