by Kelly Kreiner
It is said that “the media are criticized for offering mindless and soporific entertainment instead of original and stimulating content,” but the Harry Potter series has been quite different. Since the first book, Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone, came out, over 325 million copies of the books have been purchased. A great effect of the books has been motivating children to read for fun again. Scholastic did a research study and found that 51% of 500 kids polled, ages 5 to 17, said that they did not read for fun until they started reading the Harry Potter series. Three quarters of those kids said that reading Harry Potter made them interested in reading other books. While this is definitely impressive, it is not the only way in which Harry Potter has inspired its audience to be active. Books don’t often catch pop-culture’s eye, but Harry Potter has been expanded from a book series into movies, video games, collectable figurines, and more. Selectivity plays a part because the audience has made Harry Potter what it is today—a huge part of the 2000’s. The Harry Potter audience chose to continue reading the books, go to midnight book releases, midnight movie releases, and more. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I owned a Harry Potter t-shirt. It has been amazing to me how Harry Potter has shaped its scene and gotten people involved in a book series. Hopefully even the just-movie-watchers of Harry Potter will at some point be inspired to read the books and see where it all stems from, because they are masterfully written. I’m happy to have been an active part of the Harry Potter series time frame and wonder what I will do after the final movie comes out.
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