[HPforGrownups] Things I like about Harry Potter

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 128360

On April 18, phoenix God wrote:
In the interest of saying some positive things about HP I have 
composed a partial list of things I like about Harry Potter.  Enjoy

Sherry now:

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to answer at the time and
couldn't due to computer issues.  I'd like to throw in my HP likes--or some
of them anyway.  There are too many to list!

1.  I became hooked on Harry Potter from the first paragraph, describing the
stuffy pompous Dursleys in such a comic way.  I began to giggle and I was
hooked for good.

2.  Owl post.  I want an owl to deliver my mail!  now if I could just train
it to read the mail too, I wouldn't have to worry about finding readers.

3.  Hagrid.  Unlike some others here, I've never found Hagrid to be
particularly bumbly or comic relief.  he's funny and loyal and brave and
kind.  I love his sensitivity.  I loved the description of him and the motor
bike, as well as his entrance into the hut on the rock.

4.  Harry's first glimpse of diagon alley. 

5.  the Weasley clan.  all of them!

6.  The ceiling in the great hall, enchanted to look like the sky outside.
In fact, though I am blind, JKR has written such vivid visual description,
that I feel I could close my eyes and almost see them.  Some things that
fall into that category besides the ceiling would be the Gryffindor common
room, Dumbledore, the portraits and how they move around, the sorting
hat--just to name a few.  Very few authors write so well as to give me a
visual, sort of, image.  In fact, I never read anyone besides Laura Ingalls
wilder who could get me so visually engaged in a story as JKR.

7.  The Burrow.

8.  Mrs. Weasley's reaction to the kids coming back in the car after
rescuing Harry, her contrast between the reaction to the boys and Harry and
filling up his plate when they tell her he was being starved.

9.  Love the Ridikulus charm!  What a way to help kids get over their fears.
if I had children who were afraid of something, I'd try using this method,
without the wand and incantation!  The same for the Patronus charm.

10.  All Hagrid's critters, especially Buckbeak.

and the list could go on and on.  I would say that an overall thing I like
about he books is that they teach, to me anyway, that even though the
wizarding world has all this magic, it is a tool and can't solve all their
problems.  magic may be a part of solving the problems, but the things that
really save Harry and the gang are friendship, loyalty, courage, hard work,
love.  So even with magic, they aren't all that far away from the real
world.  This is one thing I tell people who express doubt about the HP books
and fear that they teach "evil witchcraft" to children and that magic will
solve all their problems.

Sherry