Me, If I Were Harry Potter

My wife is a HUGE fan of the "Harry Potter" books. I like them well enough, but, as someone who grew up on "Dungeons & Dragons," I've read an awful lot of fantasy novels over the course of my life, so I don't believe J.K. Rowling is quite as creative as people think... she cribbed a lot of her ideas from other sources that are obscure to non-nerds. That said, she still made quite an impressive little world, and, admirably, had her characters progress and grow over the course of the series. She also taught a whole generation of kids that books can be pretty nifty. I only read up to the fourth book, "Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire," (upon which, of course, this picture is based) before deciding the movies were enough to keep me apprised of the magical doin's of the Hogwarts' kids. One thing I do love about Harry Potter is that it is not a flash-in-the-pan fad... it's the "Wizard of Oz" of our times, and I think it will show itself, in generations to come, to be one of those enduring classics, one of the rare breed that is remembered for decades, if not centuries. And that's pretty awesome.

So, here's me if I were Harry Potter. Like I said, the picture is based on Harry from "The Goblet of Fire," (the U.S. version) drawn by Mary GrandPré. It's my favorite of the U.S. covers, even if Harry looks a little ridiculously happy.