Yes! An eighth installment in the famous Harry Potter series is set to be released this summer! Those of us who have read the books (a lot of us) are stoked. I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as a mere 11-year-old in sixth grade. As soon as I finished it, I binged my way through the next five. I waited with anticipation for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to launch in the summer, and I read it within a week when my mom bought it. Since then, I've reread all seven books three times and watched the movies at least 100 times.
But why is Harry Potter so popular even to this day? How has J.K. Rowling managed to sell hundreds of millions of copies?
Harry Potter is eleven years old in the first book, and by the start of the second book, he ages one year. By the third, he is thirteen, and so on. Since the series consists of seven books, Harry's life as an 11-year-old to a 17-year-old is on full display. The readers are in tune with Harry's story as it occurs.
The first and obvious attraction to the series is the supernatural. Harry is a wizard who attends Hogwarts, a boarding school of sorts in which he lives with other kids his age to learn and study magic. Harry will also encounter (among other things) centaurs, dragons, werewolves, and giants. In this world of magic, not only must Harry destroy the evil Lord Voldemort, but he must find his place. He wants to find a life worth living, a life that was almost taken away from him upon birth.
That is the genius dynamic J.K. Rowling masters. Though Harry is in the midst of unrealistic creatures and magic, he is still like any normal teenager. He still needs to grow up and mature, and so does every other kid at Hogwarts. He is essentially on a sports team when he plays Quidditch for Gryffindor. He is constantly involved in social drama with his best friends, Ron and Hermione. He is still interested in girls and struggles to understand his love life. At age fifteen, he suddenly transforms due to his surrounding circumstances, becoming more angry and rebellious.
This is why teenagers are in in love with these books: Harry Potter is a spitting image of them. The dumb and stubborn decision-making in a school environment is why Harry is such a relatable character. Adults often think back to their own times when they read these books. Memories flash in an instant. Kids, though they don't know it yet, will think back to the Harry Potter series at some point and gain a sense of relation. J.K. Rowling knew what she was doing!
Not even she knew what would come next,though. By this time, the series has become so popular it has become a champion. The books have a movie counterpart to each one of them, and unlike many films based on a book, they are just as successful. Harry Potter is often referenced on the Internet for jokes. Teenage fantasy series, such as Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series and The Hunger Games saga, follow a similar style: a kid in a fantasy world maturing like a normal person. These kinds of series are often compared to Harry Potter, but none of them are praised like J.K Rowling was.
A precedent was set, and nothing has exceeded the greatness of Harry Potter.
