Scholastic Reveals 15th Anniversary Editions of Harry Potter Novels

It's all over Twitter!  Scholastic Publishing will be releasing new covers on each of the Harry Potter novels to commemorate the 15th anniversary!

Each title will be bound in covers illustrated by artist Kazu Kabuishi, illustrator of the graphic novel series Amulet.  Each cover will depict a scene from that particular novel.  According to Ellie Berger of Scholastic Trade Publishing, the new covers will be found on trade paperback editions only.  For tweens who've grown up watching the Harry Potter movies, it is expected and hoped that the new covers will entice a new readership. Hard covers and mass market editions of the Harry Potter series will maintain the original art as illustrated by Mary GrandPre.

New editions of Harry Potter will be released in the states September 2013. Scholastic also announced that it will release the first ever box set of the complete Hogwarts Library (Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Tales of Beedle the Bard) in November 2013.  Proceeds from The Hogwarts Library Collection sales will support two charities dear to J.K. Rowling: Lumos, whose goal is to end the institutionalization of children (founded by Rowling), and Comic Relief, a charity with the goal of ending world poverty.  

Harry Potter vs Twilight Open Discussion: Which do you miss more?

Now that I've seen the finale in the Twilight saga, I am content.  It is done.  For me there is no desire to see a continuation of the story, especially since the ending of Breaking Dawn II was, well, an ending.  Beautifully executed too.

If I were to compare Harry Potter with the Twilight saga, not the stories, mind you because there is no comparison between the two; but more a comparison of how I felt at their ending, I have to say I missed Harry Potter more when it was over.  

Harry and his friends grew up before our eyes on the big screen and the written page.  Could that be the appeal to a wide audience range? The fight between good and evil, werewolves, wicked warlocks and witches, bullying, family drama, and more was present throughout.  Some of which we could relate to.  The orphan taken in by an unloving family, a boy who never knew how special he truly was, appealed to us as humans.  The quarrels and bullying and crushes, all things we can relate to or are aware of in our own lives. The orphan boy overcomes it all and we loved it!  Throw in some magic and you have a formula for success.

Whereas Bella graduates from high school and from mortal life, embracing adulthood as a vampire, it was exciting to watch the struggles to get there and the trials conquered, not to mention the bad vampires.  The whole thing was a big toothy saga!  There were instances at school and with friends that would have drawn sympathies from the audience but they were brief.  Once Bella graduated and the last two books came to life on the big screen, the excitement escalated.  We cheered for vampires!  As unbelievable as that may be, we did!

You may compare the stories somewhat to better express how each one touched your life because it is the sum of the experience that leaves you with that feeling of loss/gain.  Now that the conclusion to both has come to pass, do you miss one more than the other?  Which one could you relate to more? Which young adult series spoke to you more and why?

Does The Night Circus Compare to Harry Potter? George Strombopolous Interviews Author Erin Morgenstern

A Tearful GoodBye to Harry Potter

"The Stories We Love Best Do Live In Us Forever"

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Author:  J.K. Rowling
Publisher:  Scholastic Press, a Division of Scholastic Inc.
Copyright: 1999
Pages: 341
ISBN  0-439-06486-4
Genre: Children's/YA/Fantasy
Source:  Personal Copy

From the publisher:  In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the summer after Harry’s first year at Hogwarts has been his worst summer ever… the Dursleys more distant and horrible than ever before. But just as he’s packing his bags to return to school, a creature named Dobby the house-elf announces that if Harry goes back to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.


And it turns out, Dobby is right.  Harry and Ron miss the Hogwarts Express, so they fly to school in a blue Ford Anglia, crash landing in the notorious Whomping Willow.  Soon other worries accumulate:  the outrageously stuck-up new professor Gilderoy Lockhart; a ghost named Moaning Myrtle, who haunts the girls' bathroom; the strange behaviour of Ron's little sister, Ginny Weasley; rumours about the 'Chamber of Secrets', a cavern buried deep below Hogwarts; and a magical diary owned by Tom Riddle, a Hogwarts student of long ago.

Harry is also shocked to discover that he can speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes - a rare ability that Lord Voldemort also possessed - and that anti-Muggle prejudice exists in the Wizarding world, even affecting Harry's friend Hermione.


But all of these seem like minor concerns when someone starts turning Hogwarts students to stone; an evildoer said to the be fearsome Heir of Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of the school.  Could it be Draco Malfoy, Harry's most poisonous rival?  Could it be Hagrid whose mysterious past is finally told?  Or could it be the one person everyone at Hogwarts most suspects:  Harry Potter himself?


