Well this morning something rather special is trending. It's been trending for hours and for once it isn't about Justin Bieber!
It simply says "Thank you J.K. Rowling"
Picture source Wikipedia.
I don't know what's triggered it, but when I looked a bit deeper expecting to find the usual level of sarcasm and jokes, there were barely any. Just a cauldron full of love.
I was working for The National Library for the Blind when her first book was published (did you know that less than 5% of books are ever made into a format that a blind person can read? See, it never leaves you - though I suspect Kindles are helping), so I lived in a very booky world. It seemed as though Harry Potter had just exploded from nowhere - as if by magic - and suddenly everyone was hooked.
Now after more than 10 years of trying to walk through walls in Kings Cross Station, we've emerged from under the invisibility cloak and back into the real world. And now there seems to be an overwhelming need to say thank you to Harry's creator.
I've not seen the like since Take That split up!
We've got messages from 'Rupert Grinned', 'Strictly Granger', 'Ron the Ginger' and even 'Voldermort' seems to be in a good mood. This group of 'Potterheads' and 'Potterologists' have really thrown themselves into character.
Whether you love Harry Potter or think that it's a derivative mix of Lord of the Rings, Enid Blyton and CS Lewis - who cares. It got children reading and excited about where their imagination can take them, and for that I say Thank you JK Rowling. What an amazing feeling it must be to know that you've had such a positive impact on the childhoods of so many.
Here are some of my favorite tweets de jour!
1,090,739 words. 3363 pages. 199 chapters 17 hours & 13 minutes. 8 movies. 7 books. 1 legend. Thank you J.K Rowling.
Thank you J.K Rowling for creating a world I can escape to when I'm not very happy in my own world.
Thank you for my childhood, thank you for the magic you have given us. Thank You J.K Rowling.
Thank you J.K. Rowling for your amazing creativity in making Harry potter. Can't imagine growing up without Harry potter series.
The only bit of sarcasm I could find out of literally hundreds of tweets was:Thank You J.K. Rowling ...... For killing Dobby -_-
Boooooo - poor little house elf! Right, I'm off to throw pepper up the chimney in the hope that it takes me to Barbados. Toodles!
