It's a moment that I - who's worn out more than one library card in my endless quest for the next great story - have waited for since I saw two lines on the pregnancy test.
Not that I was waiting for Potter in particular. I have so many special friends, and will introduce them each in time. He's far too young for Adams or Tolkien or Heinlein. He's not yet emotionally mature enough to ponder the moral implications of Ender's end game. And while I think we're getting close, he's not quite ready to go through the looking glass or travel on a tesseract.
Honestly, I wasn't completely sure he was ready for Rowling. But... and I may have my geek card revoked for admitting this... he'd already seen the first movie. I know. I know. It's a violation of the natural order of things. An abomination. It's almost as bad as those people who don't show their kids Episode IV first.
But Mommy needs her magic fix and leisurely reading time is in short supply. So, I cracked. I let my kid see The
I only let him watch after talking about all the ways in which the book was better. (Yes, I'm one of those people. Let's do us both a favor and skip the part where you pretend to be surprised.) The thing is, he was really excited there's a book. And eventually, he asked me to read it to him. At which point my heart burst with happiness.
Which brings us to actually reading it. Of course, I had my little fantasy of a freshly bejammied Bear, snuggled up with with his blankie, raptly listening as I read to him the story of The Boy Who Lived.
And of course, we all know it really went down like this...
"...As he pulled into number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes."
Bear: Why was the cat outside all day?
Me: Because....
Bear: Why didn't they let the cat into the house? What if it was hungry?
Me: Well...
Bear: Could they bring the cat some water?
Me: That's not the...
Bear: And why was it sitting on the wall? And where did the map go?
Me: What map? Oh, that was...
Bear: What if the cat got cold?
Me: But it wasn't...
Bear: Don't they LIKE cats?
And so it went.
It's been 3 weeks. We've made it through 3 chapters. I haven't yet been able to start reading Chapter 4 - The Keeper of the Keys - to him because he won't stop asking when "Hagrid with the wand hiding in the pink umbrella" (say it real fast like it's one big name) is going to come get Harry.
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