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If you are a preteen or the parent of a preteen, you probably know the answer to that. If not, I'll tell you. I didn't know myself until Friday when I heard a piece on NPR's "Morning Edition" and since then I've come to think Harry is definitely worth knowing, and not just by preteens either.
Harry Potter is the main character in a series of books. (Two so far, the third on its way.) He is the brain child of writer J.K. Rowling who, as is written on the book jacket, wrote the beginnings of the Harry Potter books on scraps of paper while sitting in a cafe. The story I heard on NPR was that she wrote the story on scraps of paper while sitting on a stalled bus. Whichever way Harry Potter came to be doesn't really matter, I'm just glad he did. Rowling keeps a low profile. She is a single mother living in Edinburgh with her daughter, and not much else is known about her. For now that is. I imagine as each new book hits store shelves she will find it harder and harder to stay out of the limelight.
What initially sparked my interest in Harry Potter after hearing the radio report was not so much the plots of the books, but the reaction kids are having to them. The third book has just been published in Britain (it will cross to these shores in September), and apparently when it arrived in bookstores there, children were lined up to buy it. Not only that, reportedly as soon as they got their hands on the book,...