Getting Into Harry Potter

Post by **Scyldings Renata** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 4:05 am

How did I get into Harry Potter?

At the time when the first book was released I read a brazilian magazine review about it. When I saw that the book was related about magic, wizards and witches I decided to buy it at the same time. After I finished to read the first book I was very anxious that the next book were released and this happened with all the books. /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

Scyldings Renata (Gryffindor, sc500, Brazil)

Post by **Aili Raja** » Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:32 am

How did I get into Harry Potter.

The third book Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban came out in english and it was as big a success as the previous ones - some estonian publisher thought that now was a good time to translate them to estonian.

When they had been translated and were widely available in every library I still didnÃ‚Â´t know nothing about their existense /sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad.gif" /> I can say to my justification that at that time I had no access to internet and my bookshelf is so big that to this day I find books there I havenÃ‚Â´t read.

Then my cousin came to visit me and he is a really big reader and so he told me about Harry Potter as he has told me about almost everything I have read in my life (he is older than me so he knows what he liked when he was my age)

A week after his visit I became ill and as always I wanted books to read at night. When IÃ‚Â´m ill I tend to swich day and night so that I sleep during the day and am awake during night (wait IÃ‚Â´m not ill at the moment and itÃ‚Â´s 2,30 AM Ã¢â‚¬â€œ now donÃ‚Â´t get any ideas.....).

So I sent mom to library to bring me books and one of the books she brought was Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. I started to read it and the rest is history.....

Aili Raja (Ravenclaw, ai503, Estonia)

Post by **Christine McTague** » Thu Dec 09, 2004 7:20 am

::rattles the bars of her asylum cell::
It was all her fault.
Really it was. I had nothing to do with it. I only picked up the book and read it (of course by her urging).
Alright, let me start at the beginning...
I was born in-- ::fast forwards tape and mutters to herself, then stops it after a few minutes of blurry pictures and chipmunk voices:: Ok!
It all started when my house keeper read it. She might have gotten it from her kids, her husband, or just another friend, but I never really asked. She recommended it to me one day as we were chatting. I had heard a great deal about it already. Mostly it didn't pique my interest; while the books I was reading at the time were forgettable (In fact I dont remember any books I was reading before this), the huge hype it was getting mostly warned me off. I politely said I might look into it and, though not expecting it to be that great, bought the book a few days later.
I started reading it and for a while it didn't interest me. In fact, I put the book down for a few months because the ghosts scared me (I hadn't read far enough to see that the ghosts really weren't scary). But at her urging I again picked up the book... And haven't been able to put them down since.
::rattles the bars of her cell again::
When is feeding time?! I need my pumpkin juice!
Christine McTague, ch503, USA

Post by **Willow Granger** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 4:14 am

Well, you heard of the saying, Curiosity killed the cat, right? Well that's what happened with me. I was so curious I decided to read it. Once I dug in, I couldn't stop, so I read the whole series. I found some Hp movies, and watched those. That's basicaly how i got into it & everything.

Willow

P.S. That's also how I got into HOL

Post by **Pearl Mele** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 9:08 pm

My first encounter with the Harry Potter books was at Barnes and Nobles. I actually had no idea what or who Harry Potter was, and therefore, didn't care. After an hour of goofing off and reading comic books, my older brother seemed to tire of my energy and thrust a random book in my face. A twist of luck came into play as I gazed at the words Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone emblazoned on the cover. With hardly enough interest, I began to flip through the pages, but as I read on, I began to enjoy it. I'm a die-hard fantasy book fan, and nothing's more enjoyable than a good fantasy book. Harry Potter just happened to be a book to my liking. After the second and third book, I was officially hooked, or as others have so kindly put it, obsessed. I still read the Harry Potter books, and my Harry Potter craze led me to finding HOL.

