Get Hooked on Books: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I read the Harry Potter series a while back. Because of this I am going to do a review of all 7 books at the same time so...

Publisher – Scholastic Press

Release Date – 1st: September 1999

Pages – 3,407 (keep in mind that this is all 7 books)

Series – Harrry Potter

Genre – Fantasy

Summary –

We first meet Harry as a baby flying from the sky on a magical motorcycle with a man “twice as tall as a normal man and nearly five times as wide.” We later get to know this man as Hagrid. Hagrid has snatched Harry up from a destroyed house and dead parents after Harry survived something no other human or animal has ever survived. Avada Kadavra is a spell meant to kill, but when a very evil wizard uses it against Harry somehow Harry survives with only a ligting bolt shaped scar to prove the encounter. Hagrid takes Harry to Harry’s aunt and uncle’s house. His aunt and uncle are not wizards like Harry and his parents and they despise the idea of having one live with them. While they agree to take Harry in they don’t tell him of his powers or reason for his scar – ever. Harry lives in a closet under the stairs for the first eleven years of his life until he gets a letter. Harry is invited to study at a magical school called Hogwarts. While atending Hogwarts Harry learns about spells and flying, which he is extrodinarily good at, along with his own past and that of his family. Harry forms strong friendships with Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasly and fights many horrid monsters. In this series Harry discovers his purpose. In doing all this Harry learns how to defeat “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” or Voldemort, as only Harry and Dumbledore, the headmaster, call the one who branded Harry with his famous scar.

Character Development–

You know that moment when you realize you can tell which of your family members is coming down the stairs just by the sound of their footsteps. Yeah, I can do that with the Harry Potter characters. I know the characters better than I know some of my friends, and while I am a pretty thorough reader that is not the reason why I know so much. Rowling does a fantastic job of developing her characters. From her descriptions of their physical apperance to highlighting her characters odd personalities I can’t imagine better descriptions. Part of the reason her characters are so well developed is that their personalitities allow for that. She has your generic roles, but she makes them better. For example Snape is just your average mean teacher right? Wrong. You never know who Snape is. Rowling paints Snape as confused about his loyalties, but in the end you find out that Snape always knew his place. But I’m not going to give that away, bwahahaha. Snape has his backstory and he is unlike anyone else I have ever read about. The same is true for every one of Rowling’s characters from Petunia Dursley to Fred Weasley. My only crtisism of the characters is that is you were to only read the first book (who does that??) the character development could leave something to be desired. This is one of those series that was always meant to be a series, so if you just read the first book it isn’t going to cut it.

Language usage–

Do I even have to talk about this? She makes up words that are now known around the world! What more can you ask for? Wait, hold on, something is coming in. Okay, a little birdy just informed me that she gives us more! She uses very educated real words as well. Below is a list of made up words that she uses.

Animagi – A person that can turn into an animal

Auror – Dark wizard catcher

Axminister – A magic carpet that holds 12 people

Azkaban – The wizard prison that is almost impossible to get out of

Basilisk – A deadly serpent with very destructive fangs

Beater - A Quidditch player who hits the bludgers toward the other team

Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans - Jelly beans that come in every flavor possible.

Bludger - A black Quidditch ball that flies around trying to knock the players off

their broomsticks.

Boggart - A creature that turns into what you fear most.

Broomstick - A broom that wizards and witches fly on. It is used for Quidditch.

Bubotuber – Bubotuber pus can cause large boils if it touches skin

Butter Beer - A fizzy and warm drink like hot chocolate.

Chamber of Secrets - The place in Hogwarts where the Basilisk lives.

Chaser - A Quidditch player who tosses the Quaffle back and forth with the other

Chaser as they try to score in the opposing teams goals.

Chocolate Frogs - Chocolate frog shaped candies that move as if they were real.

Dark Mark - A giant green skull composed of emerald stars with a snake sticking out

from its mouth.

Degnoming - The throwing of gnomes out of your garden.

Deletrius - The spell that diminishes Prior Incantato.

Dementor - Hooded figures who suck the happiness and soul out of people.

Diagon Alley - The alley that is behind the leaky cauldron. You buy your Hogwarts

supplies there.

Enervate - A spell that destroys the stun effect on anything.

Expelliarmus - A spell that disarms your opponent.

Eyelops Owl Emporium - Where wizards and witches buy their school owls.

Firebolt - The best broomstick in the world.

Floo powder - Magic dust that will take you to wherever you want to go

Forbidden forest - A forest in Hogwarts where students are not allowed unless given

instruction from a teacher.

Galleon - Wizard money

Golden Snitch - The gold Quidditch ball that is worth 150 points. The snitch, when

caught ends the game. The seekers, like Harry, try to get the snitch.

Grindylow - A sharp horned and silky green water creature.

Gringotts - The wizard bank, which is run by Goblins.

Gryffindor - It is one of the four houses in Hogwarts and symbolized by a lion. Harry

is in this house

Hippogriff - A half-eagle and half-horse animal that bites people who make fun of it.

Hogsmeade – A small shopping area near Hogwarts that you can go to when you are

a third year and up.

Hogwarts - The best wizarding school in the world and the one Harry attends.

