Guest Author - Cheryl Lewis

Like millions and millions of other people, I waited anxiously for the next installment of the Harry Potter series. The release date for Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince has been marked on our family calendar for a very long time. There were arguments over who was going to get to read it first. Finally, the long awaited day arrived. My daughter, who fell and cut her leg running to the mail box, got to read it first. Then I was next to read it.

After reading the book I felt very thankful that my daughter is older and really quite mature for her age. As the star of the series, Harry Potter grows older, so does the age appropriateness of the book. Harry, and his closest friends are now teenagers and dealing with some of the regular teenage boy/girl issues.

The story is somewhat dark and at times it's downright sad. Hope springs eternal though, and the lesson of "love is the greatest power in the universe", be it the muggle or wizard universe, prevails.

From the first page, the story will grip you and hold onto you tighter than any wizard spell. Once you're sucked in by the very first chapter, putting the book down to sleep, eat or even go to the bathroom seems totally ridiculous. These are the characters we love and love to hate, and after waiting so long we want to soak up every last morsel of information we can possibly get.

The book is definitely not for the younger child. The first book and maybe the second, would probably be ok for second graders and up. My daughter was assigned to read the first book in second grade. I was concerned about the content because I had heard rumblings at my church. I decided to read the book myself and really enjoyed it. However, if a teacher assigned my current third grader to read this latest book, there would be a serious parent/teacher discussion. I would pull my child out of the class before allowing him to read it.

For parents and older children, I highly recommend the book. Be sure to bring your Kleenex, have a stash of snacks and drinks within reach, and settle down for an amazing story with an old friend named Harry. For the younger child, say Kindergarten through fourth grade, I cannot recommend it. In fact, I really urge parents to not allow this book for the younger children. There are just way too many incidents in the book that a child that age would find frightening and scary.