The overarching question of this descriptive and interpretive study was “What motivated Vietnamese students to read the Harry Potter series as well as other fantasy novels?” This study used the reader response theory as the method to understand reading interests, habits, and attitudes of Vietnamese high school students. The participants were 50 students who were in Grade 10 at Nguyen Viet Hong High school, Can Tho City, Vietnam. Data were gathered by means of questionnaires and interviews. The results of this study showed that the students who read Harry Potter were different from the general population of Vietnamese students in many ways: they preferred reading adventure and fantasy, and for pleasure more frequently, and were more likely to perceive themselves as having strong reading skills. Factors identified as initially motivating this group to read Harry Potter were predominantly from friends most often identified as encouraging them to join them in the experience. Continued motivation to read fantasy novels was largely found to be intrinsic in nature with personal associations and emotional attachments between readers and the characters.