Thank you J.K. Rowling.

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:48:11 GMT

When I was eleven years old my parents gave me Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for Christmas. I was an avid reader but the book just didn’t interest me much. A month later we were taking a long car ride and Harry Potter was the only thing in our house, including cereal boxes that I had not yet read. I started the book in the car and finished the entire novel twice before we got to our destination. It was the best book I had ever read in my entire eleven years of life. It involved magic, which always interested me, but also good vs. evil, amazing characters who were my age, and just an amazing world that I still love to this day. I have cultivated my closet group of friends based on Harry Potter and my entire childhood was spent being in love with those novels. This has been the case for many others all over the world. J.K.Rowling’s napkin scribblings have become more than a fiscal wonderland; they have become an inspiration to people all over the world to pick up a novel in the age of electronics.
Through her Harry Potter novels author J.K. Rowling has inspired many reluctant readers around the globe to pick up a book. From children who never before have been interested in reading during an age of electronic entertainment to people who have never before had access to books in third world countries. Even adults have become obsessed with the stories after reluctantly picking them up.
Harry Potter books have had a positive impact, not only on a child’s attitude toward reading, but also on the quality of schoolwork. This shows that once children get interested in reading, they will keep being interested and accept other literature as well. This is an amazing accomplishment for a novel, or author to pull of. More than half of Harry Potter readers said that they hadn’t read books for fun before the series. Finding a book that can encourage a reluctant reader is not easy. Children can feel defeated by age 9 or 10 if they have not found a book they can connect with. The Harry Potter series has truly been a monumental force in encouraging children to read.
J.K. Rowling inspired many people to do something that is sadly unusual in this day and age, pick up a novel. How did she accomplish this when others could not? I for one would say sheer brilliance but that is because she is my one of my greatest idols. Others would say her literary skills are the cause of this phenomenon. Such as her use of literary tools: good and evil, humor, magic, fantasy, relationships and thrills-the stuff juvenile readers love. The books hit on major themes that children commonly like in fiction books. These include being special, going from poor to rich, and knowing more than adults. Children can also connect with these books because they are not written in an advanced language or “dumbed down”, which makes children feel as if the author is taking them seriously. J.K. Rowling accomplishes that while also writing the novels in a way that children can understand them. I started reading these novels when I was eleven and I never had any problem understanding them or the themes that Rowling was trying to bring forth. Adults also like these novels because the can see the meaning on a deeper level. They watch the three main characters deal with puberty, friendships, and the importance of loyalty. The series ended when I was 18 and many of the friendships and morals in the series have influenced my own. I liked watching the characters grow up as I did and deal with the same issues as I had. Many people can identify with Harry, a new kid in school dealing with all the insecurities, the bullies and the normal problems of life. Even the humor is a selling point for all of the readers.
On December 6th, 2008 J.K. Rowling published another book, the Tales of Beedle the Bard. It coincides with a fictional book in the Harry Potter series and she has decided to publish it and make it a reality. I bring this up because when the book was only in pre-orders it was already set to be published in 63 languages. Rowling has reached an international audience like no other ever before. There are even countries that are so desperate to publish the book they translate the novels themselves, unauthorized. I think it is amazing that Rowling has been able to essentially bring the world together, over a novel. Even people in countries as remote as Nepal are reading these novels! To me, Rowling is an amazing person, to have accomplished this much with a series of novels. Especially when novels are so easily disregarded in this day and age.
Harry Potter has changed my life. Those novels have connected me with so many people I cannot even count it. When I was a freshman in high school I felt it was uncool to have been such an avid reader as I was, and especially to be so in love and obsessed with a novel such as Harry Potter. That was before I discovered, in the beginning of the year that I was not alone. Lindsay Hansen and Alyssa Henry, two of my closest and best friends to this day were just like me. We spent hours discussing theories on the books and even reading them together. We went to every single midnight release party and based our friendships with people and even relationships on how the other person felt about these novels. Alyssa and I were just talking the other day when I said “I think the reason we became friends in the first place Lys, is because of Harry Potter.” She agreed and we just went on, but that revelation hit me like a ton of bricks. I have J.K. Rowling to thank for a large amount of people in my life whom I treasure like no others. There is even a Facebook group called “I only know you because of J.K. Rowling.” Her novels have inspired music, called “Wizard Rock Bands” which are brilliant, and websites galore. All of us Harry Potter fans feel connected to one another because of our love for these novels. Whenever I am talking to someone new and they mention that they like Harry Potter I feel relieved because I know that on some level we are already connected and understand one another.
I could never go into all the details about my life and Harry Potter because it would probably be as long as the Harry Potter novels themselves. Many people laugh at the idea of changing the world, especially with a novel, which unfortunately is an idea that is becoming more and more associated with the word antiquated. I think Rowling has accomplished that. I believe that inspiring children to read, is an amazing accomplishment all in its own. These children will now go out and read other novels because of Rowling, hoping that they will also love them as much as they did Harry Potter. The whole world has been influenced by these novels that I will treasure forever.

Wake Me Up When September Ends.

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:13:53 GMT

The start of a new school year is always exciting. I was thirteen years old and only just a few days into my 8th grade year at I.S. 34. As I was sitting in my science class, other kids kept being called out and not returning to class. Pretty soon all the grades were brought to the auditorium and all of the teachers went to an emergency staff meeting, none of us children really had any idea what was going on. Kids kept being called out and not returning, this went on for two hours until it was my lunch period and I went with my friends down to the cafeteria. We were sitting around joking as usual, mostly about how we wish we could leave also, and then my name was called. I stood on a line with other kids as we were ushered out the front door of the school and into a huge mass of screaming and crying parents. It was September 11th 2001.
I was immediately upset and I wasn’t even sure what was going on. My name was called and my mother raced up to get me, with my younger brother in tow. I remember seeing some of my friends parents and neighbors who all patted me on the back while giving my mother sympathetic looks. As I sat in the car I asked my mother what happened and she was shocked that I hadn’t found out yet, seeing as how my brother’s fourth grade teacher had told them and let them listen to the radio. As she tried to explain to me about what exactly a “terrorist” was and what they had done to Manhattan all I could hear was the loud roar of the Army bombers overhead.
I sat on the couch in my living room, with a pillow on my lap for hours without moving a muscle. I just watched the news and my mother. My father is a Police Sergeant based in Brooklyn and even though he was off that day he went in to help even after my mother begged him not to. Every time the phone rang my mother pounced on it (this was of course before caller ID) hoping it was my father, but it was just family members from all over the country calling to make sure we were okay. It wasn’t until I was a few years older that I realized I might have lost my father that day. It just never occurred to me that he wouldn’t come home. When my mother finally received a phone call from him after many long hours due to there being no cell reception, a lot of the tension in the house was lifted, but the sadness just stayed in place like a fog.
To this day I still get upset on September 11th, the memories now hitting me harder then the actual event did. My father refuses to talk about what happened in those few weeks. We can guess but he has never told any of us, and now I don’t think I would really like to know. People all around me had lost friends and relatives, and I was lucky enough to have made it through with just a scratch. Yet, the thick black smoke rising from the city that I saw driving from home is always in my mind and it will never disappear.

I'm not usually a fan of poetry.

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:10:53 GMT

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

- William Blake

The Witching Hour.

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:59:02 GMT

To me, the scariest sound is a clock ticking.

Lauren Golighty

Thank you J.K. Rowling.

Wake Me Up When September Ends.

I'm not usually a fan of poetry.

The Witching Hour.