Thanks Taminy
Madoosa, thank you
I usually keep better track of the time but this was an unusual case. I sculpted the head, arms and legs right before we packed up to move then I made the body and dressed him this month (a year later!). I spent quite a bit of time working on the likeness. I normally spend 10-20 hrs on my usual figures. I can safely say this took longer! It was a labor of love though. The other night I was working on his robes while watching The Half Blood Prince and just having such a good time. He's getting a very positive response all around which is really nice too.
As far as readiness for the books, hmmm. I think it's individual. DS started reading them at 5 but lost interest. He had a very high reading level but was not into fantasy or any fiction really at that age and preferred reading books about the weather and science. He didn't go back to HP until he was 10. He got gotten into reading fiction series at that point (had read the Mysterious Benedict Society, Series of Unfortunate Events, Chronicles of Narnia, Crispin, Lord of the Rings trilogy, etc - lots of fantasy!) and at that point he tore through the entire HP series and loved it.
