I don’t know about you but whenever I hear the word Harry Potter, I can’t help but immediately humming Hedwig’s Theme no matter where I am. And seriously, I’ll do it wherever. But finding out that it’s been 20 years since Harry Potter came out has been so crazy to me. I came into the world of Harry Potter later in life than most people. I used to absolutely HATE reading with a burning passion. I even once had a note sent home to my parents because I didn’t want to read the assigned book. Then one day (dare I say it) something magical happened.

My sister wanted to look for a book at the (RIP) Borders and I remember thinking that I didn’t want to be in that store for more than 15 minutes. I hated books so why would I want to spend even a minute within that horrid store? I refused to go more than halfway into the store and was waiting right in front of the Harry Potter display. All I kept thinking was, Why would anyone want to read these books when they can watch the movie?, so for some reason, something just came over me and I felt the need to pick up the first Harry Potter book. I started to read it and it just pulled me in. I didn’t want to admit it and quietly bought it when my sister wasn’t looking. That night I literally locked myself in my room and read 100 pages of the book right away and from that moment on, I was hooked. Just to give you an idea of when I came into the series, the final book hadn’t even come out yet but was about 2 weeks away from being released. As a new reader it took me awhile to read the books but nonetheless in a month I was done the entire series. And from that moment on, I was hooked.

Harry Potter opened up a whole new world for me. A world of new adventures, faraway lands and stories I couldn’t have even dreamed of. To this day Harry Potter will always mean something special to me. I have read the series over 7 times and will always continue to read those books. I love the detail in the story and how even small things from the first book play into the last. J.K. Rowling gifted me with such an imaginative story that it helped me to open up my imagination to so much more. Books are a gateway into another world that we can’t even fathom. It helped me read better, speak better and open up my vocabulary. Books made my childhood so much better and I have Harry Potter to thank you for that.