"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.k. Rowling

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Harry Potter Half Blood Prince Trailer

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This is not a book review, but, gee, it's Harry Potter.

See my review of the "Half Blood Prince" and enjoy the trailer that just came out today!

I don't know about you, but, I am still looking forward to the movies even though the books are complete and we know all the answers.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by J. K. Rowling

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 5 Water Towers

Think of the fastest, tallest, roughest rollercoaster you have ever been on. Multiply that by ten and you may come close to the excitement in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”.

If you have not read Books 1 thru 6 do not read below

The final chapter of the Boy-Who-Lived is a rousing send-off of the Harry Potter saga. As Book 6 ended, Dumbledore had prepared Harry to strike out on his own to seek out the remaining horcruxes of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

In Book 7, Harry, Hermione and Ron receive the items left to them by Dumbledore. At first glance, they seem odd and not at all helpful. Ron received the “Deluminator” (this is the device that Dumbledore uses in previous books to turn off lights and then turn them back on). Hermione received a book of Wizard fairy tales written in “Runes” (being Muggle born and brought up, these stories are new to her), and Harry received the first “Snitch” he ever captured (in his mouth) at Hogwarts (when he breathed on it some very cryptic words appeared “I open on close””). But looks are deceiving. The importance of these items becomes apparent and the core plot of the "Deathly Hallows" hinges on them.

Minor Book 7 spoilers below

With much planning and little knowledge as to where the next horcurxes could be found, Harry, Ron, and Hermione set out on their adventure. And a harrowing adventure it turns out to be.

The Death Eaters and Voldey have taken over the Ministry of Magic and caused the deaths and imprisonment of numerous Muggles, Muggle Born, and Blood Traitors. People are fleeing for their lives. The mere mention of the name “Voldemort” instantly causes Death Eaters, or bands of renegades capturing people wanted for questioning, down upon them. To remain free, one must move constantly and not mention his name. Not unexpectedly, Harry is the #1 most wanted person.

I am not going to ruin the book, but, as page after page of pure terror unfolds; Harry, Ron, and Hermione are captured, escape, and nearly lose their lives several times. Harry is lucky to have both Hermione and Ron with him (at least most of the time). Herminone gets them out of scrape after scrape and Ron comes through when he is needed the most (after flaking in the beginning, then leaving, then coming back (thanks to the Deluminator) at just the right time).

The three-some have help from an unknown person with a silver Doe as a patronous, and many other people. Via their travels they find, and destroy, several more horcruxes (and learn what the Deathly Hallows are). The final battle at Hogwarts where, many of the characters who have been missing are still at school and now show up, is wild and disturbing.

I don’t know what J. K. Rowling meant when she said two main characters die. My count of “main” characters that we know, and love or loath, who perish exceeds TEN. So beware of the mounting death toll that starts almost right from the start. The bloodbath at Hogwarts claimed over 50 people from “Dumbledore’s Army”, the “Order of the Phoenix”, and students and teachers.

But in the end, the "Deathly Hallows" teaches us about the power of love and that we should respect everyone.

Many questions are answered, including: Is Snape good or bad?, Is Dumbledore really dead?, Why is Dumbedore’s hand burnt in Book 6?, Do Harry,Ron, or Hermione live or die?, What are the final horcruxes?, How can horcruxes be destroyed?, How tall are real giants?, How did R.A.B. get the locket?

This is a very satisfying book to finish the series.

The ending is complete, surprising, and scary. I’m glad I have finished it, so now I can relax.

Harry Potter News Flash

Tracy, CA, 12:01 AM, Saturday July 21, 2007

Harry Potter released to the public.

Braving a large crowd at Barnes & Noble Tracy intrepid Harry Potter fans are finally able to purchase the 7th and final book. Tonight all the secrets will be revealed as the epic journey of the boy wizard comes to an end.

Here are some pics of the festivities.

One of the Tracy Press Book Nook Authors above and below

Mugglenet.com's Emerson on Geraldo

The tension is mounting for the finale. Here is Emerson discussing with Geraldo what he thinks may happen in Book 7.

Harry Potter Month

Tonight we are going to go see "Order of the Phoenix". Should be exciting, but, the big event is next Friday when we will all be at Barnes & Noble in Tracy. My daughter is helping out, and I'll be taking pictures and reading.





Read these reviews to refresh your memory:





"Order of the Phoenix"



"Half Blood Prince"

“Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” by J.K Rowling

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 5 Water Towers

Book 6 (Half Blood Prince) starts off in the Prime Minister of England’s office as he is awaiting a call from the “wretched” President of a far distant land. But, that call is cancelled when the “Ministry of Magic” summoned an emergency meeting with the Prime Minister. Bad things are happening and the Muggles are feeling the effects of the escalating Wizard War. Innocent people are dying, hurricanes are blowing across the land, and a strange mist covers England resulting in a despair that cannot be broken.

