One fan in particular, 7-year-old Bana Alabed, loved the movies so much, that she wanted to read the books as well.
JK Rowling’s magical book series, Harry Potter has been a hit with both children and adults the world over, ever since the first book released way back in 1997. Her relatable characters coming of age in a magical world of wizards, witches, and unnerving beasts, captured many hearts, and doubly so after they were turned into movies years later.
One fan in particular, 7-year-old Bana Alabed, loved the movies so much, that she wanted to read the books as well. Alas, Bana lives in Aleppo, the infamous war-torn city of Syria. None of the series’ books were available in the country, so she did the next best thing - she asked the author to send her some.
Fatemah, who runs a Twitter account for her young daughter, helped her reach out to JK Rowling on Monday, saying she really wanted to read the books. Unfortunately, when Rowling encouraged her to get her hands on them, Bana explained that there were no Harry Potter paperbacks available in Syria, a somewhat sobering reflection of the country’s state of perpetual civil war.
Rowling immediately sprang into action, she knew it would be hard to have a parcel with hard copies of the books reach Aleppo, so she found the next best thing. Just two days later, on Wednesday, Bana had her own copies of the series’ e-books. The grateful young fan posted a response to Rowling on Twitter saying, “My friend JK Rowling, how are you? Thank you for the book. Love you, from Aleppo.” The author responded once again, her joy at bringing magic into a little girl’s life apparent in her tweet. “Bana, this made me so happy!” she wrote. “Lots of love to you and your brothers!”
Fatemah has since posted photos on Twitter of little Bana reading Harry Potter to her two younger brothers on their couch at home. Unfortunately for the little girl, this little spark of excitement is somewhat overshadowed by the multitude of her tweets, pointing out how the family is constantly living in fear of bombardment. Hopefully for Bana and her brother, Harry Potter can be a safe place for them to savour what little they can of their childhood.
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 "Bana Alabed")
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