What makes Harry Potter so special? in 200 words

[Emmeline R.]

In the Vlogbrothers 2.0 video "July 24: More Harry Potter?!" Hank says that he was contributing to the New York Times by writing 200 words on why he thinks Harry Potter is so special. I thought that was a really good question. What exactly about Harry Potter makes it so good? I'd like to see what people think, but to stick with the video, let's keep it around two hundred words.

[Becky Kean]

For me Harry Potter is special because it’s magical, it’s this whole other world that’s a million miles away from our own, and everything that we discover there is new and exciting. It’s a brilliant place to escape to, and as fans of the series we don’t just feel like we’re reading about a fictional world, we feel as though we’re a part of a world that is very real to us. What makes it even more special is that even though the characters are wizards and witches, the things that they are experiencing are the same things we see every day, love, loss, growing up, prejudice and the importance of friends and family. I can’t imagine my life without Harry Potter, that’s how important it is to me, and I know a lot of people feel the same. It’s not a perfect world; so many horrible things happen and there’s so much loss and heartbreak, but at the same time it feels like home.

[Alena Krone]

I think the Harry Potter Books are special because they enabled a new generation of people who are not afraid of their fantasy and who therefore are creative and awesome and willing to do stuff. I don´t want to say anything about the content because I think that noone can describe HP and do justice to everyone´s experiences with the book. But I think that everyone would coincide that reading HP is somehow like coming home, talking about characters is like talking about good friends. It´s somehow fullfilling that you know that the world exists and that you have access to it and sometimes it´s also heartbreaking that the excess is so limited. *aaaa to emotional- now i cry* It´s funny and it´s magical and it´s thrilling and there is enough place for every reader to find her/ his place in the story. And the message is one of the most importent things young people have to hear: Love is the greatest strenght you have to fight evil – Always. 

[Erin]

I think Harry Potter is so special because it's able to transcend all the boundaries of race, religion, age, life circumstances, whatever, and just be an amazing story that can be loved by very nearly everyone.  Despite being distinctly fantastical and thus unrealistic, it does a spectacular job of mirroring reality and the struggles and successes of average people beyond the (equally amazing) fight between good and evil.  Anyone can connect with it, because it can be read a wide variety of levels, from just taking the story as a story to going deeper and finding the parallels between books and all the crazy foreshadowing.  It's a story for anyone, anywhere, living any life, at any given time in the past, present, or (I believe, anyway) future.  That's why I see Harry Potter as being so darn special.  (This was a little under, but I would just get repetitive if I kept going, so I'm leaving it at this.)

[Morgan Marie Hampton]

I think Harry Potter is so special because as me being thirteen I started the Harry Potter series when I was 11. All the time I was reading it I kept saying to myself that was someone my age I find that amazing. And with Ginny not when I was 11 but now I kind of understand what it is like to well, like someone and then when you try to talk to them they sort of brush you off. I'm sure some guy has once liked a girl that had a boyfriend. But what I'm getting at is Harry Potter is full of love, loss and betrayal which a lot of people can connect to. As for me I've lost my dad in a car wreck which is what Harry thought happened to his parents the first 11 years of his life. Plus some people need a little break from real life to escape to something magical.