[WillowTheWhisp]

I read the first one before there was any hoohah about them. (I often do that. I enthused like mad about a book I'd read once about a killer shark and people thought I was nuts until the film came out and then they remembered the book I'd praised so much by the title of "Jaws") However, I digress.

The first Harry Potter book was offered in a book club which my girls were members of and I was curious when it offered an alternative adult version cover. I read it initially to check if it was suitable reading matter (in my opinion) for the girls as some of the stuff in that club seemed to be a bit too adult in content although aimed at children. To my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommended it to the girls. We ended up reading it together as a family thing. We do lots of things together as a family and reading a book and discussing it is one of the things we do.

We all looked forward to getting the next book to follow the story. This was still before it had really become such a phenomenon. I found that friends who had children of the same age had also discovered the stories and even their older teenagers and young adults were equally as captivated.

As each book has been released we have looked forward to it and it has become a regular thing to read together as a family, so where we are concerned the media hype came along much later. There are other books which the girls enjoy and which I am not the slightest bit interested in and there are books which I enjoy which do not appeal to them. Most of my reading matter is a lot deeper and more thought provoking, the majority is non-fiction but I do also enjoy a darned good story and something which leaves you wanting to know more and gets you involved with the characters.

Perhaps we have become more involved by discussing the storylines and theorising about what could happen next and why in much the same way as one tries to work out who did it in a whodunnit. They have become a summer tradition with us as the girls and I have spent summer evenings in the caravan reading and discussing them over the past few years. This year not only brings the last Harry Potter novel but is also probably the last year that Mimi will be coming on long caravan holidays so it's rather appropriate timing for us.

Some people love the stories and some find them incredibly boring. We love them and part of the fun as a family was the girls queuing up for their copy of the latest installment. In a way it's similar to the Saturday Morning Cinema Club where they had Flash Gordon poised on the brink of death at the end of the episode to make you come back the next week to find out what happens even though you know he will survive. The difference with these Harry Potter stories is that J.K.Rowling is not afraid to kill off her characters and I think that gets youngsters even more involved as they don't want their favourites to come to any harm. Life is like that though - people do get hurt and people do die so she doesn't sugar coat her novels just because they are fiction.

If you're looking for Shakespeare or Ernest Hemingway I wouldn't recommend Harry Potter books but if you have a vivid imagination, enjoy a jolly good storyline with the odd twist, wicked baddies and heroic goodies, the underdog struggling against the odds (a la Cinderella) with a smattering of magic and mythical beasties then they are great fun and you'll probably enjoy them.

Don't rely on the films as a substitute for reading the books as there's a lot missed out in the films which is unavoidable or they would last far too long.