I can't stand sci-fi, fantasy, or cartoon/anime stuff. I never saw a Star Wars past "Return of the Jedi". I don't get Tolkien, even though I have really tried on that one- I just don't have the gene for understanding small people with furry feet.
So was I going to like Harry Potter? HA HA HA! No Way!
When Will was little, we read every single night. When he and bdarg started the HP books, I stayed away! Then bdarg was out of town, and I had to fill in. I was hooked. So hooked, that I went back to the 1st book, read it all night, and caught up to the boys in the 2nd book.
Good books draw you in and make you a part of the world you are reading about, and sometimes make you want to be in that world. A good book is a vaction on paper. J.K. Rowling has created such a believable, real place, that sometimes I have difficulty remembering that places like Hogwarts don't exist! And you wish the wizarding world existed- all the magical, wonderful things that have come out of her mind, the incredible characters, and the far-fetched and at the same time , believable story.
In some ways, I'm sorry the movies came out, because not as many people read the books now. And just so you know that I really am an HP freak, every time a new book comes out, I go back and re-read all the Harry Potters starting with the 1st book!
Guess you can't tell I am a HP fan, huh?

But trust me on this one...
Millions of kids around the world became interested in reading for the first time with these books. When the first book came out, there wasn't any one book that throngs of kids would go bonkers over and have to read.