The Novel of Spiritual Education

    J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series which is a great example of this weeks theme. The stories tell about Harry's life from 11 years old when he begins school at Hogwarts to his last year at the school and his final battle. This is a classic story good vs. evil, but it is not a simple story.

    There are many lessons to be learned from these novels, and they involve Harry, his best friends, his teachers, and his enemies. One example would be when Harry and his friends are trapped by magic vines that are choking them. They have to learn to trust one another in order to get the vines to let them go. Also, Ron is very brave when he risks his life playing wizards chess so that Harry can go to catch the bad professor. However, there are many times in the story when Harry gets angry at his friends and they have to learn to resolve their differences.

    Harry learns many important lessons in dealing with the adults in his life. His aunt and uncle openly dislike him but that is the only home he has, so Harry works hard to get along. He is not always successful. For example, he gets frustrated with his uncle's sister and inflates her and she floats away. The nice part of this lesson is that Harry never hurts anyone. He is just a regular kid with a horrible family.

    From Dumbledore, he learns what it means to be an adult even though he is still a boy. Harry learns that people depend on him and he is meant to be a hero, even though he does not want to be. The biggest lesson from these stories is the thing that saves Harry and kills Valdemort - LOVE. No matter what danger Harry got into, he was able to get out because he was always surrounded by the love of his parents and friends who had died. This is a great series of books to teach young people important lessons about life.