Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon

Harry, a History by Melissa Anelli is a great book. At first, I thought it would be a book about a fan who loves Harry Potter. Once I decided to read the book I fell in love and was sucked into the book. The book discusses the fandom and what it means to people. It also has a bit on Laura Mallory which I found intriguing. BUT I have to say my favorite parts were the interviews with JKR and the PotterCast experiences. If you are a Harry Potter nut, please get this book. There will be a lot of laughs, a few teary eyed paragraphs but it will deliver an amazing experience.

This book gives a good perspective from a true Potter fan. It gave me a chance to relive some of the excitement and emotional feelings experienced with each new book and movie. The fun sharing the long lines waiting for the book releases and movie premiers. If you want help running down memory lane. This is the book. It also gives new info from Jo and potter fandom. Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon

Interwoven into the personal and professional development of the author is the story of the boy wizard Harry Potter and how this story took over the book world. Ms Anelli brings back the feelings and emotions of that time when all the world was looking for the next book.

I pre-ordered this book because I had confidence in Melissa's work and knew she would give an "inside" perspective that was accurate. I was not disappointed. Her writing style grabbed hold of me and kept me reading-- though I could put the book down (witness how long it took me to finish). I appreciate what she went through to write it-- traveling with a wizard rock band on tour, going to fests, interviewing Laura Mallory, etc. This is no book based on library and internet research. She was there.

The book is structured around the time from the announcement of the release date for Deathly Hallows to the actual release of the book. Within that chronology, Anelli gives a series of what could be called flashbacks. Until you catch on to this, the book's flow can be a bit confusing. But it's a clever way to tie together so many different subjects. The title, of course, alludes to a wizarding-world reference book mentioned frequently in the series starting from Sorcerer's Stone, "Hogwarts, a History."

This book really should have been called "Melissa, A History" because it is basically a biography of the author Melissa Anelli. I had expected more behind-the-scenes info on Harry Potter, the books, the movies, and JK Rowling. Although there is some of that in this book, there is much more Melissa than Harry.

The subtitle of this book is, "The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon". The promise of the true story of a boy wizard and life inside the Harry Potter phenomenon were very lacking. "His Fans" (specifically Melissa and her friends) was the bulk of this book. Unfortunately, I was primarily interested in the other two.

The book jumps around so unforgivenly at times it gets very confusing. A chronological approach would have made more sense. Melissa was actually on the movie sets and presumably spoke with the actors, producers, etc., but there is far too little of that in the book. The author also seems to expect that you are a rabid fan of the Leaky Cauldron web site, which she runs. I say this because she glosses over some blogs and interviews that were apparently posted on the web site, mentioning some fact and then moving on. She actually lists several questions asked of Ms. Rowling that I would have liked to seen the answers for, but apparently the reader is already supposed to know the answers.

I don't blame Melissa for cashing in on her position - writing a book is the way to go these days. I'm disappointed, because this book could have been something much better: better organized, better information, and, frankly, better writing.