Adultsseem to have lost their ability to imagine. Reading fiction should be a way toregain a bit of imagination and the childlike aura of giddy expectation, but notmany authors have successfully created books that children and adults can enjoy.

The world of fiction changed when J. K. Rowling released Harry Potter andthe Sorcerer's Stone, the first installment of the Harry Potter series. This bookintroduces the shy, quirky Harry Potter, whose life has not been easy. He liveswith his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley, none of whom even comeclose to being civil to him.

Potter's life changes when he receives a veryspecial letter, and so he comes to attend Hogwart's School of Witchcraft andWizardry. While his adventures will entertain, his self-discovery will soberreaders.

What is most amazing, however, is how connected readers are toPotter and the other characters, like his wisecracking sidekick Ron or thekindhearted headmaster Professor Dumbledore. Why can an adult relate to this bookthat is about children? It is simple: If an adult has a memory of her childhood,then HPSS will bring it back.

Harry Potter intrigues the young for acompletely different reason. Children can easily relate to other children, andeven more so to those who have some adversity to overcome - for all children haveproblems. It may be a bully, their appearance, or even something as serious asthe death of a parent, but children (and adults) can work out some of their ownissues by reading this enchanting story.

The language Rowling uses doesnot talk down to her young audience, and so she is able to keep her adultreaders. True, the vocabulary she uses may force some to pick up a dictionary,but no one has complained.

Her tone is what makes Rowling famous. ReadingHPSS is like talking to a childhood friend you haven't seen for years. It is,without a doubt, the most definitive piece of children's literature since TheLittle Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Harry Potter and theChamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the second andthird books, do not quite live up to HPSS in terms of its universal appeal, butare nonetheless worth reading.

Rowling, once a struggling single mother,wrote HPSS when she was down on her luck and out of money. Now she is one of themost sought-after creative fiction writers and is raking in the profits, whichjust goes to show that the adult who holds onto her inner child - her imagination- wins the race!