Welcome back, everyone to one thousand one heroes, legends, histories, and mysteries

podcast.

This is your host, John Haggardorn.

For you young at heart, Harry Potter fans, I have a quiz for you coming up in just a few

minutes.

Can you name two Harry Potter spells?

Those were part of the magic of Harry Potter.

But in my humble opinion, the real magic of author J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter was, it is, the inescapable fact

that millions of kids put aside their mind-numbing games and electronics to listen to or share

the reading of the stories with their elders, resulting in a newfound excitement for the written

and spoken word, a strengthening of their comprehension, while activating their imagination,

sparking their own creativity, sharpening their reading and writing skills, and spending valuable

time interacting with their family. For those of you who are thinking about getting started,

I'll share the research as to what ages are considered right for an introduction to Harry Potter

and the ways in which families

are getting the most out of it. Most people don't just hand the book or the audio or the DVD to

kids and say, enjoy, believing instead that reading book one together the first time around,

then watching the movie together when the reading is complete is the best gift you can give.

And then slowly, as the kids get older, and more themes and more scary sequences are introduced into the stories.

You introduce more books.

Most families with kids don't binge all the Harry Potter books.

They spread them out.

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