Harry Potter

Five or six years ago I asked my then-nine year-old niece Kaylee what she wanted for Christmas from me. Being the cool uncle that I am, I expected her to ask for a new bike or the hot new toy of the year, or at least a cool Carolina shirt or basketball tickets since I was in college at the time. Instead, she responded "Harry Potter."
I didn't know who that was, but I figured it was an action figure or doll or something. I went to Wal-Mart and found out it was a huge book. I got past the confusion, though, resigned myself to the fact that my niece was a nerd, and bought the book.
But by the time Christmas rolled around, I understood a lot better. Kaylee was not a nerd. She was the norm. Harry Potter was a cultural phenomenon. In an age where kids have any information in the world available at the touch of a mouse, this nerdy little English kid was defying all logic and making it cool to read books again.
Kaylee is a teenager now and entering her freshman year of high school. She has always been a very bright girl, but I have to say that I think the Potter books made her love to read — and read actual thick books, nonetheless — a hobby which has so many benefits.
I have no doubt that she will go on to do whatever she wants to do in life, partly because of the gift me and a little English kid gave her.
Reading opens a child's mind to different ways to think and worlds they can't imagine otherwise. It teaches patience. It improves vocabulary, which is sure to help in the real world and the job market, and is beneficial in countless other ways.
I can't say that I love reading — well, books, that is. I have loved to read newspapers and magazines since I was three. But my hobby is golf, one that has very little practical applications beyond making girlfriends mad and shrinking my wallet.
And I had never and still haven't ever read a Harry Pottery book or seen one of the movies. Come to think of it, I've never even read a book as thick as a Harry Potter book, unless you count the countless, mind numbing textbooks I've suffered through over the years.
My generation didn't have Harry Potter. We had Teddy Ruxpin — a talking stuffed bear — and Nintendo. Not exactly brain-busters. And partially as a result, it is often said that we will be the first generation in American history to be less successful than our parents.
So please, go by the last Harry Potter book this weekend for your kids. Somebody has got to take care of us lazy Gen Xers when we are old, broke and playing Madden 2035.
And because I still don't read, somebody tell me whether he dies or not...actually, I'll probably just buy it for Kaylee and let her tell me.