AdministravaI will reveal no great spoilers This also is not an examination of plot & such, but more a treatise on the nature of the series as a whole.I read all seven of the HP books over Christmas. Up to that point, I had read only reviews and seen a couple of the movies.
Our local Half Price Books had many copies of all seven on hand and for a reasonable price. A new copy of the latest runs $35, a very
unreasonable price, IMO. I paid less than $7 on average for each hardbound and only $1 for the first in the series, which was a paperback (my favored form factor).
IntroductionThe HP book series is centered around an 11-17YO Harry Potter, who is a wizard, one born with the potential for hermetic magic(1) (female wizards are known as witches). The HP universe is our own, but with the addition of magic, magic creatures, and sub/secret societies that exist in parallel to the non-magical, "muggle" one. By means of various enchantments and the vigorous efforts of the UK Ministry of Magic, the muggle world remains mostly ignorant of the magical reality. All of the HP books take place on the island of Great Britain.
HP begins the first book as an 11YO orphan raised by muggle relatives antagonistic to both him and to the wizarding world in general. He, himself is not aware of the magic world, but is made aware of its existence by an invitation to study at Hogwart's, a 7 year boarding school dedicated to educating young wizards & witches. Hogwarts is also where most of the action in the HP series occurs. Each book covers an academic year at Hogwart's, SEP-JUN.
EvaluationThe HP books are very entertaining, even for adults. The first two or three are your standard "350 pages and out" affairs. Subsequent books ballooned to twice that length. My general observation of young people who read the HP books is that if they like the first one, the length of the subsequent books is no barrier.
Not particularly deep, the HP books do have some recurring themes:
Value of friendship
Loyalty
Courage
Determination
Denigration of inherited money, power, etc.
Rules are made to bent, folded, and mutilated in the pursuit of Really Important Goals
Yes, there is evil in the world
Evil must be fought
Self-defense is a good thing
Intelligence is valuable, but not the only important characteristic of a person
They are not written at the level of J. R. R. Tolkien's
Lord of the Rings or even C S Lewis's
Narnia books. But, they are some of the best children's books written since them that can also be enjoyed by adults. LoTR can be likened to a magnum opus and is a contender for the best book(s) of the 20th century. CS Lewis's books are little jewels of literature to be enjoyed. Again, HP will knock neither from their perch.
They read fairly quickly and are probably written at the 5th-8th grade level. The themes/content gets darker as you plow through them, however, so even if your kiddo can read and understand, the material might be darker than you want them to deal with at younger ages.
I heartily ercommend the HP books for both adults and children. The children ought to be matched to the book with the later books reserved for the older children.
(1) The best way I can describe the "magic rules" in the HP universe. Here is a definition of how I am using it:
http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/magic/hermetic.html"...hermetic magic is used to refer to an essentially scientific approach to magic -- which views the world as a collection of impersonal energies which can be harnessed by the use of special knowledge."
I do this to differentiate it from other sorts of magic systems in other fantasy universes and as clarification to those who view the HP books as somehow occult or the like.