The dark days have arrived.

Spoiler warning: If you have note yet read Books 1 through 5 do not read further

Harry, in the meantime, is again at 4 Privet Drive when he is summoned by Dumbledore to prepare to leave. This time, instead of going directly to the Weasley’s, Dumbledore takes Harry to help enlist the services of a retired Hogwarts teacher, Horace Slughorn, knowing Slughorn will be enamored by Harry Potter. The tactic works and “Professor” Slughorn agrees to come back to Hogwarts.

Dumbledore then takes Harry to the “Burrow” where Ron, Hermione, and Ginny are reunited. Once there, Harry finds out that, much to his happiness, that Fleur Delacour is there and that she and Bill Weasley are engaged to be married.

When the O.W.L.S. grades arrive, Hermione had all outstanding grades except one (naturally), and Ron and Harry were pretty equal. Neither of them, however, qualified for Snape’s Potions class which requires an outstanding to move on to N.E.W.T.S. (they only received Exceeds Expectations). This puts an end to Harry’s quest to become an Auror.

A day at Diagon Alley to purchase books, supplies, and a trip to Fred and George’s Joke Shop (that is thriving!) turns out to be even more productive than planned as Harry, Ron, and Hermione spot Draco Malfoy up to no good, and, after following him (under the invisibility cloak) and listening in, with extendable ears, on his conversation, Harry begins to suspect Draco may have become a Death Eater.

Once at Hogwarts….life was more or less normal except for Malfoy disappearing regularly from the building and otherwise acting differently. Harry has been named Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and realizes that he has attracted the attention of many young girls, most notably, fellow Gryffindor Romilda Vane. And all 6^th years are to learn how to apparate.

In their meeting with Professor McGonagall to decide what classes they will be attending this year, Harry and Ron are both surprised to find out that they can indeed attend Potions class since Professor Slughorn is now the teacher and he accepts an O.W.L.S. grade of Exceeds Expectations (Snape, as you may have guessed, has finally gotten his wish and is now the new DADA teacher).

But their first Potions class is before Harry and Ron can purchase books and supplies. So they borrow two old books. With luck, Harry gets one that once belonged to the “Half Blood Prince”. It turns out that the Half Blood Prince was tremendously accomplished at Potions and had scribbled instructions inside the book that put Harry at the head of his class (much to the chagrin of Hermione). The HBP also scribbled in hexes which Harry tried a few times, much to his chagrin.

As the story unfolds, Dumbledore and Harry use the Pensieve to learn more about Tom Riddle starting from his birth until the time he left Hogwarts as Lord Voldemort. According to Dumbledore, the more Harry understands about Tom (and his weaknesses) the more likely he will be able to defeat him when the final battle occurs.

During this learning process, Harry learns about the darkest of dark magic….Horcruxes. A horcrux is a way for a dark wizard to take part of his soul (by killing someone) and placing it in an object (living or inanimate). This renders the dark wizard immortal (as long as that part of his soul lives within, and can be recovered from, the horcrux). We learn that Tom Riddle is no ordinary dark wizard; he is extraordinary (“I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality”). He has managed, Dumbledore surmises, to split his soul into seven pieces, leaving Harry and Dumbledore the onerous task of finding these seven horcruxes.

But the path is a bit easier than expected.

As Dumbledore explains… the diary that almost killed Ginny was one horcrux, and Harry had already destroyed that. Then Dumbledore found and destroyed Riddle’s (actually Marvolo’s) ring which makes two horcruxes down. That means there are five more to go. With one part of his soul being Voldemort himself (and not really a horcrux), there are now four unknown horcruxes out and about that Harry must find in Book 7. The best guesses for these are: Nagini the snake, something from Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, the Slytherin locket, and the Hufflepuff cup.

Nearing the end of the school year, Malfoy finally succeeds in his assigned task which leads to a battle within Hogwarts between some members of the DA (Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Luna), Order of the Phoenix, and Death Eaters. In this battle one of our most beloved characters dies at the hand of a not so beloved character who’s mother happened to have the surname….Prince. Sorry, you will have to read the book to find out more.

The very sad ending of Book 6 (bring tissue) leaves the fate of Hogwarts up in the air but also clears the path for Harry (and eventually Ron and Hermione) to find and destroy the remaining four horcruxes and then meet, and once and for all, destroy Voldemort in the final FINAL battle, which only Harry can do.

