Whenever I'm feeling lost, I turn to the Harry Potter series for guidance. I grew up reading these books, and I have turned to them for comfort for almost my entire life. To me, these books are an excellent example of why children's books need to show the darker parts of the world. How J.K. Rowling's characters cope with loss, death, and evil has profoundly influenced the way that I cope with those things in my own life.

Unfortunately, every person has to experience loss at some point in their life. There will be times when you'll identify with Angry Harry — you know, the boy who threw Dumbledore's possessions around his office because he can't bear to accept that Sirius has died. There will be times when you'll feel like Desperate Harry — the boy who sat for hours in front of the mirror of Erised, wishing desperately for a life in which his parents were still with him. There will be times when you'll feel like Nostalgic Harry — the boy who pored over old photo albums and notes from his loved ones.

These quotes from Harry Potter about loss may just help get you through all of those moments: