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So, what is Harry up to now? Does he have another wand-waving magic that we do not know of? Not exactly. I’m going to talk about what he has magically done to the world in the last few years.

This has been reported many times but what I have today is my own personal opinion that inadvertently confirmed all those previous reports. I’m sure that every parents in the world today realized that JK Rowling’s Harry Potter have created a big storm last few years. Suddenly we have a new generation of euphoric kids who loves to read fantasy story books. Such scene has not been seen for quite some time and the impact that Harry Potter is bringing to the world today is a big welcome for parents. Harry Potter does have real world magic after all.

I’m in Malaysia, a small nation in the South East Asia region. Believe it or not, Harry Potter’s impact on the young generations here are phenomenal. I can see it with own eyes through observations made on my own 8 to 12 year old nieces, nephews and my close friend’s children. Before Harry Potter, none of the kids I knew read books. Their reading habits are almost non-existent except for the sole cause of completing their school’s homework. Every Malaysian parent then were groaning and nagging their kids to read books but all that goes in vain.

Then suddenly JK Rowling’s first book on Harry Potter came out. Nothing happened here in the first few months but suddenly children are begging their parents to buy them their very first book on Harry Potter. I really don’t know how this new craze for Harry Potter develops in the first place really. Over in South East Asia, the marketing promotions for JK Rowling’s Harry Potter are limited to established book stores such as MPH and Kinokuniya. There are no specific television or radio promotions that I could remember. After interrogating my nieces, nephews and their friends on the matter, I found out that this whole obsession with Harry Potter was probably started here in South East Asia by the internet itself. Some kids who are internet savvy and have access to the internet must have stumbled upon some rave Harry Potter fan sites and that ignites their curios interest. The news will of course spread through words of mouth from one child to another and by the time we know it, every kid is hooked on Harry Potter. So, that’s how it started here.

Kids suddenly made about turns and return back to positive reading habits. In the long run, this helps them in performing better at schools too! Pure magic. Their new found passion in reading story books reminded me of my own childhood. Remember Enid Blyton’s books anyone? Yes, I too was very much attached to her books. Reading them brought me a lot of good. My English mastery both orally and in writing is better than most of my peers and gave me a slight edge in the society. Seeing the new rejuvenated interest kids nowadays have on reading fantasy story books such as Harry Potter, I foresee a great future for them. If you still can’t see it, the following is what Harry Potter has magically done for children here in South East Asia:

• Redevelop that crucial reading habit that was waning fast before the arrival of Harry Potter.

• Helps them to perform better in schools and achieve better grades much to the joy of their parents.

So, if you are looking for a fun way to develop good reading habits to your kids, you may start by buying them fantasy story books. Harry Potter’s series would be preferable since your kids would then be able to reach out and connect to a big Harry Potter’s fans out there. They can immediately be a part of the group and develop that sense of belonging in no time. One word of advice though, maybe it is best that you buy a few dictionaries to accompany that Harry Potter’s books. Stories written by British story tellers do sounds a little bit odd and mind boggling at times. Keeping those dictionaries handy for your kids would ensure that they would be able to enjoy their reading fully.

© 2007 Sahabatul Ventures