Harry Potter is 20

BBC interview Superb video or real quidditch too.

No I can't believe it either. Anybody doing anything to celebrate?

I didn't get introduced until the third book was already out - anybody there from the start?

I think my introduction was just before book 4 came out.

My introduction was in 1998; I was a first-time school librarian sponsoring my first ever book fair. Scholastic had picked up HP, and it was the feature of their VHS promo that I showed to the kids. I don't remember how many copies were sold at that book fair, but reading the book spread like wildfire at Elkins Elementary School. I remember the controversy from some religious groups, and there was one kid who was so desperate to read it, he asked me to call his mom to tell her it was ok to read it. I declined to do so, but by the end of the semester, he finally had his own copy, so I guess he wore his mom down. Been a fan ever since.

I have just been introduced to these books this year I can't believe I hadn't read them before now.

Hard to believe!

I read the first book some time in 1999 -- I was helping at a kids' book giveaway event, and there was a copy of the first book, sans dust jacket. I had kind of heard about it, so when they said I could take a book if I wanted, I chose that one. I read it a few weeks later, and when I finished the last page, I closed the book, sighed, and then opened it up and started reading again! I still have that battered, jacket-less copy; I sometimes think about replacing it with a nicer copy, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

I think it was after CoS came out that I began to read the series, my daughter suggested it to me