It’s been 20 years since Harry Potter first hit our shelves
and the obsession with the boy wizard is showing no signs of slowing down.
Whilst working on some accounts in the stock room earlier in
the week, with a curtain separating me from the kid’s room in the shop, I heard
a young boy come bounding up the stairs shouting “Harry Potter! Mum, it’s Harry Potter!!!!” whilst running
towards our Harry Potter display.
We mentioned in our newsletter on 23rd June that
we have copies of the beautiful 20th anniversary ‘House’ editions of
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in stock which form the centre of our Harry
Potter display. The four books are stunning re-issues of the original story
and each of the covers has a different design reflecting the four Hogwarts
houses.
This little boy was overwhelmed by the fact that there was a
book available that focussed on his favourite house - Gryffindor. With words tumbling all over each other, he
was at absolute pains to let his mum know why it was the Gryffindor was the house
to be in and, at the same time, he decided that it was imperative that she also
needed to know what characteristics the other houses consisted of and why,
indeed, that made Gryffindor the house of choice (bravery was definitely a big
plus). By his mum’s reaction, it struck
me that this was probably not the first time - and almost definitely won’t be
the last - that these differences have been analysed in some detail but it was
so lovely to hear the enthusiasm pouring out of this boy about such iconic stories.
Following the Harry Potter theme, we also had a couple in
the shop this week who bought one of our gorgeous illustrated editions of Harry
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. We
got chatting and the man told me that he was buying the book to read to his
five-year old son. He had decided that
it was time to introduce him to the world of Hogwarts and what a great way to
do it! These editions (the
Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets are currently available and the Prisoner of Azkaban will be published in October) contain some simply
stunning illustrations and have been flying off our shelves as a popular ‘Welcome
to the World’ or Christening day presents.
What a magical thing for a father and son to share! It’s something that I am sure will create some
amazing memories for that lucky little boy as he gradually discovers the world
of Harry Potter in bite-sized bed time reading sessions.
With all of this going on and the fact that we have just
announced that we will shortly be hosting an official Harry Potter Quiz (August
17th at R&R – Please get in touch for more details), I can’t help
but wonder what it is about Harry Potter that makes it so special. Is it the pure escapism or the fact that good
ultimately prevails in most cases? Maybe
it’s the amount of detail that J.K. Rowling goes into which helps us form such
clear images of a non-muggle existence or perhaps it’s the sheer delight at the
prospect of wandering down Diagon Alley and stopping off for a Butterbeer
before heading into Ollivanders to choose your wand.
Who knows? The
experience will be different for every single one of us but no-one can dispute
the fact that every detail of the story is simply magical and I am completely
in awe of the fact that all of those original ideas came from one woman sitting
in a café in Scotland. What an
inspiration to come up with such unique and memorable tales.
No-one knows what creates the magic but one thing is for
sure, Harry Potter isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
