My devious Harry Potter plan

I'm a fan of the Harry Potter books. I was a late comer to the book series when I started reading them after the fourth one was already out. I was skeptical at first, but got drawn in to the world. I finished the first book in a day. Then I devoured the next 3 books in just a few weeks.

They're for children, of course, but considering their length, they have some definite appeal to adults. The plots in some of the books are very involved. Sure the author, J K Rowling, tends to fall back on the familiar outline of Harry is unhappy before school starts, school starts and something weird happens, and then the plot is resolved right about the end of the school year. You can be sure that certain characters will be mean and some will be his friends. By the end of the series, J K Rowling had introduced a mountain of characters, most of which she manages to carry through to the final book. While the books are for kids, there are deaths in pretty much every book. There is suspense and some scares.

In addition to reading all the books, I've also listened to all the audio books, which includes the UK versions. The US versions are narrated by Jim Dale, who has done a lot of voice over work for TV and movies here. Most recently, he was the narrator for Pushing Daisies. He does a pretty good job. While he's good at varying his voice, some of his character voices are rather grating. Voldemort sounds too whiny and hissy. Hagrid sounds like he's a rejected pirate. Draco Malfo is supposed to talk in a drawl, but he's too drawly (if that's a word). Stephen Fry does the narration for the UK versions and he's very good. Pretty much every character sounds like you'd think they should. It's a personal preference for the most part and I prefer the UK versions.

Harry Potter world is going to be opening next year in Orlando and in anticipation of that, I've decided that I'm going to read the books to Julia. I think she thought they were too old for her, but then I pointed to the sign at the bookstore. They were in a section that said "Ages 7-12".

My devious plan is to get her hooked on the books, so that she and I will be begging Laura to go to Orlando. I'm not saying I need to go there the first year it opens, which might be packed, but sometime after that.

I started reading the other night the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (aka Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the UK). I'm doing my best to vary my voice when characters speak. It's not as easy as it sounds.

After four days, I'm through 50+ pages. I keep asking Julia if she likes it and she enthusiastically nods her head. At times, I wonder if she's paying attention since she lays her head on a pillow by my lap, but each night when I've attempted to stop at a certain point, she'll urge me to go on. Tonight, she asked if we could rent the movie. I said that we would after we read the book.

I guess I don't mind reading the books, but it's going to be a haul to get through the last four books in the seven book series since they are rather long.