My review:  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a re-read for me and as enjoyable again as it was first time round.  The story of the boy who could not be killed continues as Harry and his friends Hermione and Ron begin their second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Amidst warnings from Dobby the house elf that Harry must not return to Hogwarts, Harry returns to the school that feels more like a home than his home of the previous 11 years.  Then mysterious messages, voices only Harry can hear, and petrified people occur.  Something sinister is at work in Hogwarts.  Harry must find the culprit, not only to save his friends, but to clear his own name.


J.K. Rowling is a master story teller, whipping you right along, as pages fly; the story envelops you and before you know it, it is done.  There is no wonder that the Harry Potter series has become such a bestseller and the movies take over the box office as they are released.  Young and old alike find something within the story that they can relate to and Harry Potter's world of magic is the vehicle that takes you beyond the real world to a world where anything can happen and does.  Is there another writer that can compare?  I think not.  

Favourite Quote:  "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we really are, far more than our abilities." (Dumbledore speaking to Harry, page 333) 

Rated: 5/5

I am joining the Harry Potter Read Along 2011 at Giraffe Days.

Harry Potter Refresher

Here's everything you need to know, or a refresher, before going to see the last Harry Potter movie.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiered here in Canada this week, with the first public showing today at 12 am.  I haven't attended yet but hope to go next week.  In the meantime, here's that refresher:

Did you stand in line last night to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2?  If so, what is your reaction to the movie?  Did you love it?  Do you have mixed feelings about it being over?

Pottermore.com Are You Ready for This?

Are you ready for this?  Excited fans everywhere are anxiously awaiting the reveal of Pottermore by J.K.Rowling.  This site will be up and running in October so you, the reader, can join in the fun by participating to help tell the tale.  J.K.Rowling has some hidden information to be revealed on this site.  But only in October.

What is Pottermore?

Pottermore is a free website that builds an exciting online experience around the reading of the Harry Potter books.

Come back on 31st July to find out how you can get the chance to enter Pottermore early.  


Have you marked your calendar?

http://www.pottermore.com/

Harry Potter Reading Marathon!!!

I was reading Sheila's blog Book Journey, in particular her post about the Harry Potter exhibit, and was excited to read of Shannon's Harry Potter Reading Marathon 2011 on her new-to-me book blog, Giraffe Days.  It involves reading one Harry Potter book a month, beginning with the first in the series this month.  I signed up immediately!!  ;)  If you'd like to join in too, visit Giraffe Days.  Just comment with the appropriate post to join.


June's Read:

Canadian Cover

British Cover

Harry Potter's Conclusion Has Us On the Edge of Our Seats

Have you seen this trailer yet?  Sheila at Book Journey posted it last week and it was the first time I'd seen the trailer!  I cannot tell you how excited I am to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2!

Our Potter mania began some 10 years ago when I ordered Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone from the Scholastic book forms that came around to all the elementary school children.  I had not yet heard about Harry Potter but purchased on the basis of the cover alone. Harry Potter did not disappoint.  In fact, it tantalized.  Young minds everywhere, mine included, turned to books for the love of the young wizard and his misadventures.  The trial of good vs evil captured the imaginations of young readers and non-readers, spreading enchantments for books world-wide!  J.K. Rowling, thank you!!

My children hadn't been huge on reading, which I cannot figure out since we frequented the library often, participating in their summer reading programs and visiting the travelling Books on Wheels (a school bus designed to bring books into the neighborhoods all over the city).  Could it be that I instituted an evening reading time for everyone?   Or the time my three year old didn't get off the elevator in the library when her brothers and I did and rode alone to the top (third) floor.  We did quickly retrieve her and she was fine.  Do you think that could that have minimized the joy of reading (especially associated with a library)?  We kept going, riding the elevator with a mindful eye on the little princess and she was fine with it, even looked forward to it, so likely not.

For years though, I was the only one enthralled by books.  But, introduce the world of wizardry and witchcraft and voila!  Magic is born and she is an avid reader!!  The boys never did catch the Potter bug, but she and I did.  She, who is now an adult, has read each novel in the series a few times, so have I, and the mania continues.  We're even discussing attending the midnight premiere in July!!  Crazy?  Maybe a little but who can resist?  I just hope I don't fall asleep, given the hour, and start snoring!!  Oh, the horrors that'd be heard in the theatre, and I am not referring to the movie.  I'd never live it down!

J.K. Rowling Interview: The Final Chapter - contains spoilers

The final chapter, the last book in the great Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, will be in theatres July 15, 2011 in the USA and Canada.  Fans of Harry Potter will be sad to witness the end of what has been a magnificent journey through the adolescent years of Harry Potter and his friends Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and more.  To commemorate this event, I located an interview of J.K. Rowling on Dateline.  J.K. Rowling speaks of the writing process, fame, and saying goodbye to Harry.



In case you are wondering, the official trailer for part 2 hasn't been released yet.  There are some good mock ups on YouTube but I always prefer the real official trailer.  Keep your eyes open for it.  The DVD and BluRay of part 1 are now available in stores.