Harry Potter: Good vs. Evil  

By Shlomo Maital

    The death of British actor Michael Gambon, who played Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, led me to research the incredible phenomenon of J.K. Rowling’s seven Harry Potter books.  Let’s run the numbers.

      The first Harry Potter book, Philosopher’s Stone, was published in 1997.  Since then, the seven Harry Potter volumes published over the decade 1997-2007 have sold 600 million copies, and the Harry Potter ‘franchise’ is estimated to be worth $25 billion.  These books, about Harry, the boy who didn’t know he was a wizard, originated when Rowling was on a delayed train, and came up with the idea during her four-hour wait.  She says the main theme is ‘death’ – because she wrote the first book just after her mother passed away.

    Rowling, a single mom, had a baby and wrote the first book mostly while sitting at a café and rocking the carriage.   Initially she listed her name as Joanne Kathleen Rowley. But the publisher said it was too ‘gender specific’ and this might deter teenage boys from reading it.  So she used the initials, J.K.

        The Harry Potter books have been translated into 85 languages.  They feature a black-and-white conflict between good (Harry) and evil (Voldemort). 

        Rowling smashed several set-in-stone assumptions, including the notion that kids won’t read 350-400 page books.  Wrong.  They will.  And their parents will enjoy reading the books to them, if appropriate.  The author says she has been writing stories since she was six years old.  She went from being an impoverished single mom, to being a wealthy author who wrote the best-selling books of fiction in history – second to the Bible.

         My take-away from Harry Potter, I guess there are two. 

One —  In life, alas, evil is often not clearly black-and-white, as in Harry Potter, but mostly grey.   Unlike Harry vs. Voldemore. 

Two: people – kids and adults – love a great story.  Weave one, and you can be as famous and beloved as J.K. Rowling.