Did. They’re old enough now that they do their own reading unless they’re sick and want comfort.

I was an adult when the Potter stuff came out, and enjoyed it for what it was. Then the kid came along well after the movies had started.

While I do sometimes wish I had pirated the books and movies, they are still good enough stories overall. All the kids in my life that read, do enjoy the series to some degree. And, if any of them requested the series, I’d read it to them now.

Ignoring the author being an idiot, which is not exactly something exclusive to Rowling, or something new, the series is going to stay a classic for the foreseeable future. Look how long it took for the little house books to fall away from general awareness, or the Beverley Cleary stuff. At some point, I don’t doubt there will be enough time and distance that Potter isn’t as relevant to as many, but (like the other classics) isn’t likely to ever entirely fade.

Having come to the series as an adult, the many flaws were glaring on first read. But, being real, they aren’t any worse than most series aimed at a younger audience. Narnia is an example of that. Giant, glaring plot and world building holes. Kids books and YA books, for good or ill, aren’t held to the same standards. As long as they’re fun and easy enough to read, that’s all that matters. And the Potter books do that very well.

The first book came out when I was in my late teens. I wasn’t interested in the YA genre at all, so I never read them or watched the films.

Fast forward a gazillion years, when my daughter was 8, I got the first book— one of the lovely editions with illustrations by Jim Kay. We’re on The Order of the Phoenix now, with me reading about a chapter every other night to her. She’s a voracious reader on her own, but I wanted to find a new-to-both-of-us series that could extend that magical “story time” period of childhood a little longer. Harry Potter did not disappoint.

J.K. Rowling, on the other hand, continues to be a sore spot on an otherwise happy experience. My daughter is old enough that we discuss art vs. artist, and some of the problematic things Rowling has said publicly. Hard, but necessary, conversations.