Tuesday, September 12, 2006

The Power of Harry Potter


My son J is kind of obsessed with the whole HP thing, notwithstanding the fact that I won't let him watch any further than #s 1 and 2, 'coz he gets nightmares from scary new things. I get an in-depth barrage every few days, on concepts such as:
"does Lord Voldemort die?"
"Harry is the hero because he beats L V all by himself and he told Ron checkmate and Hermione only did thinking"
and "where is Hogwarts really? I wish I could go there".
Luckily I have read all 6 books, several of them multiple times (I am a teacher-librarian and a fantasy nut), so am able to defend myself from the torturous questions of 6yr olds.
However, J has infected his sister S with the HP virus, and just now I was watching her avoid her lunch by playing this game: pick up a kebab stick from last night's dinner (we won't discuss it's continued presence on the table), wave the pointy end meaningfully at various objects, and incant the following spell:
"Harry Potter, turn this curtain into a plant"
then this one:
"Harry Potter, turn this box into a frog"
Now she is doing a rerun, and has turned her cup into a book, and my Jennifer Crusie book into a plate...
Grateful am I that it's only a kebab stick and not the real thing :}