The End Draws Near!

Author JK Rowling



Today is a momentous and bittersweet day in the World of Harry Potter! The release date for the final book in the series has been announced. July 21, 2007 will mark the end of the Harry Potter Series.

I'm both elated and sad by this. I couldn't imagine that when I picked up my first Harry Potter book in December of 1999 that I would become so hooked! I was in my final year of Teacher's college and in between the classes I was teaching I was in the staff room voraciously making my way through the books. I loathed having to put them down for a second. While I was making my way through Prisoner of Azkaban I had my Associate teacher tell me that I shouldn't be seen sitting in the staff room reading. She said it would reflect badly on me if the Principal saw me reading instead of prepping or marking. I had to reluctantly put down the book and resume my marking.

(right: Dumbeldore's Army)



Prisoner of Azkaban is still my favourite of all the novels. While the series got steadily darker in tone Prisoner was still in some ways light and innocent. It was the last book in the series to be that way.

From there it moved on to being darker in tone and atmosphere. I remember receiving Goblet of Fire just before I was to go on a two week trip to a friend's camp in Southern Ontario. I have never EVER been able to read in a moving car before. I did it on this trip cause I wanted to read Goblet SO badly!

I didn't rip right through it though cause I wanted to savour the experience. Goblet was not my favourite though. Everyone seems to have a strong dislike for Order of the Phoenix which is one of the series that I enjoyed. Most people think it has a lot of unecessary information in it but I totally enjoyed it. I enjoy good character development and I felt like OOTP had a lot of that in it.

(Left: Professor Umbridge)



Half-Blood Prince was an excellent read as well. It seemed that everyone else had plenty of time to read it but it took me a lot longer cause my only chances to read were on the way to and from work, lunch and sometimes in the evenings. But that was ok I was in no rush.

With this being the last book coming out I won't want to devour it too quickly. At least we know we have two more movies to look forward to. Even though the real joy comes from reading the books. The movies have often butchered the novels horribly.

(The Trio)