GOING WHOLE HOGWARTS

Book seven, movie five and more press than you can shake a wand at – the decade-long phenomenon of Harry Potter has engulfed the lives of millions of young readers and their parents, and with the final book in the series arriving Saturday, this is the biggest moment so far.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” apparently concludes the wizarding education of the title character, who has been chosen by the fates. Harry attends Hogwarts Academy, encountering all the typical teenage challenges, only more endearingly than most teens. The usual figures fill the book – a guiding older teacher, nasty peers and clueless adults; there’s a challenge, a journey, danger, unexpected talents and the requirement for Harry to face his fears alone. His parents, naturally, were killed off from the beginning.

Where J.K Rowling departs from the standards of children’s literature – besides being a superb storyteller with a fine sense of humor – is in her embrace of a lurking evil that would cause Faulkner to raise a toast. She has enticed the world’s 8- and 9-year-olds not only to read books hundreds of pages long (Book five checks in at 870 pages) but to drift to sleep (or not) wondering whether Lord Voldemort’s Death Eater battalion will torture Harry and his friends before killing them. Rather than the adults in the stories offering calm reassurance to the child characters, they are often just as frightened of the dark lord and sometimes more willing to capitulate. No one is safe, anywhere.

It would be difficult to name the last time a children’s series drew excited anticipation based on what main character might be killed in the final book.

Who knows how this early exposure to evil will affect the minds of children, but in our small sample of Harry Potter fans, it is interesting to observe that, unlike milder stories – and the many new, paler copies of this series – its greater challenges seem to inspire pretend heroics. Backyard sticks are magic wands and recalled complex curses are hurled to repel Slytherin’s worst alumni.

And despite the danger, is there a child who wouldn’t be eager to attend school if an owl were to drop by with an admission’s notice to Hogwarts?