HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS

I'm a little late to the Harry Potter party, but right on time for his 20th anniversary. At the insistence of my 11 year old, I began listening to the stories in my car, but soon found that I needed the faster pace of the books themselves, and the satisfaction of holding the story in my own hands. By the time I reached book seven, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I couldn't put it down.

Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes a masterpiece, and to me, Deathly Hallows was pretty much PERFECT. But rather than review the book, which so many people already know and love (and are re-reading this year), I want to focus a bit on wandlore.

One of my favorite parts of the book was a conversation Harry has with Mr. Ollivander, renowned wandmaker, who could identify each one’s flexibility, length, type of wood, magical core, and often, the owner. “The wand chooses the wizard,” we read throughout the series. But Deathly Hallows offers a deeper look into the magic behind wandlore, and the allegiance of these wands to those who possess them.

This fascinated me, and inspired me to make these chocolate covered, pretzel rod wands. Licorice strings, coconut, sesame seeds and metallic sugar spray paint were required - since, you know, Whole Foods was out of unicorn hair and dragon heartstrings this week (again!). As much as I wanted to race through the book to learn the fate of our hero, I didn’t want the series to end. So now I’ll console myself by waiting for tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway … and for my local supermarket to start carrying phoenix feathers for my next batch of wands!