First found HP -was re:POA, book vs. movie

[Susan]

No: HPFGUIDX 100440

 "gift_lady" <clr1971 at a...> wrote:
> I was another Christian that was warned off the books a long time 
ago 
> and it wasn't until OotP was out that we bought the books. I saw 
the 
> first movie and loved it and we went right out and bought all the 
> books available. I read them to myself first and now my 10yo son 
and 
> I are reading them together. We've almost finished OotP. I am so 
glad 
> that I read the books and didn't let others opinions - usually 
those 
> who have not even read the books - deter me from enjoying them 
> myself. 
> 
> Christina in GA

Susan (teilani):
Since so many posters are sharing their stories... I was an English 
major in college, just got my MA in English, so needless to say, I 
read... a lot.  I was working at the local public library, and my 
favorite Reference Librarian was really excited about Harry and SS.  
On top of that, the emotion, pride maybe (?) that I felt when I read 
in the papers after CoS (?) came out that JKR had all these kids 
*reading*  WOW!  Kids wanting to read.  Love that.  Anything that 
gets a kid to read is fabulous in my opinion.  Plus, because of that 
librarian, I really started to get into the series, and I had someone 
to talk with about the storylines.  I remember jumping up off my 
couch when I got to the part in PoA that tells us Sirius was innocent!
(Needless to say, I was really bummed about his death in OoP).

What turned out to be even better was that after the kids finished 
the books and were waiting like the rest of us for the next one to be 
published, I (and my co-workers) were constantly being asked by both 
kids and parents what they should read while they were waiting for 
the next HP book.  Uh, kids got hooked on reading because of JKR, so 
much so that they wanted to keep reading books even if they weren't 
stories about our beloved Harry Potter!  That's one of the many 
reasons I could not understand what some Christians hated about HP... 
especially since it was clear that they didn't read the books.  That 
situation reminded me of the minister who declared that one of the 
Teletubbies was gay.  What one year old knows what _gay_ is?  And for 
that matter, what was that minister thinking?!

Totally OT for a moment, I know, but while I thought SS was a good 
kids book, and CoS was better, PoA blew me away, and GoF and OoP got 
finished in one night, despite their length!  I am really excited for 
6&7, and I really do hope the books continue to get more mature as 
Harry & Co mature.
Susan