And they said we wouldn’t last!Today, in case your Muggle calendar is broken, is five years since the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Five years ago most, if not all, of us were huddled over new, magical pages as we discovered the last secrets of the Harry Potter saga.Since that time, we …read more!

Commentary on the series from an English major and teacher: Adult readers empathize with Harry as they remember all too well not being invited into conversations even though they had much to offer. Olivia however, as an 11-year-old Harry Potter fan, adds another perspective. “Harry throws way too many tantrums and the book is too …read more!

Fashion experts from Esquire magazine offer their list of inappropriate behavior for men over thirty, which includes staying in bed past 11 AM or wearing a watch costing less than £100. Says fashion editor Simon Tiffin: ‘We were inspired by the sight on planes, trains and buses of too many grown men reading Harry Potter. …read more!

An article from Stephen Price on similarities among literary works, imitation as flattery, and plagiarism, with discussion that includes the Harry Potter series: A boy with glasses and black hair grows up with a foster-father, in a setting of deprived urban dreariness. He’s bright, but lonely, living life through his vivid imagination. He has few …read more!

From the Tampa Tribune, a short review plus commentary from readers, including fifth-grader Austin Sigl, who finished the book the Tuesday following its Saturday release: “I would’ve finished sooner, but my mom made me put it down and go play.” Thanks to AJaKe for the link.

An English professor offers his thoughts on what Harry’s about, and the issues that make “many Christian parents distrust the Potter series.”: As only the child at heart can enter Lewis’s Narnia, Hogwarts is invisible to outsiders. Looking at this magnificent 1,000-year-old castle, a Muggle, one without magical power, sees only “a moldering old ruin …read more!

Constantine Pleshakov, a freelance writer living in Moscow and a former member of the Russian Academy of Science, comments on what is wrong – and right – about Harry Potter.

The National Conservative Weekly weighs in on what’s wrong with Harry.

In an essay for How Books Sell, Teresa Nielsen Hayden shares her opinion on Harry Potter and the Halo Effect. Thanks, Jean!

The Washington Post’s Bob Levy comments on a summer of reading that starts with Potter.