The Trouble with Harry was a delightful film where Harry dies and the individuals of a group of people who find his body keep moving it, thinking one of them murdered Harry. So the body appears, disappears, reappears and then does it all over again. It was magic (a different kind of magic called inspired movie making) and made us laugh. It is a classic.

Harry Potter is magic and makes us laugh and cheer for the good guys, applaud their courage and delight in the defeat of evil. It keeps us turning pages to see what delightful magic shows up next, what horrible events occur, how Harry and friends defeat the bad guys and how they grow up with the values we think are good.

It is escapism and is filled with magic that makes it seem as if it's real. Oh, to be able to twirl a magic wand and ward off our fears and the bad things in life. We want to be in that world. And for a little while we are.

The youngsters who have grown up with Harry will one day pull out these books for their children and a new generation will be captivated. Just like with Tolkien, only the Potter series is not quite as complex as LOTR and that created world.

However, Harry Potter will become a classic, too, because it feeds our need to believe in the power of magic and the overcoming of evil. Sometimes I feel as if magic is just at the tips of my fingers, that I can almost access it.