Rob Varela / Star staff Daniel Boyce, 8, wearing his Harry Potter glasses, and his sister Suzie, 5, pose at their home after he won a Harry Potter essay contest.   RELATED STORIES Daniel's winning essay

Boy would use magic to help sister

Potter fan wins contest wishing for autism cure

By Erinn Hutkin, ehutkin@insidevc.com
June 11, 2003

Daniel Boyce dressed as Harry Potter for Halloween and even now will try on his costume of a black scholar's robe and round, dark-rimmed glasses that are so big he must hold them up by scrunching his nose.

The Dos Caminos second-grader can tell you the fifth book in the whimsical Harry Potter series is due June 21. He is drawn to the novels' magical floating cars and fantasy. If given the choice between going to Dos Caminos or Potter's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he catches the query as a trick question.

He is only 8, he says, matter-of-factly. To go to Hogwarts, you must be at least 11.

Daniel loves the adventures of Harry and his friends, of their close calls with trouble and their tales of whooshing across the sky on Quidditch sticks.

Like the characters, Daniel, too, will embark on a journey through the clouds. And when he lands, he will be in Harry's world.

Last month, 12,000 kids nationwide conjured their imaginations and entered a Harry Potter essay contest sponsored by Scholastic Books. Young writers were asked: If you had one power taught to you at Hogwarts, what would it be and why?

The tiny Camarillo boy who reads at the fifth-grade level was picked as one of 10 winners. From June 24-27, he will visit London courtesy of Scholastic. Winners will go to Royal Albert Hall and hear author J.K. Rowling read from the newest in the series: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

Around the Boyces' neat, two-story home, excitement abounds around the trip. Daniel and his mother, Nancy Boyce, have passports on rush order so they arrive before their trek. The watch around Daniel's wrist already reads London time.

Aside from being proud of their son, Daniel's parents are touched by words in his essay. Daniel wrote he would create an "Autistic Cure Potion." He would use it for his younger sister, Suzie, who is 5.

"If Suzie didn't have autism," he wrote, "... she could just be a normal kid."

As she scuffled around the house in a silky pink princess dress from Halloween, Suzie looked like any other child.

Autism, however, left her with sensory integration problems. She cannot filter loud sounds. Laughter prompts her to scream and cry. In his essay, Daniel wrote that he would concoct a "Laughing Potion" so Suzie could giggle at jokes and see "funny movies at the theater."

Autism robbed Suzie of know-how to play. Losing a game can spark temper tantrums that last for hours. She cannot handle change in routine, and it is hard for Daniel to bring friends home. Because her behavior goes downhill when she is overloaded by crowds, one parent must stay home if Daniel has a concert at school.

In his essay, Daniel cooked up a "Crowd Potion," too.

"It was his view of what it's like to have a sister with autism," Nancy Boyce said. "He lives with it every day."

For instance, because Suzie has daily occupational or speech therapy, Daniel spends a lot of time in waiting rooms. During these visits, he passes the time by reading books such as Harry Potter.

After winning last week, word spread fast about Daniel's news. One of the first people he told was his teacher, Cheryl Parker. She told him about the contest after learning about it in an e-mail.

"I threw my hands up and screamed and jumped up and down and hugged him," she said. "I just had a really good feeling about it."

Daniel plans to send his teacher a postcard from England. The boy, who read four thick Harry Potter books in under a year, also hopes to visit the landmarks of their pages. He wants his picture taken at King's Cross Station at platform nine and three-quarters. It is the spot where Harry Potter leaves for school aboard the Hogwarts Express.

He also hopes to leave England with J.K. Rowling's autograph.

Daniel ordered an advance copy of the newest Harry Potter book for his collection. Instead of simply reading it at home, he plans to take it to London. He will follow along as its author reads aloud right in front of him.