At the first whiff of hype, I run the other way — fast. I’ve missed a lot of cool stuff because of it.
The whole "Star Wars" phenomenon? A college roommate who ditched class to go to the movies made me so crazy gabbing about Darth Vader and some cute robots that it took me 20 years to see it.
The Mariners’ magic season? I recently admitted to overlooking it, in no small part because there was turquoise M’s hype everywhere I turned. Do I wish I’d paid attention? Yeah, maybe.
And Harry Potter? Through four books my two older children were mad about, I ignored Harry. I would catch a mention of his Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or of "muggles," as nonmagical mortals are known in his world, and — quick — I’d look for anything else to read.
I didn’t discourage the kids, not at all. I accommodated their Harry habit. It just wasn’t for me.
We were camping at Glacier National Park the summer of 2000 when the fourth book in J.K. Rowling’s series, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," came out to much fanfare. We saw no TV, radio stations were spotty, but Harry hype found us in the north woods.
After our week at Glacier, we high-tailed it to Sandpoint, Idaho, to a motel with showers, soft beds and laundry facilities. The night we rolled into town in a dusty van smelling of campfire smoke, my son’s top priority was Mexican food. Then he had to find a bookstore.
Before we returned to Everett, my then-13-year-old had made it much of the way through the 752-page tome. That’s magic.
His sis is a lifelong nose-in-a-book girl. He has other interests. If it’s not about guitars or skateboards, good luck getting his attention.
So I was pleased, but not enough to crack open a Potter book myself despite my kids’ enticements that "You’d love these, Mom."
I stubbornly avoided all things Harry, even while offering heavy-handed recommendations of my own. "You should read ‘Lord of the Flies’ and ‘A Separate Peace,’ " I’d tell my son. To my daughter, it was "read ‘Snow Falling on Cedars.’ "
Then came all this brouhaha over the sure-to-be blockbuster film "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone," which opens Friday. Instead of running the other way, I surprised myself.
I grabbed the first Harry Potter book and read its opening page. I read the second page, and the third. I was hooked.
Guess what? The hype is deserved. It’s well written: "None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window." Nice. I could see that owl, hear it.
My boy came home from a football game Saturday and couldn’t believe what I was up to. He kept asking what page I was on and whether I liked it. How often does a teen-ager ask his mom about a book?
That’s reason enough to tiptoe into Harry’s realm. For a talk like that, I’ll gladly find out what Quidditch, Harry’s broom-riding sport, is all about. I’m just sorry I didn’t take the time sooner.
With child No. 3, I’m not waiting for the hype. I’m ahead of the curve.
Have you heard of Bob the Builder? You will.
I discovered this smiling, hard-hat wearing character last week. He’s all the rage with preschool boys. Bob has a Web site, www.bobthebuilder.com. He has coloring books with upbeat captions: "Can you draw it? Yes, you can!"
Bob has a song about how he builds and fixes things, which is quite refreshing when cartoon heroes mostly blast and smash things.
In Bob’s online world, there’s a tool shed to tidy up. Tots learn what a hammer is, and a screwdriver and a wrench. There’s a place to click colors and paint Bob’s earthmoving equipment. You can even help Bob lay pipe.
Bob’s a great guy. Harry, too.
Can’t believe I’m saying this, but next time I’m sick of the hype, I’ll look too see what’s behind it.
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