Thank You J.K. Rowling

Many think of England as the land of Shakespeare, Dickens, and J.K. Rowling. And those who don't, should.  Will and Chuck can take care of themselves, but all readers and book lovers owe an enormous debt to J.K. Rowling, who I believe saved both books and reading in our time.  At the moment Harry Potter magically appeared, it was entirely possible that all reading was about to disappear, sucked into a Dementor's kiss of smart phones, Netflix, tablets, Instagram, and all the amazing awesomeness that is social and entertainment media.  Instead, Harry Potter became a genuine cultural phenomenon, there was hardly enough paper to print the volumes in the series, and reading became cool, popular, and a guaranteed conversation starter.  And beyond that, the Harry Potter series spawned an endless supply of fantasy and YA books that are near as popular (tho not always quite as good): Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergent, Cinder, and ever so many more to be found in your local bookshop. Young people are reading books in what seems like massive numbers.  People are reading, who with a few tweaks in the space-time continuum, might never have opened a book.  And I suspect that YA readers will become hooked on reading, and as they grow more experienced, possibly branch out into other genres of fiction.  I propose an international holiday spent reading J.K. Rowling's books, and thanking her for keeping books and reading from becoming a banished cult of the the odd and dispossessed. Thank you J.K. Rowling!  For everything.