11-year old Harry Potter has lived with his horrid relatives the Dursleys for nearly his entire life, ever since his parents died in a car accident when he was a baby. The Dursleys, always trying to pretend Harry doesn’t exist, have actually been trying to hide a wonderful, horrible secret from Harry.
What Harry does not know is that he is actually an untrained wizard, living in a world of ‘muggles’, or ordinary people. After receiving an invitation for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, his life is completely changed as he is thrown into a world of friendship, magic, and mystery.
For any parent that has not let their child read Harry Potter, please do not be put off by the witchcraft element. In the school, there is a heavy difference between ‘okay’ magic and ‘evil’ magic. The overall story is still of good overcoming evil.
I know there is a lot of debate about whether or not Harry Potter should be read (or watched), but when my friend first convinced my mom that the movies really weren’t too scary, we finally watched the first movie. I was wonderfully surprised. The first movie isn’t too scary, and the story was great! It was entertaining, and as I soon came to find out, the book is even more so. Harry and the hilarious trio he begins with his loyal friends are easy to like, easy to picture, and easy to relate to.
Honestly, the magic is fun to read about. I think it may have been J K Rowling who started the ‘unusual school/training’ theme. She has definitely planned everything out very well, and the books are very consistent in the various magical terms and phrases in every single book.
Overall Rating: 5/5
Violence: 3/10 (mostly mild creepiness (a giant three-headed dog, and cloaked figure in the woods, etc.), and a few tense scenes; the movie is a little more so)
Language: 1/10 (some name-calling)
Inappropriateness/Romance: 0/10
Audience: Ages 10 and up (or for younger kids who are okay with stuff like three-headed dogs named Fluffy).
Once Upon a Time 
This could be just me, but I really didn’t find anything creepy or scary about this book. But as I said, that’s probably just me because I’m a little harder to scare in most areas. 🙂