User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4190749-20110723102809

What does Harry Potter mean to me? There are far too many answers. The most obvious that comes to mind is what I, as an individual, will interpret the story as. This however has been done so many times already that it would be far too difficult to relate to it as this remarkable story. One such response that comes to mind is that Harry Potter is an unwilling hero who was thrust into a situation, which he has been forced to take charge. However I could just as easily say that the story represents hope, or some other metaphor which varies amongst people.

However, I will tell exactly what Harry Potter means to me, if you are so inclined to find out. I did not have a difficult childhood by any means. I don't have a violent background, my parents are happily married, and we were an upper middle class household. What separates me from the majority of my peers is that I moved a lot. This took me from living in the US multiple times, as well as England, Saudi Arabia, and Milan. Having lived multiple times in each country before I had even reached the age of 15. Needless to say I was always the new kid in school, wherever I went, and as such was often a social outcast. This did not bother me, for when I was much younger I had taken to reading.

As an American by birth, I had access to Harry Potter long before many of my American friends as my mother hailed from Belfast, and we were able to procure Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone before the vast majority of kids in the US. Though I was six and had only begun to read when the beginning of this epic was released in '97, I found a whole new world. Needless to say I was instantly hooked much like millions of fans all around the world.

Harry Potter was a loyal companion during my time abroad when making friends was not all that easy. Though I had read many other series by notable authors such as Brian Jacques of the Redwall Series, and Eoin Colfer of the Artemis Fowl series, it was without question that Harry, Hermione, and Ron were the most steadfast companions that I had in my childhood.

I can say that Harry Potter was able to see me through ten international moves by the time I graduated High School. Though I have made a few steadfast friends since then, I can honestly say as a nineteen year old college student, Harry Potter was far more than my childhood, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Fred and George, along with many others have been, and always will be, my greatest friends.

Ms. Rowling has more than earned her place among such authors as J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S Lewis, and has changed the lives of people all over the world in ways that, even as it's creator, can never truly understand