User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4197404-20110725005837

What does Harry mean to me? For me, Harry was a friend when I was going through some really hard times in my life. When things in my life where to hard to handle, I could escape into Harry's. Harry's friendships became a model for the kind of friendships I wanted with my friends. Dumbledore's wisdom was awesome to me, I actually have a few of his quotes around my room.

Harry was also a bonding time for my sister and I. When I was in 5th grade, my sister was 3rd. My sister had no desire to learn to read, or so she said. Really, it was that she had not found a book she liked, and her teachers had not been encouraging to her. So as a 5th grader, I wanted to share my love of reading with my sister. I decided to read the Harry Potter books to my sister. Every night, we would curl up on my bed, and read a few chapters together. I would read for a while, and then let her read a little bit. Seeing her get excited about a book was so cool to me. We read all the way through books 1 and 2, and half way through book 3. Right when book 3 was getting intense, I stopped reading it to her. I told her, that if she wanted to learn what happened to Harry, she would have to learn to read for herself. She did. the books inspired her to want to learn to read. I'm so thankful for this. My sister now wants to go to school to write books, this would have never happened without Harry.

Above all, I learned so much from JKR's books that I could have never learned otherwise. I'm forever grateful to JRK for this.