User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4157382-20110716232655

It is hard to say what Harry Potter really means to me because it means so much. Harry Potter has been part of my life since I read the first book. I do not read that much, if at all, but something spoke to me about this book. I was mesmerized and astounded by the new world in print in front of me that I prayed and wished as hard as I could for my first Hogwarts letter. I wanted to learn witchcraft and wizardry so bad. I wanted to learn Quidditch, not baseball. I wanted Defense Against the Dark Arts in place of Math, Potions instead of Science, Transfiguration for English! I would rather have been placed in a Dungeon by Mr. Filch and held up by my thumbs than sit in detention. ...ok that last one maybe not so much, but I longed for a place at one of the house tables in the great hall. I didn't care if i was a Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or even (God forbid) a Hufflepuff, just to live in a world where I could be happier than I was in the real one. It is safe to say that Harry Potter changed my life. It gave me so many great things. Because of Harry Potter I learned loyalty, friendship, and making the decision between what is right and what is easy. True I could have found these traits in the real world, but I never would have truly "learned" them. Joanne Rowling's novels are a masterpiece! I hope that in centuries to come she is hailed equal to William Shakespeare, Sir Author Conan Doyle, Edgar Alan Poe and Agatha Christie as well as many others. These books will be read to my children in hopes that they are read to my grandchildren as well as their children.

I am 19 years old... and Harry Potter will be the center of my fictional universe forever, and for always..

JK Rowling, if you ever see this, I want you to know that you are a beautiful individual and that you are perhaps the only author that has ever made a true impact on my life. With tears in my eyes, I thank you. You’re world will be forever held in a dear place in my heart. Thank you, thank you, you wonderful, magical, phenomenal woman.