The Harry Potter series is a great series of seven books. In our opinion, it is one of the best book series ever written. Harry James Potter is the main protagonist of the book, whose antagonist is Voldemort. Voldemort has an army of evil wizards and witches who discriminate against muggles, who are regular people with no magic. Voldemort’s army wants to keep muggles away from the Wizarding World. With his friends — Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and more — Harry tries to defeat Voldemort and his followers over the course of the series. 

The best books, in our opinion, are the third and fifth: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. You can’t read any of the books without reading them in order; you would be confused. The books are pretty long, but they are entertaining and worth reading. There is always some sort of plot twist in all of the books that you will never be expecting. They are sad in some parts, but scary,  funny,  happy, and mysterious in others.

In Harry Potter, there are four houses you can go into Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. These are similar to the Red and White team for us! You get picked by the Sorting Hat and you stay in that house forever. However, your family can be in a different house than you. 

Get to know the main characters:

Harry Potter is the main character. He is one year older in each book; and, when we first meet Harry, he is 11. Harry’s parents both died, so he lives with his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and cousin, Dudley. But they don’t treat him well – he sleeps in a closet under the stairs! Harry is also an only child, so he has no siblings to play with. When Harry goes to Hogwarts School, Harry is placed in Gryffindor House. Over the course of the series, Harry will seem like a friend of yours.

Harry’s two closest friends Ron (short for Ronald) and Hermione the” golden trio” are usually together in their adventures. Hermione is a super smart girl who loves to learn and read.  She is the only child of two Muggles, but she becomes a brilliant young witch. Ron is the opposite. He does not enjoy books, doesn’t like to learn, and is the second youngest out of seven. His parents both have magic. He has one sister, Ginny, who is the youngest. From oldest to youngest, his older brothers are Bill, Charlie (the dragon lover), Percy (the smart, serious one), and Fred and George (the identical twins who love to play pranks). Ron doesn’t like studying, and he gets most of his ideas from Fred and George.  Ron and Hermione are both in Gryffindor as well. The background stories of Harry’s friends are mysteries to untangle and help you develop empathy for the complex stories that Harry and his friends emerge from.

Ginny Weasley, Ron’s sister, is also important. She is very good friends with Hermione and is also smart, pretty, and a Gryffindor like Hermione, Ron, and Harry. She loves Quidditch (which is a sport in the wizarding world sort of like soccer to us, but it takes place in the air on flying brooms). Ginny is super confident, and cares a lot about everyone. Ginny doesn’t really become a main character until the second or even third book, but she becomes very important to Harry.

Draco Malfoy is also an important character. He is the most popular kid in Slytherin and doesn’t like Harry, Hermione, Ron, and their friends. He also doesn’t like Hermione especially because she is a Muggle. He teases Harry and tries to get him in trouble. With all the things Harry and his friends have to solve and figure out, Draco gets in the way and makes it hard for them. 

Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster (principal) of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is fond of Harry and helps him overcome most of his obstacles. Dumbledore is a wise old man, and he loves Harry very much and tries to help him as much as possible. When he was a student in Hogwarts, he was also in Gryffindor. Dumbledore will capture your heart like a wise grandfather, and watching his journey and relationship with Harry will melt your heart.

Severus Snape is the teacher for Potions at Hogwarts. Harry and his friends don’t like him because he picks the Slytherins as favorites. He is the head of the Slytherin house as well. Snape is another character you love to hate, but then you discover greater depths to his character and begin to feel empathy for him along the way.

Our Favorites:

Keira’s favorite characters are Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Luna Lovegood. She chose them because Luna reminds Keira a lot of herself and Fred and George are the comic relief in really awkward situations. Maria’s favorite characters are Hermione and Ginny. Hermione has a lot of traits that she shares with Maria as well as Ginny. For example, Maria loves books and has sat down and started and finished a book in one day. She is also very caring of everyone (especially her siblings). 

We really recommend this series if you have not read them!  If you have read the books, we encourage you to read them again for fun in your spare time! The movies are really good, too, and are pretty similar to the books. The characters will become part of your friend group, and the families will become like real relationships you’ve grown up with.

Maria Silveyra Dodds ’26, Staff Writer

Keira Hyatt ’26,  Staff Writer

Lucy Elliffe ’26, Staff Writer

26msilveyra@montroseschool.org 

26khyatt@montroseschool.org

26lelliffe@montroseschool.org