What’s it about?
Written by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter is about a young boy, who is, spoiler alert, a wizard. He lives with his aunt, uncle, and cousin because his parents died when he was an infant. They are borderline abusive and force him to sleep in a closet under their stairs. He goes to a school called Hogwarts (great name), makes friends and enemies, and defeats evil as an 11 year old.
Why did (do) I like it?
This was one of the first series that I ever really fell in love with. I started watching the first movie when I was 2 years old, and I was reading these books by the time I was in 3rd grade. By 7th grade, I had read the series at least 7 times over.
One of the reasons I really got into them was because of my dad. When I was younger I absolutely idolized him and wanted liked everything he liked. My dad loves this universe almost as much as I did and actually gave me his copies of the books.
What really hooked me, though, was the story and characters. We follow this poor, confused child as he learns and grows as a wizard, a friend, a hero, and a person. The first few books are obviously aimed at children, but when you get to book four (The Goblet of Fire), it starts to go down a darker path and the series becomes aimed more at young adults than children. The stakes become higher, the world gets fleshed out, and Harry’s hormones kick in. Order of the Phoenix’s Harry is extremely angsty, which is a lot of fun. If you take your time reading them, you can really grow up with Harry. If you are like me and blast through them in about 7 months, however, you don’t really get that experience.
Reading the books now, I really appreciate how much Harry changes throughout the story. He is far from perfect, and he makes a lot of mistakes, but in the end he is a genuinely good person who will do anything to save his friends and family. What I like about this series has changed drastically as I have gotten older. At first, I loved the fantasy and the mystery of it all, but now things like the “physics” of magic and relationships between different characters are extremely interesting to me.
What do you mean extended universe?
The Harry Potter universe is one that has expanded a lot in the past several years as it has gotten more and more famous. This is what has been published thus far:
- The original book series, 7 books
- The movie adaptations, 8 movies
- The Hogwarts Library Collection, 3 books (not novels)
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, 2 movies (3 more on the way!)
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Screenplays (for the movies)
- The Cursed Child (Play and screenplay)
- Pottermore (now known as Wizarding World)
There are also people writing fan fiction, creating podcasts about it, conventions, and more to keep people entertained when there is no cannon material being published.
My Childhood Library 
I too grew up very muchly loving and enjoying myself some Harry Potter. I ’twas also, the avid reader. But I cannot say that i’ve read the series SEVEN TIMES, thats a ginormous amount. Gotta say, I’m impressed. The series just has a warm, cozy and nostalgic feel that I love. Always takes me back to my childhood and makes me want some cocoa!
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I really like how you brought in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them movie series that has come out. Although Harry Potter will always be number one for me, Fantastic Beasts is a close second. This post really encapsules the whole universe, not just the initial series.
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