It’s powerful to hear children and adults talk about how the Harry Potter series has affected their lives — how it taught them about the importance of friendship and love, and how heroes are not always the biggest and the strongest, and how failure and adversity can make us stronger.

It also showed how one incredible series of books could turn a generation of children into lifelong readers.

In 2008, Scholastic completed a survey of parents and children that showed just how much of an impact the series has had on young readers. As we’re all buzzing about the big movie release last week, I was reminded of these amazing statistics.

According to the 2008 Kids and Family Reading Report:

• Three out of four kids said reading Harry Potter, or having someone read Harry Potter to them, made them interested in reading other books.
• Two-third of kids say they do better in school since reading Harry Potter — and their parents agree.
• Seventy-eight percent of parents who have read Harry Potter said they “really enjoy sharing Harry Potter books” with their child.
• Nearly seven in ten children who have read the entire Harry Potter series said they are “very” interested in re-reading the books.
• Seventy-seven percent of parents think the Harry Potter series will end up being read by future generations.

Did Harry Potter inspire a love of reading in your children? Or in you??