Pearl Mele (Gryffindor, pe550, USA)

Post by **Sydney Brunestow** » Wed Dec 29, 2004 10:12 pm

I was in 8th grade and Harry Potter wasn't really a big thing yet. My friend was reading the third book and I asked her what it was. I think it was right after the third book was published and released, so I had no idea what it was. It looked interesting, so I asked if I could borrow the first book. After the first few chapters, I was hooked and after that, I went out and bought the first three books. The next year when GoF came out, I was first in line to buy it on the day because my brother brought me in to work with him (he works at a big supply store, Sams Club).

Post by **Edain Newman** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:38 pm

When Harry Potter first came out, I bought it and tried to read it. I just didn't really understnad what was going on. It didn't make since at all to me. A couple of years later, the Sorceror's Stone came out in theaters. I went and saw it because my friends wanted me to. I reluctantly agreed. I saw it and I thought it wasn't half bad. So I picked up my book and tried to read it again and it made perfect sense to me. I guess seeing the movie kind of gave me an image for each thing that happened in the book and I understood it better. When the rest of the books came out I bought each one and read them. After seeing the first movie, every single book made since. Now I am so in to Harry Potter. I don't think I could give Harry Potter up for all the money in the world!

Post by **Esmerelda Knotwise** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 5:28 pm

How did I get into Harry Potter? I think it was right after the 2nd book came out, and I kept seeing stacks of them at Costco. I had a friend whose kids were dying to read them, but their dad had heard bad things about the books. I thought, "What could be so bad? I'll just have to read it and see for myself." I thought the books were geared toward smaller children, so I braced myself for a long boring read. WOW!! I loved it (book 1). I couldn't wait to buy book 2 and read it too.

I don't remember what caused me to search for Harry Potter stuff on the internet, but it wasn't long before I had found more sites out there than I could have imagined. The Harry Potter phenomenon snowballed to include roleplaying web sites, fanfictions galore, coloring pages, contests, wizard cards, and more forums than you could shake a stick at. Yeah, well, I was right there in the middle of it all. And here I am, joining ANOTHER HP web site. I guess I'm hooked! I love attending classes, and reading all about the clues that JKR has hidden in her books. She is one talented writer!

Esmerelda Knotwise (Hufflepuff, es550, USA)

Post by **Belle Vespera** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:09 pm

I actually never heard about the books before the first movie hit the screen. I was amazed of how all the kids, and adults, were talking about this character. So I thougth I had to check out what the hype was. It was early in November this year I read my first Harry Potter book. I had seen all the movies and I really enjoyed them. So, I bought all the books cause I knew I was going to love them even more /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> I finished them just before Christmas, and I've already preordered the next one /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> I'm hooked, and I love it!

Belle Vespera (be552, Rawenclaw, Norway)

Post by **Taylor MacPherson** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:16 pm

I can't believe I haven't posted in this until now!

When I was in 7th grade, we still got book-orders from Scholastic. I ordered Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone because it looked interesting to me. The day the book came in, I had it finished before lunch. Yes, that day Tay read through all of her morning classes...*g*...That evening I made my Mom take me to Barnes and Noble so I could get the second and third books. By the end of the night I spent at Grandma's house, I had finished the Chamber of Secrets and had moved onto the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Taylor MacPherson (Ravenclaw, ta408, USA)

Post by **Kiara Diamonte** » Thu Dec 30, 2004 7:43 pm

How did I get into Harry Potter? Well, I resisted the force for a while, being a die hard Muggle and not wanting to have anything to do with the Wizarding world. My sister Lilly Stargazer and my other Sister Daisy Stargazer both were reading the books and talking all the hype about how "cool" this series was. For pure cinematic enjoyment I went with a friend of mine to see Sorcerer's Stone. I had to admit, I really enjoyed the movie but still wasn't interested in reading the books. Time went by, and Lilly and Daisy were still talking about HP every time our family got together on Friday nights. CoS came out in the theaters, and I went to see that movie also, since I enjoyed the first movie so much, and again found it quite enjoyable, but still not motivating enough for me to read the books. Daisy and Lilly were still jabbering about the books, and were completely excited that OotP was comming out that July.
It was becomming quite annoying to hear them jabber on about Quitty and Hermione, Ron and Harry, so I FINALLY asked to borrow Sorcerer's Stone from Lilly so that I could have some Idea as to what it was they were talking about. I was finally hooked!! I read the first book in a day, borrowed CoS and PoA from Lilly and had them read in another 4 days. I lost myself on the couch and read, read, read. I was sucked into the wonderful Wizarding world like I never thought possible. I borrowed GoF from Daisy, read that in a day and a half, and bought my own hardback copy of OotP. Had all 849 pages read in 2 days. I loved them!! I went to see PoA opening Night (even bought my tickets in advance to make sure I could get in!!) And signed up here at HOL because Lilly couldn't stop ranting about how completely awesome it was!! So here I am, and that's my story about how I got involved in HP!