Some web sites for more great Harry Potter information:

www.jkrowling.com

www.mugglenet.com

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" by J.K Rowling

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 5 Water Towers

I am getting ready for July 13 (or is it July 11th?), 2007 (the 5^th Harry Potter movie) and July 21, 2007 the 7^th, and last, Harry Potter book by re-reading Book 5 (Order of the Phoenix) and Book 6 (Half-Blood Prince). Both are outstanding earning 5 water towers each (in fact, give 5 water towers to every Harry Potter book).

Spoiler warning: If you have note yet read Books 1 through 4 do not read further

In the “Order of the Phoenix” we meet new characters and are re-introduced to some old friends (Lupin, Mad Eye Moody, Sirius, and others).

The new characters include:

• Auror Nymphadora Tonks who can change her hair color and style, and looks, depending on her mood or need.
• The slightly off key Luna Lovegood (a Ravenclaw) who’s Dad is the editor of “The Quibbler” (the equivalent to our Muggle publication “The Enquirer”).
• Kreacher the Black Family’s house elf living in Sirius’s mother’s house which is now the Order of the Phoenix headquarters. Kreacher is not loveable like Dobby.
• Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange who is Sirius’s evil, recently escaped from Azkaban, cousin.
• Dolores Jane Umbridge the evil Ministry of Magic representative who is Hogwarts new Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) teacher then becomes the “High Inquisitor” then, ultimately, Headmistress.
• And last but certainly not least, Grawp, Hagrid’s “little” brother.

The book opens with Harry again spending most of the summer at 4 Privet Drive. This year, however, Harry is the subject of ridicule by the Ministry of Magic and in the Wizarding press. Since the death of Cedric and the return (that only Harry is witness to) of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named the Ministry does not believe Harry, nor Dumbledore, and has set out to discredit Harry as a publicity seeking liar.

One summer night Harry goes out for a walk and meets up with his Muggle cousin Dudley and his gang of thugs. Harry and Dudley join up to argue on the way home when they are attacked by dementors. As he has done in the past, Harry manages to conjure up his patronus (a silver Stag) saving both he and Dudley from sure death.

Unfortunately, it is against the rules for a minor to practice magic when not in school, and especially bad when this is the second time it has happened and a Muggle is involved. Shortly after Harry and Dudders arrive home, an owl swoops in with a note expelling Harry from Hogwarts. But that is not the end. A flurry of owl activity ensues with the final outcome being that, with Dumbledore’s assistance, Harry will not be expelled immediately, but, will have to stand before a Ministry of Magic tribunal that will decide his fate.

Realizing that Harry is in mortal peril at the Dursley’s, a group of Aurors are sent to Privet Drive to escort Harry back to the headquarters of the “Order of the Phoenix” at 12 Grimmauld Place, London. There Harry, Ron, and Hermione are reunited along with Sirius, Buckbeak, and others. Eventually, the day of the hearing arrives and Harry is taken to the Ministry of Magic by Mr. Weasley. In the hearing, Dumbledore acts as Harry's attorney and with additional help from an eyewitness who is a Squib (Squibs can see dementors) Harry narrowly wins his case and is allowed to return to Hogwarts.

On the Hogwarts Express, new “Prefects” Hermione and Ron must ride separately from Harry. On this train ride Harry, Neville, and Ginny meet Luna Lovegood, who becomes a valuable friend.

As the story unfolds, Professor Umbridge shows her evil streak in many ways, Fred and George perfect and market new products for their joke shop (nose bleed & vomit pills, invisible hats, magical fireworks, etc), and Hermione suggests to Harry that he teach a practical class on Defense Against the Dark Art which is held, secretly, in the “Room of Requirement”. The students call themselves “Dumbledore’s Army”.

Snape has also been tagged by Dumbledore to teach Harry “occlumency” so Harry can learn how to block access to his mind by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The fact that the lessons in occlumency do not work leads to the climactic battle.

In that battle, several of Dumbledore’s Army (Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna) fight it out with Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has made it his goal to break into the Ministry of Magic to hear the complete prophecy (given by Sibyll Trelawney to Dumbledore before Harry was born) that links Harry with him. Unfortunately during the battle someone we all love dies and the prophecy is never heard. But Harry and friends come out stronger than ever (although quite beat up), and Dumbledore decides to tell Harry the entire prophecy after realizing that he should have done so years ago.

At 870 pages there is much-to-much to summarize properly. You will have to read it to enjoy the full depth and breadth of the story (the movie will leave a lot out). But, mark my words, the most fun comes when Professor Umbridge finally gets what is due to her (thanks to our intrepid hero Hermione…you go girl! ).

At the end of the book, the Ministry of Magic finally acknowledges the return of Lord VOLDEMORT and that Harry and Dumbledore were right all along.

J.K Rowling is amazing. It will be a sad day when Book 7 has been read and this magical series is behind us.

Some web sites for more great Harry Potter information:

www.jkrowling.com

www.mugglenet.com

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/