Located outside of London

Hogwarts Express - The train to Hogwarts. You have to run between platforms 9 and

10 to get to it

Honeydukes - A candy shop in Hogsmeade.

Howler - A letter that is enchanted to yell when opened.

Hufflepuff - One of the four houses in Hogwarts symbolized by the badger.

Impervius - A spell that repels water.

Incendio - A fixing spell.

Jelly-legs – A spell that makes the person that it hits have wobbly legs.

Keeper - A Quidditch player who mans the goal for their team.

Knuts- A wizard coin

Kwikspell - A course to make you a better wizard

Leaky Cauldron - The shop that is in front of Diagon Alley.

Leg-Locker Curse - Locks the legs together until the counter curse is performed.

Lumos - The spell to light the tip of a wand.

Mandrake - A plant that makes a noise, which is fatal to humans.

Ministry of Magic – The head of all wizards

Morsmordre - A spell to make the Dark Mark appear.

Mudblood – A wizard with muggle parents

Muggle - Non-magic people

Nagini - A twelve-foot long snake that is Voldemort’s pet.

Nox - A spell to turn off the light coming from the tip of a wand.

Obliviate - A charm that updates your memory.

Olivanders – A wand store in Diagon Alley.

Parseltounge - The language of snakes. Some wizards can speak and understand it.

Platform 9 and ¾ - The platform where the Hogwarts Express boards

Prefect – Well-behaved students who are given a position in the ranks of the

Hogwarts rules system.

Prior Incantato - A spell that shows the last spell done with that wand.

Priori Incantatem- When two wands sharing a core from the same creature try to

battle but link with a golden line instead.

Polyjuice Potion – A potion that turns you into someone else for a limited amount of

time.

Quaffle - A Quidditch ball that is red. The chasers toss it around. If this ball is thrown

into the opposing teams goal the scoring team receives ten points.

Quidditch – A wizard sport that is played worldwide. The players fly around on

broomsticks and try to square using either the quaffle of the snitch

Quietus – A spell that makes your voice quieter.

Ravenclaw - One of the four Hogwarts houses symbolized by an eagle

Remembrall - A ball that lights up when you forget something that you need to do.

Reparo - A spell that fixes something broken.

Seeker - A Quidditch player who tries to catch the snitch.

Sickle - Wizard money

Slytherin - One of the four houses symbolized by a serpent

Sonorus - A spell to make your voice louder

Sorcerer's Stone – A stone that produces the elixir of life and alchemy

Squib - A wizard who isn't very good at magic

Ton-Tongue Toffee - Toffee invented by Fred and George that makes your tongue

swell.

Transfiguration - The transforming of one object into another.

Triwizard Tournament - A competition between the three major wizard schools in

Britain, Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. One person from each school

competes in magical contests for a prize of 1,000 Galleons.

Veela - Beautiful creatures who turn into ferocious birds when angry.

Whomping Willow - A tree that will snatch up anyone or anything that comes near

it.

Yew - A thirteen-inch wand.

Thanks to http://www.harrypotterfanclub.com/dictionary.htm#Top for the information

For a complete list of spells go to http://www.pojo.com/harrypotter/spelist.shtml

Idea–

A magical school that serves magical students. A boy that goes to that school much to the dissapointment of his aunt and uncle even though it is his dead parent’s alma mater. That same boy trying to defeat the world’s darkest and possibly most powerful wizard. Who comes up with this stuff? J.K. Rowling, apparently. Harry Potter is one of the craziest, best, and most original stories I have ever read. I’m not one for very much fantasy, but Harry Potter got me. It was so out-of-this-world that it almost seemed science fiction at time. I loved the different characters and fun spells. I don’t think there is one person (under the age of eleven) who was not disappointed when their Hogwarts letter didn’t come. The story is fun, relatable and overall great. I envy Rowling for being able to come up with such great ideas! Well, I envy her for that and the gobs of money she makes. Harry Potter is such a great book with a great idea to boot.

Overall –

Overall, it’s Harry Potter. I mean that really speaks for it self. Harry Potter is the most succesful film franchise EVER. It has made billions. It is nearly impossible to find somebody over the age of 10 in America who hasn’t read or at least seen Harry Potter. Harry and his friends are both loveable and unique. The story is, in many people’s opinion, the bet book ever. Harry Potter is a must-read for anyone anywhere.

What I thought –

I love Harry Potter. It is one of my favorite books. I feel like I am the most like Hermoine and that makes the book more fun for me. If I could re-read Harry Potter all the time, I would. One of my favorite parts of the series is the epilogue. Rowling wraps up the series so perfectly. I know that if you haven’t started them yet that is a long way ahead, but it’s something to motivate you (if you need motivation, which I doubt.)

Difficulty –

I read this series when I was in 2^nd grade. I think that as long as you are in 3^rd grade you should be good. Even some 1^st and 2^nd graders may be able to read it. It is a pretty simple read and as long as you have a dictionary handy it’ll be fine.

Length –

The length depends on the book. The first and second books are in the 200’s. The 3^rd is in the 300’s. The 4^th, 6^th, and 7^th are in the 600’s and the longest, the 5^th is 766 pages long. Some of these books may seem like they would take a long tome to read, but you will whip through them before you can say, “Oh my gosh! Harry Potter is amazing!”

Who should read it –

Everyone. That is all.

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