Kiara Diamonte (Hufflepuff First year, ki550, USA)

Post by **Besai Rouse** » Fri Dec 31, 2004 4:56 pm

How did I get in to the Harry Potter world? Well, it was a really long flight and nothing else to read that did it.

I had actually been rather insulated from it at my last duty station so hadn't really noticed or heard much about it. I was much more interested in all the information I could gather about the upcoming Fellowship of the Rings movie and all things surrounding it.

The movie, Fellowship, had just come out, and a couple hours after the premeire I was on a plane from Hawaii to Virginia, with only one stop in between and a half finished book with me. Poor planning on my part, but it led me to one of the best children's/adult fantasy novels I've since read.

I just finished reading the book, maybe 10-15 minutes had gone by and I was already wanting something else to read. Across the isle from me was a young girl, about 12 or 13 I guess, and she had also just finished reading her book, about the same time. She was complaining to her mom about not having anything more to read and was in much the same frame of mind that I was, though she was specifically asking for the second book in the series.

I don't remember what I had been reading, but I knew it would be alright for her age, so I offered it to her mom for her to read, which the girl was quite thankful for. At first, anyway. Her mom then gave me, or tried to give I should say, the book that her daughter had been reading. It turned out to be Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. And boy was her daughter pissed!

So I told the woman that I couldn't take it, but if her daughter wouldn't mind if I read it until we got to the next airport, I would return it to her then, and she could just keep my book. This was acceptable to her, so she allowed me to borrow the book while we were on the plane. And no sooner did the wheels hit the ground but she was asking for it back. I had to laugh when I handed it back, but by that point, I was hooked. When we got up the next morning, the first thing I did was ask where the nearest bookstore was and when we could go so I could get the book myself. I bought the first 3 right off the bat and have since gotten hardbacks of all of them, as well as signed first editions of all but OotP, as well as the movies when they came out.

And since he's been a flying companion on just about all my flights. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

And now I'm working on reading them to my boys, who already love the movies. Which reminds me of when I thought Harry Potter was a God because he could keep the boys interested in something for longer than 10 minutes so I could get some much needed sleep... Gods love Harry!

Besai Rouse (Hufflepuff, be554, Italy)

Post by **Dillon Byrne** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 7:15 am

I got into the harry potter world by just pure curiosity.

One day at school I was at the library, when I couldn't find anything to read. Then I saw this series of books entitled "Harry Potter". I had heard about them. I decided I would check the first two out, just to see what they were like. As soon as I had read the first chapter of the first book I was hooked.

I read those every chance I got. I finished them in two days. Then I wanted to read the rest of the books. I rented the rest of the books, and I finished them in a week. Then for Chrismas this year my aunt got me "A Muggle's Guide To The Wizarding World". I was reading it when I got to the websites. I read about some of them when I came to this one, and that is where I am now, and it's only been about 2 or 3 months.

Dillon Byrne (Hufflepuff, di550, USA)

Post by **Laura Finuviel** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 1:52 am

Hmmm, how did I get into Harry Potter? I think the first book came out when I was in the third or fourth grade. All I can really remember is walking into a bookstore and hearing people talk about this new book that was really good. So being a curious child I remember walking over to the shelf and taking a copy and just sat on the floor and started to read. My mom and I were at the store to get my summer reading books and she walked over and asked what I was reading and I told her. She looked over the list and said that it was on it and that I could get it. After a while she noticed how much I loved the book that she decided to read it, and thats how I got my mom into Harry Potter also. But to this day when we go to get a Harry Potter book we fight over who will get to read it first instead of buying two copies of it, which we should really do.

