Jennifer Rummel, a young adult librarian in Connecticut, loves all things Harry Potter. Read her letter to The Boy Who Lived here (originally posted on her personal blog, yabooknerd.blogspot.com), where she talks about reading the books, going to the movies and eventually hosting her own Harry Potter release parties as a librarian.
Dear Mr. Potter,
I regret that I didn't grow up with you. I regret that we were never the same age. Harry Potter, you were not my childhood, but you were and always will be part of my life. I found you at the time your next book was coming out. My father read an article in the paper, knowing that I loved books, he pointed it out to me. I had never heard of HARRY POTTER.
Everyone seems to have great memories of the series as to how old they were when they read the books. I do not. I can't remember if this article was about the 3rd or 4th book in the series. Looking back, I think it was the 4th book, because I was home for the summer. I had a job at the library during my summers from college. I went into my shift, not knowing if the book would be there (we have a very small town library.)
The book was in, so I brought it home that night. I started reading it, thinking the first few pages weren't bad, but it wasn't until I read the end of the first chapter that I was hooked. I wanted to know more about the Boy Who Lived.
I probably finished reading the rest of the books available at that summer. I was thrilled when I heard there was going to be a movie. I remember attending it in college and LOVING it! It wasn't a perfect adaptation, but it was pretty good. It captured the magic of reading the books.
it wasn't until I read the end of the first chapter that I was hooked. I wanted to know more about the Boy Who Lived.
I remember attending my first big book event at a release party for HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX at Northshire Bookstore. I was dumbfounded and delighted about attending a midnight party for a book. I loved how the store tied bits and pieces from the book in games, trivia and food. It was a fabulous night. I was in graduate school to become a librarian and I went with my then boyfriend (now husband). The bookstore was part of my childhood and we made the night a special trip. We had so much fun, we went back for the HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE party.
I stored up all the activities in my mind and after I had my second library job, I helped host two Harry Potter parties. One for the last book and one for the last movie. I changed up some of the events from the bookstore and tweaked it to fit my audience and the space we had.
I loved reading the books, watching the movies and attending fun events. It made the Harry Potter world seem huge. My husband and I talked about Harry Potter for hours, imagining what the last book would hold. He's read all the books too. We watched the movies together. We went to midnight showings. We went to the traveling exhibit to see the movie artifacts. We couldn't wait to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I was super happy to see it.
So, THANK YOU J.K Rowling for giving me this magical world filled with great characters, magic, love, friendship, danger and family. I'll always keep Harry Potter close to my heart. The magic will never die. I'm so happy to live through a novel, which will become a classic.for generations to come.
Jennifer Rummel is a young adult librarian in Connecticut.
