The first installment of the most popular books, Harry Potter e' la pietra filosofale, is nearly perfect. The only quibble I have is that they've changed the names of many of the characters,(Example: Albus Dumbledore is Albus Silente etc.) which makes the reading a bit confusing if you've already read it in english, or seen the movies. The language isn't too difficult for the second language leaner and should be a cake walk for the native speaker. I learned dozens of new words and idioms and, after more than three years since living in Italy, relearned hundreds more. Great book! I hope to read the rest in Italian someday.

This is just the right level for beginners of Italian. Easy reading, lots of conversation and idioms. I hope to graduate to some of the Italian masters some day, but for now this was a welcome addition to stuffy textbooks and conversation tapes. Most of the series is available in Italian through Amazon.

Too bad the movies don't have an Italian track with Italian subtitles to go with the books. Might be a lot easier to learn another language.