Harry Potter and the Encouraging Father

My 10 year old has loved reading since she started primary school. Her teachers and her report cards always praised the level and speed she consumed literature.

Obviously this is something that we have always encouraged. I had the same depth of interest at her age and I connect with her through the thought that this is something that I have gifted to her.

I have bought her a kindle and filled it with classics like Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz. She has read them but thankfully she still has a long collection of actual books and shares the kindred of turning a page, enjoying a well drawn cover and smiling at the smell of a freshly bought volume.

Amongst her paperback collections are the complete works of Roald Dahl, a number of Famous Fives and large Jacqueline Wilson section.

Recently I challenged her to a competition to see who could read all the Harry Potter novels quickest. Together we had progressed through the films and enjoyed them so I bought the first novel on Kindle and away we went.

It was close all the way but she just cleared the last chapter first. Success. We compared where we were up to, and talked about scenes. She was reading at a level that suited her and I was able to finally read through a batch of novels I wanted to get into for a while.

However it was as we neared the end of the second novel disaster struck. We lost her kindle charger in the move and she was unable to continue.

Months later I found the best looking collection of the novels and I had to buy them. The covers were well drawn, they came in there own box. I was hooked. And the spark was reignited. I even got my own bookmark made for me.

I won the next novel so I’m on Prisoner of Azkaban while she is still polishing off Chamber of Secrets. But the race is back on.

Who will finish Hogwarts first? Will we ever get our OWL results? How can we get our name in the Goblet of Fire?

Our adventure against the Dark Lord continues…