And the Goblet of Fire

The annual Harry Potter Summer Re-Read continues with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  The dust jacket describes this book as, "the pivotal fourth novel in the seven-part tale of Harry Potter's training as a wizard and coming of age."  That's exactly what this novel is, pivotal. Warning this post has spoilers.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione aren't children anymore, a fact that becomes painfully obvious when they all try to find dates for the Yule Ball.  Those scenes reminded me of the vibe around school when everyone is trying to find a date to the 8th grade dance.  But this novel is also pivotal in that there is more focusing on the wizarding world outside of Hogwarts.

Towards the beginning of the novel we have the Quidditch World cup, our first chance to see a collection of adult wizards.  There is also an added emphasis on what kinds of jobs are available for wizards once they finish school.  We have heard hints of jobs at the Ministry of Magic but this is the first time we get to see more of the scope of this enormous organization.  But that's just the beginning, you could teach at a wizarding school-and there's more schools than just Hogwarts, work with dragons, work for the bank (in ways that seem much more exciting then the bank tellers of our world), become an auror, play quidditch professionally, or even open a joke shop.

It made me wonder what would I do if I was in the Harry Potter universe.  To be honest, I didn't need to think about it long at all, I knew almost instantly I would teach at Hogwarts.  I love being a teacher, Professor McGonagall is one of my favorite characters (and teaching idols), and I love Hogwarts.  The question remains what subject would I teach?  History of Magic has an appeal as does charms.  I couldn't teach transfiguration because I would want to teach alongside McGonagall not take her job.  What would your job be?

Finding a date...that's kids stuff.  

I Don't Buy It

I read once that when people read a book or see a play or a movie they go in willing to suspend reality.  Some more than others.  This perfectly explains why my husband always guesses the ending and I am more surprised-I have completely suspended reality and he is more skeptical.  Long time readers of this blog will know that I love fantasy, dragons, magic, wizards, mythical creatures, the more the better.  When I re-read Harry Potter every summer I buy all of it, every year, I have completely suspended my own reality and have entered that of the book.

I say all this so that everyone knows where I'm coming from when I say my only thought on finishing On the Blue Comet was, "I don't buy it."  Rosemary Wells The Blue Comet starts with the life of Oscar Ogilive, a young boy living with his dad in the 1920's.  Even though Oscar's mom has died, Oscar and his father have a happy life together.  Dad goes to work while Oscar goes to school and takes care of the house.  In the evening they play with trains.


By play with trains I mean they save their pennies to buy new train cars and use their creativity to build inexpensive replicas of the layouts found in the catalog.  Both Oscar and his dad love the trains. Life is good; but, as we all know, in 1929 the stock market crashes and Oscar's dad can no longer find work.  Oscar has to live with his aunt while his dad goes to California hoping to find a steady job.

This is when things get weird.  Oscar goes to visit his trains, that they had to sell to the bank owner, when the bank is robbed.  His extreme fear somehow makes it possible for him to jump onto the train layout and end up at the actual train station.  This I could buy (even though the first third of the book contained no trace of anything unusual), but when Oscar arrives in California he has traveled forward in time 10 years. The train jumping and time travel then continues in the rest of the book.

I just didn't buy it.  I couldn't get into the story because I couldn't accept the premise.  And I can accept a lot if it works in the world of the book.  It just felt like the author decided to throw in a little time travel and expected the reader to just accept it.  I can't wait to see what the members of next years Reading Olympic's team think of this book.

Suspending reality...that's kids stuff.  

And the Prisoner of Azkaban

***Like all of my Harry Potter posts, this contains spoilers.****

For those of you who have read this book, which should be everyone since I already warned against spoilers and a thoughtful person would use this time to now go read the book, you know that this is the year Harry learns how to make a Patronus.

To make a true Patronus one needs to say the incantation, "expecto patronum" while concentrating on one very happy memory.  Harry had to try several memories, the first time he rode a broom, finding out he was a wizard, when Gryffindor won the house cup. At the end of the book Harry makes a true patronus because he knew he could do it.  This suggests that confidence in ourselves and a sureness of our own abilities can be a powerful type of happiness.  

If you were to make a patronus, what memory would you focus on?  Post your answer in the comments, I would love to hear. I think I would remember my wedding day.

Focusing on happy memories...that's kids stuff.  

