Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I'm about 1/2 way done with this very long book, but who's complaining? Not me, this book is amazing. It is my favorite book so far, and it has a lot of suspense in it. I find this book very intriguing, the things that J.K. Rowling comes up with is amazing. I would never beable to up with this kind of stuff.

I think that one of J.K. Rowling's strengths is her ability to create imagery when conflict arises in the text. Since some things that happen in Harry Potter could never really happen in real life I though it would be hard to picture what is really happening, but since J.K. Rowling is such an amazing author I can picture exactly what is happening even at times when their is a complicated conflict(tongue twister) happening. "And then she reared, spreading her great, black, leathery wings at last, as wide as those of a small airplane-and Harry dived. Before the dragon knew what he had done, or where he had disapperared to, he was speeding toward the ground as fast as he could go, toward the eggs now unprotected by her clawed frount legs-he had taken his hands off his Firebolt-he had seized the golden egg-"(Rowling 356). When Harry is trying to get around a dragon, yes a dragon, it would be very eay to picture any number of things that could count as a dragon. Then you read this and you can picture exactly what the wings and front legs would look like, giving a perfect example of imagery during a conflict. It is also easy to picture what the dragon's reaction would look like. I picyure it as kind of confused and looking around for Harry as he dived for the golden egg. I think it is awesome how great detail J/K. Rolwing goes into even when it would be easy to let the reader picture the kind of dragon they want.

This is the dragon scene from the movie. I find it different than that of the book. In the book Harry taunts the dragon to fly, but in the movie the dragon goes after him right away. Also, in the book Harry knows that he is going to summon his firebolt when he gets into the dragon ring, but in the movie he doesn't realize when he is going to do until Hermione yells at him. There are other differences too, but those are the main ones. Even thought the book and movie are different I think that they both are fantastic.

Have you read the book and seen the movie? What differences did you notice?

It was my favorite Harry Potter movie, I wonder what the book will be like...

I'm about 100 pages in on the 4th Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This was my favorite movie so I wonder if it will be my favorite book too. 

This is the sysnopsis of the book form amazon:
Harry Potter is midway through his training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup. He wants to find out about the mysterious event that's supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn't happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. But unfortunately for Harry Potter, he's not normal - even by wizarding standards. And in his case, different can be deadly.

Draco Malfoy(aka Malfoy) is a minor character in the book, and he is also Harry's enemy. Malfoy helps evolve the plot because he is always against Harry, Ron, and Hermione forcing them to work harder to achieve their goals. Malfoy also tries to get Harry in trouble which often results in some sort of punishment for Harry and his friends.

If Malfoy was a bigger character in the book the plot would change because it would have to include more of what Malfoy does and how he is evil, because we all know he is. The plot would also change because instead of the good guy(Harry and his friends) always winning the bad guy(Malfoy) might win and actually change how the story goes.

Harry Potter and the Prisioner of Azkaban(Again)

This is my third blog post on this book, which is bad because that means I have been reading it for awhile (11 days to be exact).  I don't really know what to write about since it anymore. I guess I could say that the best thing about the book is the detail and wizardry, but I also think that the worst thing about the book is the wizardry (that's only if I had to choose a bad thing).

The detail that J.K. Rowling uses is amazing, it gives you a clear picture of what is going on even when it is stuff that could never happen in real life, such as: a flying car, a moving picture, a talking picture, flying on a broomstick, and (my favorite) playing Quidditch.  These things are all impossible, but with J.K. Rowling descriptions it feels like it is really happening to you or right next to you.  Also, the wizardy in the books is really cool. I think it would be really hard to come up with the different spells, demons, and wild creatures that J.K. Rowling comes up with. The wizardy allows you to imagine wild things that you know you wish would happen to you.

I would say that if anything is bad it would be all the wizardy because it makes it hard to relate to the book.  It's not like I can say, "Yeah! I remeber the time I caught the golden snitch!" Also, most of Harry's expierences deal with magic so it's practically impossible to find a text-to-world connection. Even though the book is not as relatable as some other books it is still really good. 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Ron, Hermione, and Harry deal with the situation of the dementor's and Sirius Black differently.  Ron is scared of the dementor's and of Sirius Black, he wants nothing to do with them and wants to stay as far away from them as possible. Hermione just wants everyone to be safe. Hermione says, "'Because I though-and Professor McGongall agrees with me-that the broom was probably sent to Harry by Sirius Black!'" (Rowling 232). This is said by Hermione when she tells Professor McGongall about Harry's new broom resulting in Professor McGongall taking Harry's broom to make sure it isn't jinxed.

