Well done, Mr. Potter

Today is the first time in ten years that one of the Harry Potter books, or the entire series, cannot be found on the iconic best seller lists of the New York Times Book Review. In today's issue, the Times has observed this landmark with a full column, entitled "Goodbye Harry."

Back in 1998, a reviewer for the Times welcomed the initial book (in what was to become a series) with a favorable review. No one, including the reviewer, could have predicted that the book he reviewed would be merely the first ripple, the first harbinger of a tidal wave of Potter-mania that was to wash over the world in the decade to come. He began his review as follows:

So many of the beloved heroes and heroines of children's literature -- from Cinderella and Snow White to Oliver Twist and the Little Princess to Matilda, Maniac Magee and the Great Gilly Hopkins -- begin their lives being raised by monstrously wicked, clueless adults, too stupid to see what we the readers know practically from Page 1: This is a terrific person we'd love to have for a best friend. And so it is with Harry Potter, the star of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," by J.K. Rowling, a wonderful first novel from England.

The Harry Potter books are far from being my favorite fantasy books or, for that matter, my favorite children's books. But the Times reviewer clearly caught that theme that calls to every child -- a hero, whom the child can adopt as a best friend or as his own alter ego, who appears ordinary and worthless to the "big people" in his life, but who has some hidden quality that renders him vastly superior -- in both power and goodness -- to those who oppress him. How such a hero learns to use that power, how he overcomes the hurdles that his oppressors place before him, how he rises above that oppression to fight far greater battles against far greater enemies, and how he resists the temptation to use his growing powers for unworthy ends -- this is the trajectory that the life of every great hero in history and in literature can be seen to trace.

More than a kid's daydream, moreover, it is also the story that each of us secretly, deep inside and hidden from the scorn of others, tells of himself and imposes on the events of his own life. This is not an unworthy story. It is a story that has been told to children in various forms throughout history. There are worse models for any child to adopt and follow throughout his life.

So congratulations, Harry. You have risen far above your muggle critics, detractors and reviewers. You have overcome your own doubts and temptations. You have faced down Voldemort and defeated him.

May every kid who reads you aspire to do the same.