User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4147689-20110714200523

Harry Potter is my childhood. I began reading the books in third grade, nearly ten years ago, and since the moment I picked up that first book, unwillingly might I add (at the time I was only reading the book because my sister was making me), Harry has become an inseparable part of my life. I've grown up with him. I was eight when I saw him win his first Quidditch game; eleven when I saw him lose Sirius; thirteen when Dumbledore died; and fifteen when Voldemort was finally defeated. For seven years my world expanded with his, and now even, though Harry is all grown up and I still have a long ways to go, he's still a part of me. The lessons I learned in those seven years, the magic I saw, the discoveries I made about myself while reading the books they, they will always be with me. I strongly believe that the books we read have as much influence over our lives as the friends we keep and the families we have. Books have the ability broaden our horizons and influence who we are to become. The single dominating book of my childhood was without doubt Harry Potter, and it has, without doubt, helped shape who I am today. It has showed me the difference between good and evil; it has helped me to understand the power of love and friendship; and it has helped me understand what courage is, among countless other things. I've known Harry for over half my life, longer than I’ve even known my best friend, and for thousands of others out there, it has been the same. As I sat in my bed in the middle of the night on July 21st of 2007, with my newly obtained copy of The Deathly Hallows in my hands, I thought there are thousands of other children right now opening this book, reading the pages I’m reading, and feeling the excitement and sorrow that’s coursing through me now. Harry Potter isn’t just my childhood, it is the childhood of an entire generation. And it isn’t just our childhood, it is our now. We have grown up with Harry; he has helped us become who we are and who we will continue to be. Harry Potter is our past, present and future.