The entire ‘Harry Potter’ series (2001-2011)

The “Harry Potter” movie franchise is full of wizards, spells, monsters, time travel and other curses. But what grounds all the magic in reality — and makes the characters so relatable — is that it’s also a saga of a misfit adolescent making his way through school. Granted, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is no ordinary institution of learning. But the anxieties and triumphs of Harry and his friends brilliantly capture the emotional underpinnings of the psychological battleground that is high school.

Whether it’s excelling at sports, agonizing over finding a date for the formal dance, cramming for exams or dealing with bullies, the “Harry Potter” series is the story of school. And then there are the fantastic — and not so fantastic — teachers. From scattered Sybill Trelawney to self-aggrandizing Gilderoy Lockhart, in love with his own voice, to brutally tough Severus Snape, we’ve all known teachers like these.

Do I have a favorite school scene? There are so many across the films, it’s hard to choose one — but “Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban” features a novel example of the time-honored tradition of passing notes in class that always makes me smile. And don’t all kids wish they could skip the yellow bus and head back to school on the magical Hogwarts Express?

— Matthew J. Palm