Simply Exquisite

I have to admit when I saw the bug on the cover of Elise Broach's Masterpiece I was not excited.  Well add this to the list of examples of why you shouldn't judge a book by a cover.  Masterpiece was a delightful story. It was so fun to read!  I started the book and read the whole thing in one sitting.  It might have been the most I have enjoyed reading a book all summer. I seriously cannot recommend this book enough.

Masterpiece is the story of Marvin, a beetle, who lives with his family in a New York City apartment.  Marvin and his family coexist peacefully, well as peacefully as beetles can live with humans, with the Pompaday's-the family that lives in the apartment.  Meaning the beetles carefully avoid the humans and the humans don't notice the beetles.  That is until Marvin discovers his special talent which leads to Marvin being discovered by the human boy James.

This book is reminiscent of stories like Ralph S Mouse where one particularly observant child makes an unlikely animal friend.  At it's core Masterpiece is a story of friendship, but that makes it sound Masterpiece has drama and conflict and suspense and love and friendship-in other words all the elements of a simply exquisite story.
sappy.

One of my favorite parts of this book is that it challenges gender stereotypes.  I have talked a lot on this blog about how much I love a strong female lead, or a girl who can do anything, or science fiction mixed with princesses, and all of that is great.  But it is just as great to have a boy who isn't running around wildly being a boss.  It is great to highlight a boy who is quiet and careful.  A boy who is thoughtful and notices the little details.  Because just like all girls aren't little princesses just like all boys aren't little monsters.

Making a masterpiece...that's kids stuff.  

And the Chamber of Secrets

As I stated previously, I read all the Harry Potter books every summer.  For book one we played a need to do that ASAP.
little game.  For book two I would like to present my argument that Hermione Granger is the true hero of the series.  As with all my Harry Potter posts this will contain spoilers.  So if you have not yet read the books you

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Hermione is petrified.  In other words totally frozen and completely unable to communicate, yet she still has the key to solving the puzzle. Harry and Ron would have never been able to open the chamber without her.  She also brewed an incredibly complex potion, requiring skill well beyond a second year, and managed to stay top of her class even while in the hospital wing.   That's not even counting all the times she saved the day in book one.

I dare you to find a way Harry could have opened that chamber without Hermione's help.  Or for that matter, how he would have finished any of his homework without her (and homework is important-trust me, I'm a teacher).

Books and cleverness...that's kids stuff.  

Where do we go from here?

The hardest books to blog about are the ones that just felt average, the books that I didn't really have strong feelings about.  These weren't bad books by any stretch, they just weren't my favorites. These are the books that when I try to decide why I didn't love them, I can't really come up with an answer.

 Michael Buckley's The Sisters Grimm was one of these books.  I finished the book and thought, "ok, that was fine."  I definitely didn't waste my time reading it, but it's not a book I can rave about. Sabrina and Daphne Grimm have to go live with their grandmother (who they thought was dead) after the mysterious disappearance of their parents.  Things just get stranger from there.  Their grandmother makes food in all kinds of colors, she lives with the weirdest guy the sisters have ever met, and the house has a rather suspicious locked room they are forbidden to enter.

  The Sisters Grimm features a strong female lead, elements of fantasy, and a new twist on fairy tales(not a spoiler-you should read the name Grimm and automatically think fairy tales).  So why didn't I love it?

I think the book felt a little bit young.  The books I typically blog about here are geared towards 7-9th graders (ish, each reader is unique so I really really don't like assigning books a grade level), while this book felt better suited for 4th-5th graders.  Still, it was an engaging story and I would recommend it for anyone who likes the classic fairy tales but is looking for a bit more suspense.  This book is part of a series-The Fairy Tale Detectives- and I would be interested to see how the story develops.

Solving the mystery...that's kids stuff.  

Local History

I grew up in Southern Maryland.  It's only about 4 hours away from where I live now, a bit outside Philadelphia, but the history is very different.  By growing up so close to Washington D.C. I felt close to a lot of our nations history (something I am also lucky enough to feel living close to Philadelphia), the good and the not so good.  Readers of this blog will know I am not the biggest fan of non-fiction even though I am a big fan of history.

James Swanson's Chasing Lincoln's Killer is one of those books that changes my mind about non-fiction.  I'll be honest, part of the appeal is that I can picture many of the places described in the book.  I have been to the White House and the D.C. landmarks mentioned.  I have also been to the Dr. Mudd house and seen part of John Wilkes Booth's escape route.  But I think I would have liked this book even without the local connections.

