Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

For a number of reasons, the last day of July is a magical day for Harry Potter fans.

First, it’s the day in which the eighth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, is being released; it’s already expected to be the best-selling book of the year. Secondly, it’s the day in which Harry Potter creator, J.K. Rowling, was born in Yate, Gloucestershire, England; she turns 51 today! Thirdly, it’s the day in which fictional character Harry Potter was born in Godric’s Hollow, West Country, England; he turns 36 today!

And fourth and foremost, it is the day in which Harry Potter learned about his magical roots and was able to momentarily get away from his miserable life with his Muggle uncle and aunt, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, as well as their rotten son, Dudley. As you’ll remember in the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry had to live with them, sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs, after his parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort when he was just an infant. His aunt and uncle kept him in the dark about all things related to witches and wizards, preventing letters inviting him to go to Hogwarts from getting to him. However, on Harry’s eleventh birthday at midnight, Hagrid burst through the door and personally delivered a letter to The Boy Who Lived.

Crazy to think, but in a year from now, based on the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry and his wife Ginny will be at King’s Cross with their three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. For the first time, they’ll be sending Albus Severus, who turned 11, off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

And why is Harry Potter so special? “Kids who began reading Harry Potter when they were in elementary school, finished Harry’s story as they finished major life milestones in this decade,” wrote Arthur Levine, VP at Scholastic and publisher of Arthur A. Levine books. “And they took with them not only a deep experience of the pleasure a book can bring, but a validation of hopefulness that one’s actions matter more than one’s circumstances, and a message that truly love does conquer all.”

The first seven Harry Potter stories, published by Scholastic in the U.S. between 1998 and 2007 have sold more than 160 million copies in the U.S., over 450 million copies worldwide, and are distributed in more than 200 territories, translated into 79 languages, and have been turned into eight blockbuster films.

Happy Birthday, Harry Potter!