I first stumbled upon the Harry Potter series in third grade; my teacher told us that we were all to pick a book from the library and finish it by the end of the year. At this time in my life I had absolutely despised reading. I didn't have the attention span to sit down with a book and try to comprehend the small words on the pages. When we were placed in reading groups in elementary school I was even placed in the lowest level reading group and called a "troublesome" student because I refused to read.

I was intrigued by the cover of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I know that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but I was an impressionable, third grader at this point in time and the covers of the series are absolutely beautiful, so I chose to read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. From the minute I opened the book I fell in love. There was this world... this incredible world of magic and friendship and creatures that was mind blowing and made me actually want to read. I found my self completely engrossed in the series. After finishing Prisoner of Azkaban I read the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, then the second, re-read the third. fourth and so on. By the summer of sixth grade I was impatiently awaiting for the seventh book to be released and when it was, I finished it in two days.

Harry Potter was an escape for me. You see I was always the kid that never fit in. I loved math and dance and that was all I ever found consuming my mind. I didn't listen to the top 40 songs on the radio, instead I listened to show tunes and Boys Like Girls and The Fray. I was strange...I still am, but this world J. K Rowling created, it was home for me. It was the only place that I felt like I fit in. I felt like these characters were my best friends. I felt like I was Harry, and I did attend Hogwarts when reading the series and it made me forget about all my insecurities for a second and just relax. The Harry Potter series helped me learn to fall in love with reading as well. After finishing the first three books of the series my reading level had improved drastically to the point in which I was placed in the highest reading level and with the smartest group of kids, in what was then the fourth grade. I got better grades and my standardized test scores improved because the fact of the matter was, it didn't matter that I was reading fantasy, it was that I was actually reading and using my brain for something other than addition and subtraction that made all the difference.

it is J.K. Rowling that I have to thank for helping me become the person that I am today. By growing up with this amazing series, I grew up with friendship, magic, imagination, love and it has changed the way I view the world. I had the potential to go down the wrong path in third grade. I hung out with not the best groups of people at this time in my life, even though I never really felt myself fitting in with them, these were the only people who actually allowed me to talk to them, By finding the Harry Potter series I managed to pull myself away from these groups of people. It helped me find myself and determine my goals and the path that I wanted to go on, even though I didn't know it at the time. This series helped me fall in love with reading and other academics (other than mathematics) which made me a generally more intelligent person and it taught me morals and the importance of friendship, something that isn't often highlighted in the literature we are being force-fed today.

Although I believe that it is not enough, I say thank you to the series that made my childhood magical and thank you to the series that changed me for the better... Without ever stumbling upon Harry Potter I truly do not know where I would be today.