Happy Birthday, Harry!
I’ve always been an overly realistic person. Don’t worry, I’ve heard all the jokes about how realists are actually pessimists. But I can honestly say I’ve been a pretty grounded person my whole life. I have a weak imagination and am not a big dreamer. While I always enjoyed reading as a child, I can say I had an affinity for non-fiction books, especially memoirs and autobiographies (I still do!). So although I was in the Harry Potter generation, I wasn’t really a part of the mania. It wasn’t until I saw the first movie when I was about 15 years old that I fell in love. I fell in love with the story, with the characters, and with the idea that such a world could exist. Even more so—that the idea could exist in somebody’s mind! The author was brilliant. She had opened up a whole new part of my mind. A spell to retrieve something quickly, to make something float, or to repair something? An invisibility cloak? Flying on brooms? Wizarding school? Pet owls that deliver mail? I'm in!