by Jen
My son turned 11 this month, and I'm pretty sure he was secretly hoping to get a Hogwarts letter on his birthday. Honestly, as a geeky parent, I was kind of hoping he would too - I mean, going to a wizarding school in England would be a big change, but his father and I would have been so proud! Unfortunately, we're still a family of muggles.
It's hard to believe 20 years have passed since the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Here in the US, we had to wait another year for it to be released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but the magic began as soon as J.K. Rowling's first book came off the presses in England.
I loved the series long before my kids were born, but meeting the characters again through their eyes made me appreciate the students and teachers at Hogwarts on an entirely new level. We've read most of the books together, seen all the movies, and passed countless hours perusing Pottermore. They were irritated when I got a copy of the illustrated edition of first volume for Christmas in 2015 - though of course I let them read it, albeit under close supervision!
I've even found a company that offers an online class in Harry Potter Genetics. I'm going to enroll my kids in the hopes of learning if the fact that they are both Ravenclaw while I'm a dyed in the wool Hufflepuff means their father is secretly Slytherin - or is he a Ravenclaw and that gene is somehow dominant? (He won't take the Pottermore quiz, so we may never know.)
Thank you, J.K. Rowling, for introducing us to Harry and his friends and telling us their stories in such a memorable fashion! We'll be taking a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando this fall, and I'll be sure to raise a glass of Butterbeer in your honor!
It's hard to believe 20 years have passed since the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Here in the US, we had to wait another year for it to be released as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but the magic began as soon as J.K. Rowling's first book came off the presses in England.
I loved the series long before my kids were born, but meeting the characters again through their eyes made me appreciate the students and teachers at Hogwarts on an entirely new level. We've read most of the books together, seen all the movies, and passed countless hours perusing Pottermore. They were irritated when I got a copy of the illustrated edition of first volume for Christmas in 2015 - though of course I let them read it, albeit under close supervision!
I've even found a company that offers an online class in Harry Potter Genetics. I'm going to enroll my kids in the hopes of learning if the fact that they are both Ravenclaw while I'm a dyed in the wool Hufflepuff means their father is secretly Slytherin - or is he a Ravenclaw and that gene is somehow dominant? (He won't take the Pottermore quiz, so we may never know.)
Thank you, J.K. Rowling, for introducing us to Harry and his friends and telling us their stories in such a memorable fashion! We'll be taking a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando this fall, and I'll be sure to raise a glass of Butterbeer in your honor!
