A Truly Sweet Escape From Reality

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was released during a tragic period of my life, just when I thought that I had grown out of the series I'd loved as a child. I was entering my junior year in high school when my parents decided to move our family from the big city of Los Angeles, California to the small town of the Middle of Nowhere, Georgia. As an act of reconciliation, my brother in law purchased the book about 300 miles out of California. I was so depressed about my loss of friends and the neglect I felt that I didn't even care about the heavy book in my heads. But like always, as soon as I started reading, I couldn't stop. Rowling's words have that sort of effect on anyone.

They say that books are the perfect way to escape from the world, but I've yet to come across a book that has done so perfectly as Harry Potter. From the way the story unwraps to reveal images and scenes of Voldemort's past, to the way Harry and Ginny's relationship is unveiled, I was hooked. I forgot about my problems, I forgot that I was stuck in a compact car with my siblings and parents, forgot that it was 100 degrees, and I was losing my life. Harry Potter's dark tone reminded me that there is probably a world out there worst than my own. The way the plot slowly unraveled had me hooked from the start.

I thought I had grown out of Harry Potter books when I entered high school, having grown up with Harry when I myself was eleven years old, and thought we had such a great connection. Even now in my twenties, when I really and truly need to escape from reality, all I have to do is pick up a Harry Potter book and lose myself in a world so different from my own that I am able to forget my problems. I loved growing up with Harry, and I'm sad that the series has finally come to an end.