Laura Finuviel (Gryffindor, la522, USA

Post by **Elle Saint** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 3:59 am

How did I get into Harry Potter? Hmm... It all started back in elementary school in fifth grade. You see, there was this Harry Potter fan freak in my class, who achieved in influencing EVERYONE to start reading the oh-so-famous Harry Potter series. I, being the young, average child, didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t want to fall behind the "Harry Potter followers" in social topics or "popularity," and thus, came to my buying of The Books. To tell you the truth, I was a book collector back then, buying books and then leaving them to rot away on my sturdy, trusty shelf, and The Books shared the same fate as my other decomposing books (please notice that this is exaggeration).

Some time later, in the summer of my sixth grade year, I was cleaning out my room to make space for new furniture. It was during this time that I actually felt guilty for abandoning my books on the cold, dusty, and once sturdy shelf that was about to go bye-bye. However, that guilt soon faded away because of all the bustling and the moving and everything else that has to do with new furniture. And so, the books were neglected again for at least another two months.

After beginning my sixth grade year, I finally (FINALLY) decided to read one of my unread books from my collection by random. Luckily, the book I chose was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I remember telling my friends that Harry Potter was nonsense and that they should be reading more mature books. Boy, was I wrong. After that noticeable event in my lifetime, I became hooked on The Boy Who Lived, and I rest my case there.

Elle Saint (Ravenclaw, el554, USA)

Post by **Angelina Bell** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 11:35 pm

i have to say that until just before the OotP and just after the release of CoS in theatres i wanted nothing to do with HP. Here me out for i have seen the error of my old misguided ways. i am a person who comes to things in my own time and recently i have been very intrested in reading books about magic and witchcraft. i also go to a school where they require you to read books on a certain list so you can get points that count towards your grade. i was behind on my points in the forrh quarter and mother(who is a librarian) said why dont you read harry potter its worth 20 points(i needded 17 points) i said alright. before the school year was finished (it had 3 weeks left)i had all the books out so far in my possesion from the library and had read them all at least twice. then i rented the first moive from blockbuster and saw the second in theatre, before the 3 weeks were up. Then the OotP came out and i read it in less than 62 hours(i feel alsleep while i was reading it twice) i saw the third movie in the theatre once but have seen it a dozen times since i got the dvd. With everything happening later this year im renting the first 5 books on cd from the library so i can listen to them while im working on my needle point or on homework or here on hol. if anyone is wondering im only going to buy the books as a 7 book set when the 7th book comes out, i pray it will be soon so i wont have to wait very long( and if i dont have to wait very long then neither do you)

Angelina Bell(an553, Gryffindor, USA)

Post by **Azana Moon** » Mon Jan 03, 2005 3:49 pm

Well, my first encounter with Harry Potter was when I was in first grade, sometime around October, and I started hearing about the book on the news and at school (from the second and third graders) a lot, so I wondered what exactly it was. But, me being a first grader and all, I just dismissed it as something stupidÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ Then sometime in February, my mom bought the second Harry Potter book for me (I have no idea why she got the second and not the first). I started reading it, because my mom said that it would be good for me, but after the first ten pages I thought that it was the most boring book on earth, and put it away on my shelf never to be seen again.

Then in second grade my mom suggested that I should dig the second book out of my shelf and try to read the book again, since she had heard that the book was really good, and I was a bit older. I figured, why not? After reading 20 pages I can just tell my mom that I still donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t like it. To my surprise, when I started reading it, I loved it! For once my mom was right about somethingÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

I finished the second book in 3 days (I wasnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t a busy second grader, and we had 30 minutes of Ã¢â‚¬Å“reading timeÃ¢â‚¬Â at school) and begged my mom to bring me to the library in the weekend to get the other 3 books. I finally did get them, and so I spent the whole weekend reading the first and third books, and finished the fourth book during the week. ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s pretty much how I became a Harry Potter fan, and I was one of the people going to a bookstore at midnight (it was my friendÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s sleepover, my mom never would have driven me there on her ownÃ¢â‚¬Â¦) and waiting for the release of the fifth Harry Potter book. Although, I hadnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t pre-ordered it so I didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t get it that day, but two weeks later.

