I've just fininshed reading the first 4 Harry Potter books for about the 5th time through, and they're just as magical and affecting as they have ever been. Everything is in here: suspense, adventure, mystery, humour, danger. There's even some pretty satisfying paybacks. The characters are fantastic and fantastically realistic. There are bad people who turn out to be good guys and good people who turn out to be bad guys, just like life.

I think the thing I like best about these books is the message that it's okay to be different - to be not "normal." I would love for everyone in school to have hear that message. It would probably reduce the bullying around the school.

These books value real thoughts. Much has been made of Harry's rule breaking, but only once in the series so far does he break a rule for arbitrary personal gain. Most of the time he makes a decision that what's right is more important than what's written. And you know what? Life's like that sometimes. I think it's great that kids are getting an example of how to do what's right even when it involves breaking rules. The Potter books also show that there are consequences for rule breaking. If not getting caught and getting a detention, then a spell going wrong and someone getting turned into a cat. This shows that when you make a decision to go against the rules that things may not go as you expected and you have to take responsibility for the outcome.