Harry takes the situation very differently, he wants to prepare for the situation. Also, Harry is not afraid of Sirius, but is scared of the dementor's.  It says, "'Harry, if you don't want to continue, I will more than understand-' 'I do!' said Harry fiercely, stuffing the rest of the Chocolate Frog into his mouth. 'I've got to! What if the dementors turn up at our match against Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. If we lose this game we've lost the Quidditch Cup!'" (Rowling 239). Harry feels very strongly about preparing and being ready to defend himself unlike Ron and Hermione.  He also wants to do it for his team which is very generous thing to do. No one else is taking lessons in defending themselves so this is a very different approach then many other people.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

In chapter 5 of the third Harry Potter book, Harry and his friends are attacked by a dementor. When attacked Harry is the only one that has a major affect from the dementor. Harry asks Ron and Hermione what happens and then says, "'But didn't any of you-fall off you seats?' said Harry awkwardly. 'No,' said Ron, looking anxiously at Harry again....Harry didn't understand. He felt weak and shivery, as though he were recovering from a bad bout of flu; he also felt the beginnings of shame. Why had he goen to pieces like that, when no one else had?" (J.K. Rowling, 86).

I think this is the most important quite because it shows Harry's weakness to the dementors, and I don't think that will be the end of them. I think that Harry will have to face dementors and overcome what has happened to him, and that the dementors will play a bigger part in the story than they have so far.  The plot has started devolpign from that lien because there are dementors out side of Hogwarts and the nurse at Hogwarts is worried about it.  Also, the dementors come from Azkaban where Sirius Black has escaped and people believe he is after Harry.

Harry Potter

I have just started the Harry Potter series over winter break, which is crazy considering how long they have been out and how popular they are.  I now know what everyone is talking about when they say how amazing Harry Potter is. After finishing the first one I am obviously going to read the second one. I already have number 2, 3, 4.

J.K. Rowling built suspense by giving little details that add up to very interesting ideas and possibilities. She also puts twists and turns into the books by making you think someone did something when really it was someone else. In the first book she makes you believe that Professor Snape is trying to hurt Harry and steal the Sorcerer's Stone when really it was Professor Quirell who seemed innocent until the end of the book. The way suspense is built in the Harry Potter books works very well because you always want to find out more.

If your someone who hasn't read the books like me you should start reading them right away, they are as great as everyone says!

Along For The Ride-the end

After reading Along For The Ride I would like to describe how the main character, Auden, changed throughout the book. A little bit of info about Auden is that she just graduated high school and her parents got divorced when she was 16.  Before her parents got divorced they would fight after Auden went to bed and fell asleep so she got used to staying up very late and almost never sleeping. So two years later Auden still never sleeps at night and only focuses on schoolwork.  Auden was so focused on studies that she never hung out with her friends (they weren't really friends just people from her school) and never went to prom or homecoming. When Auden goes to her dad's for the summer many things change about her, mainly because of Eli.

"Maybe in the world of girls, this was supposed to be a turning point. When we saw beyond our initial differences, realized we had something in common after all, and became true friends. But that was a place I didn't know well, had never lived in, and had no interest in discovering, even as a tourist. So I took the checkbook, nodded, and walked out the door, leaving them-as I had so many other groups-to say whatever they would about me once I was gone."(Dessen, 56).  This is a great quote of how Auden had nothing to do with friendships and how she didn't want anything to do with them.  She was just someone who didn't put herself out there and really didn't want to. In the beginning of the quote Auden thinks that she really doesn't know much about the "girl world" for she didn't do that kind of stuff, later in the book this changes very much.

"Then I stood on my tip-toes, bring my lips to his....I smiled at him as I stepped back,then up on my pedals again....'So you don't want me to take you,' he said. 'No,' I replied. 'But I'll meet you there.'" (Dessen, 377).  This is a few pages before the end of the book, and when Eli asks her if she wants a ride he is talking about the fake prom night that is happening for the Summer Bash.  The pedals are pedals of a bike which is a big symbol in the book, and is in the title too.  You can see how Auden changed from being a very independent person to a more extroverted person, and it was mainly because of Eli.  To see what happens between Eli and Auden and how Auden changed so much read the book, its a great read.