Azana Moon (Slytherin, az550, USA)

Post by **Tiamat Buchanan** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:37 pm

When did I first get into HP? In Grade 11 (1999) I moved to a boarding school, so that I could get more arts and science. Our Senior School librarian, who was also one of the Boarding Masters, had heard about Harry Potter and read the first few books. She thought I would like to read them as well, since she knew how much I liked to read. I put it off for almost a month, partially because they didn't really interest me.

"I'm in Grade 11, and these books are about an 11-year old wizard? Come on!"

However, one Thursday night I was looking for something to read, and I wandered down to the Great Hall (yes, we have a Great Hall!) and asked her for the book. She gave it to me, and I wandered back to my dorm and plopped down on the bed. An hour later I looked up, and couldn't believe how great the story had been! I begged her for the next one, but it was currently loaned out and I had to wait. That Saturday I bought my first copy (in soft cover, and that copy is now completely destroyed from many page-thumbings). The rest is history!

The really interesting thing is that my school is a British school. We have the Queen as our patron, and instead of Principals and Student Office, we have Headmaster and Prefects. We wear uniforms much like the ones in the movies, and we all eat in the Great Hall, which has long tables and wood-panelled walls. We had four houses as well, and I belonged to Waudby house. We didn't have a continuous house point system, but we had school contests and challenges in which we would declare a house a winner based on participation, money raised, and other criteria.

I have been reading Harry Potter for 6 years now, and I will never stop, nor will I forget the first time I read it!

Thanks JK, for giving me and everyone else the chance to peek into your wonderful Universe.

Tiamat Buchanan (Gryffindor, ti550, Canada)

Post by **David Ravenfeather** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 5:00 pm

How did I get into Harry Potter? In 1999 when the Harry Potter manics started in our republic, one of friend I played RPGs with lent me a first book. I thought it is only a common book for children but after some pages I knew that is a symbol of new children book era.

I borrowed next one and read it in the one night. Harry Potter world became a part of my life. We (with friends) has tried a play a RPG in this scenery and it was a great fun! I want to know more. I bought a complete series of books and read them in one breath. It was wonderful and since that time I want a next one - the fifth book.

It was a long time, too long. I have met with other same people with the same interest - Harry Potter world of magic. I have studied in some Hogwarts-like interactive schools and after four years I found the HOL. And now is beginning a new era of my Harry Potter part of life.

David Ravenfeather ( Ravenclaw, da552, Czech republic )

Post by **Whitney Arter** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:40 am

How did I get into Harry Potter?

I remember that like it was yesterday! It was 1999, 1 year after the book was released and I was heavily into reading, but somehow had not read Harry Potter. I would read anything I could get my hands on.

Now its was about 2 weeks before Christmas and I remember that I had to go into the hospital because my appendix ruptured. It sucked because they spent a week doing tests and then removed it later. I was in the hospital recovering afterwords and my mom came into the room with a small wrapped box. She handed it to me and I opened it.

Inside was the first Harry Potter book with an IOU for the next 6. I read that book in 5 hours, cuase I had nothing else to do. Then when I finished, I read it again. Now, I own all 5 books, in hard-back and paper-back. I also already have HPHBP ordered. I've seen all the movies and own them on DVD and VHS.

I now love Harry Potter more then I ever could have possibly imagined back when in that hospital that day. It changed my life forever because whenever I had a bad day, I knew that I could always just pick up that book and drift away. I could relate to Harry, Ron and Hermione because I was their age.

It rocks to have someone you can drift away and pretend to be for just a short time. Now, I just can't help continuing to do this, even though I'm older then I was in '99, I've still got the bug and hopefully will for years.

/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> Thanks for letting me share!!