In 1997, J.K. Rowling, a graduate of Exeter University, became an over-night sensation when she introduced the world to a boy named Harry Potter. The rags-to-riches life of Harry is a parallel of Rawling's own life. Rawling, a divorced, unemployed, single-mother living on public assistance, breathed life into Harry and his comrades on cocktail napkins in a café she frequented. After numerous rejections from publishers, Bloomsbury Publishers took a chance, and to borrow a trite expression, "the rest is history." Since the release of the first (of the rumored seven book series) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, or Philosopher's Stone as it is known abroad, three additional installments of Harry's life have been published. In 1999, the first three Harry Potter books filled the top three positions of the New York Times best sellers list.

It is a common misunderstanding that the Harry Potter series is for juveniles...