One of my problems with non-fiction is that you already know what happens and the books often come off dry.  Swanson was able to keep you hooked on the story.  I couldn't put this book down, I had to know what happened next.  I already knew what happened to John Wilkes Booth, but that didn't matter.  Swanson's telling of the tale puts new life to that story.

As the title suggests Chasing Lincoln's Killer tells the story of John Wilkes Booth's escape and eventual capture (not a spoiler, this is an actual event that has already happened). What the title doesn't suggest is that it tells the story in such a way that the reader gets caught up in the drama of the situation and you have to keep reading because you just can't take the suspense.

This book was also an interesting story in how the reader responds to characters.  I am not a fan of John Wilkes Booth, what he did was atrocious and I believe our country would be better had Lincoln lived; however, he was the main character in this book and I almost found myself rooting for him.  No, not quite rooting, more like secretly wondering how long he could last.  I was fascinated by this character and I wanted to know more.  That is the sign of a great book.  I will definitely be recommending this book to students next year.

Learning your history...that's kids stuff.  

Let's Play a Game

Every summer I re-read all 7 Harry Potter books. No, that's not weird.  You re-watch favorite movies and even t.v. shows, why not re-read favorite books.  You see if a book was good enough to become your favorite it's probably worth re-reading.

The Harry Potter books are quite popular and as such they have been talked about quite a bit (even on this blog).  Therefore I'm going to do something a little different for this post.  A game, if you will. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is my favorite book in the series.  I think it's because everything is new.  A new world, new characters, new creatures it's all new and wonderful (and yes it's new and wonderful every time I read it).   So here's the game.  I have picked some quotes that introduce places or characters, in some cases it is a memorable quote said by the character.  You read the quote and guess the character or place.  

If you are a superfan this will be easy.  If you have only read the books once it may be a bit harder for you.  If you have only seen the movies, shame on you.  Hopefully this encourages you to read the books. 

Let's Play!

1. "Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross.  Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class."  

2. "...Had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up the next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him."  

3. "A giant of a man was standing in the doorway.  His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair." 

4. "'No post on Sundays,' he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers.." 

5. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves.  We could all have been killed- or worse, expelled.  Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." 

6. "Harry wished he had about eight more eyes.  He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once; the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping." [name the place]

7.  "We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat."  

8.  "Oh, you may not think I'm pretty, but don't judge on what you see..." 

9. "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks."  [double points if you can name both who says this and to whom it was said]

10.  "As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all -- the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them." 

Rereading old favorites..that's kids stuff.  

PS Answers will be posted in the comments in a weeks time.  If you want to know before that you'll just have to read the book.  

What Should I Read this Summer?

Well summer is officially underway and that begs the question, What should I read this summer?  Full disclosure I wanted to have a cool graphic to show you all but the end of the school year has been even crazier than usual and that didn't happen-there's always  next year.

Harry Potter: I re-read this every summer.  If you haven't read it, drop everything and do it now. I am currently in the middle of book one-be on the lookout for posts from each book.

Now that that's out of the way here is a grouping based on other books you may have read.  Many of these are series which  I think is the perfect fit for summer. Once I finish Harry Potter I will begin the 2016 Reading Olympics booklist and I'm willing to bet many of those will be awesome summer reads.  And remember any book is a good book.  (Picture this next sentence in my teacher voice).  Make sure you read this summer!!  Even just one book can make a difference!!!

If you liked Twilight try:

The Selection Series, Kiera Cass

Cinder, Marissa Meyer

If you liked The Hunger Games try:

Divergent, Veronica Roth

The Giver, Lois Lowry 

Artemis Fowl, Eion Colfer

Alex Rider, Anthony Horowitz 

Found, Margaret Peterson Haddix 

Among the Hidden, Margaret Peterson Haddix

The Maze Runner, James Dashner 

If you liked Hatchet try:

The Maze,  Will Hobbs

Call of the Klondike, David Meissner & Kim Richardson 

If you like realistic fiction try:

Waiting for Normal, Leslie Connor

Hope was Here, Joan Bauer

Smiles to Go, Jerry Spinelli 

Have a great summer read you didn't see here?  Post it in the comments.

Summer Reading that's not an assignment...that's kids stuff