Growing up with Harry

[author_by_night]

(Yet again, non-Harry Potter people- forgive me.)

Many of us were children or in our early teens when we first picked up the book with that odd guy in front of a train (or on a broomstick, or somewhere else, depending on where you reside.) 

So I'm conducting a survey of sorts, and want feedback from those of you who were in your teens or younger when you first read the books. In a short paragraph or sentence, tell me these things
- Your country of residence.

- The fandom/LJ name you want to be quoted as (in case I decide to quote yours), or if you'd rather not be quoted, but still want to answer. 

- How old you are now, and how old you were then. 

- What it was like, growing up with the books.

If you know someone who grew up with the books (little brother/sister, younger friend, your own kid, etc.), you may also post about that. 

Note: I will be quoting a number of these unless you request otherwise, but it is possible not all answers will be used. I will make an effort to link to this post when I complete the project, but if it is hard to fit the number I recieve in, I will not be able to. However, again, I will link to this.

Oh, and just FYI: I was fourteen when I first read the books. I'm now twenty two. Time flies!

ETA: Thanks to all of you who have replied so far! 41 comments! One of these days I will catch up on replying, but in the meantime, it's been cool hearing all of your stories, and look forward to more. :)

Comments

[vifetoile.livejournal.com]

- I live in the United States, in one of what's called "the Blue States" (no Harry Potter bans on account of witchcraft here)
- I'm vifetoile on LJ, but known as Queenie on Sugar Quill. So either name works for me.
- I'm now seventeen, and I discovered the books at the age of nine and three quarters (I remember this because, for a school assignment, when I was designing my wand, I made it as long as I had been old at the time - nine and three quarter inches.)
- What was it like? That's a good question. Harry, Ron, and Hermione felt like the best friends I had never met in real life. This book really catapulted my interest in writing fanfiction (and hence writing in general), and reading more books, which, of course, opened my horizons beyond scope. Everything I did, it felt like, had a tinge of Harry to it. Mundane art class assignments about drawing dinosaurs were spiced up with a sketch of Harry and Malfoy in the background, flying after the Snitch (how they managed to go to the Mesozoic is beyond me). There was a point when you could open up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to any given page, start off a sentence, and I could finish it - unless the sentence started with the words "Harry, Ron, and Hermione..." After a while, the initial obsession started to fade, but I still retain a deep affection for the books. I keep imagining my fourth grade self's reaction if I told her, just for example, the release dates of the fifth, sixth, and seventh books. I imagine shock and relentless pacing, digesting the information.
And the ironic thing is, that in the summer between third and fourth grade, I heard of Harry Potter, but only that it was outrageously popular, and, being the class anarchist, turned my nose up at anything 'popular,' even at the snippet of Prisoner of Azkaban that ran in Disney Adventures. Then my fourth grade teacher started reading it aloud to us between classes, and what the heck happened?

Great survey, by the way! Hope you get plenty of feedback!