Harry Potter by Hussein Chami

         

Harry Potter, which is my favorite book series, was written by the famous British author JK Rowling. It tells the story of a boy wizard who goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, while trying to defeat evil Lord Voldemort, called You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as he is much feared with his two best friends: Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. He is eleven years old in the first book (released in 1997), and you get to grow with him until he reaches seventeen.

          Rowling came up with the idea of Harry Potter on the train. The books became insanely famous and in 2013, over 450 million copies were sold! Harry Potter has also been translated to 73 languages, such as French, Spanish and Arabic. The series has also been made into movies. There is a website specifically made for Harry Potter fans called Pottermore (https://www.pottermore.com/) where you can keep up with news about the books, be sorted into a House and be chosen by a wand (“The wand chooses the wizard”, Book one — Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone).

          Harry Potter fans are called “potterheads”. They are of all ages, kids and adults. They can go have fun in one of the Harry Potter theme parks or visit the movie set.

          This year, an eight Harry Potter book was released. It was based on the new play written by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in this new installment. It was about Harry Potter’s son, who I didn’t like. Harry also didn’t act like himself, which was very weird. I would like to erase this book from my memory.

          There were very sad deaths in the books that broke my heart and made me cry because I loved some of the characters.

          Anyway, as JK Rowling said: “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”

Hussein Chami