I love 'em. I just hope that this all doesn't go from a popular movement to an over-commercialized obsession. As my grandmother would say, I hope they don't make a religion out of it. (Little Mary Sunshine, that's me.) That being said, I see a similarity to the sudden popularity of the Beatles in the early 1960's. None of the pundits could exactly explain *why*, but everybody was just ready for the music, and it was well done. Same for these books. Rowling neither talks down (writes down?) to the reader, nor does she insert anything gratuitous. Not just violence, etc, but extraneous subplots. She plays by the rules of al good writers; she gives you all the information. Even if you have all the hints, the resolution is still a surprise. BTW, try the audio versions. They're unabridged, and Jim Dale is an excellent reader.