Summer of Harry

Where you'll find Amy this summer...behind a Harry Potter book.

Today Amy finished book seven of the Harry Potter series. What an accomplishment! She started the series in May and has single-mindedly progressed through the books, absorbing every detail, and I think she's grown to love the characters as friends. We worried that the content might be too scary and the writing too grown up, and certainly she has been challenged in both respects. But she was able to take a couple of the "Accelerated Reader" quizzes in school and did really well on them, so she definitely understood everything. During scary parts, she'd sometimes want us to sit near her or read them to her.

I'd say she is learning to live the expression "My books are friends that never fail me." (Thomas Carlyle, a Scottish writer from the 1800s). I hope her complete and total enthusiasm for reading will continue throughout her life. I'm so proud of her setting her mind to finishing this series, and she got it done in record time!