New eBooks & Audiobooks

Recently we've added eBooks and audiobooks to our collection. You can find the always popular Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, as well as the entire Harry Potter series now in the catalog.

Brand new to the collection is also the audiobook and eBook for Kimberly Bradley's The War I Finally Won, the follow-up to The War that Saved My Life.

Not sure how to check out an eBook or audiobook, or you're looking for additional titles? Be sure to stop by the desk--we'd love to help!  

New Information from J.K. Rowling!

Earlier this week author J. K. Rowling shared some information that Harry Potter fans have long been considering: Where is the North American wizarding school?

According to writer Kelly West on the website CinemaBlend, here's what Rowling had to share about a North American wizarding school:

Specifics about the school weren't immediately clear--is the school in Canada or the United States?--but according to the Pottermore website, Rowling has new writings coming soon that perhaps make things clearer. (Not familiar with Pottermore? Check out an earlier post HERE.)

If you haven't been to Pottermore recently, all of the wizarding schools are now represented, complete with a map and short pieces about each of the schools.

You can read about Mahoutokoro, the smallest of the schools, located in Japan, or you could find out more about Uagadou, one of the African wizarding schools where students are notified by Dream Messengers if they are chosen to attend. Located in the Brazilian rain forest, Castelobruxo is known for their excellent exchange programs for European wizarding students. 

Other wizarding schools--Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts--are also represented on the website if you want to read more about these schools with which we're already a bit familiar. Keep an eye out for Ilvermorny, as Rowling will be adding new writings about the school soon!

HP & the Goblet of Fire Book Club Meeting

Book Club met again today, this time to talk about--and cast several different votes for!--Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

The focus of our conversation was three areas students voted on when they entered: the three triwizarding tournament challenges or tasks, new magic introduced in this book, and Harry's abilities as a wizard.

After an all-boys 6th grade Book Club vote, the coolest new magic was overwhelmingly decided to be the unforgivable curses; however, when the all-girl 7th grade Book Club met, aparating was closing the gap. Portkeys were considered new magic, as was the pensieve, but they each received very few, if any, votes. 

Students also voted on the most outrageous or challenging of the tournament tasks, and facing the dragons was the hands-down winner. The water task and maze both tied for second place. The dragons' unpredictability was most often cited as the reason why they were the most difficult task.

The final vote concerned Harry himself. Students voted 2-to-1 that Harry was a very lucky wizard versus a very talented wizard. Many noted, though, that he had to be a good wizard to have some of the lucky breaks that he did.

Join us at the end of the month when we'll be talking about book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Students also took time to recommend several different titles that we hadn't already talked about, many of them books in a series. Maybe you see one of your favorites on the list. 

Prisoner of Azkaban Book Club Meeting

Book Club met again today to talk about Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As students came in from lunch, we watched this short clip from the movie:

Our conversation centered on the new characters introduce in Book 3, like Professor Lupin (whose name could NOT be a coincidence, right?), the dementors, and Sirius Black. We also shared what form we believed our own patronuses might take. The most popular responses? Check out below:

Other patronus shapes included the phoenix, a griffin, bunnies, kitties, a rhino, and big cats like tigers and jaguars.

We wrapped up our conversation about the book with a little Harry Potter Would You Rather. . . game playing. The blue bars are from the 6th grade group while the red bars represent students from the 7th grade group:

Finally, we talked about books we've read recently and would recommend to others; the list appears below:

Book Club will meet again at least one time before spring break. Join us when we'll be talking about Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Book Club Meeting #2

Book Club met today during grade-level lunches to talk about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

This time, students were at tables where different prompts were placed, and each table began our discussion, maybe with some wandering along the way to talk about other parts of the book. We started with our favorite parts of the story.

Favorite parts included Harry & Ron in the Forbidden Forest to find Eragog, classes with Professor Lockhart, and the time in the Chamber of Secrets.

Another prompt that generated a lot of conversation was this one:

Hands down, the favorite new creature was the basilisk, but Dobby and Fawkes were also favorites of many.

After a few more prompts, students then had the opportunity to share their favorite recommendations of late:

Below are the titles students would recommend; almost all of these books are in our library, and some were even checked out as students left Book Club to head to their next classes.

The next Book Club meeting will be in late January when we will talk about Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Hope to see you then!

New Year, New Book Club!

Now that the first quarter is under our belts, it's time to start with Book Club again! Last year's group met to listen to and talk about Wonder, by R.J. Palacio.

The response to our first meeting was great! More than 50 6th graders attended during their lunch, and shortly afterwards, nearly 25 7th graders came to Book Club. This year, we're shifting to a more "book club" approach and reading through the seven books in the Harry Potter series. Book Club will meet again in November before Thanksgiving, and we'll be talking about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Harry Potter Stack of Books, thefantastique.com, date unknown

During today's meeting, we talked about how students can use Google Forms from the Library Main Page to make a book recommendation for purchase, and we also looked at the ebooks available through MackinVIA on the All Things Reading Symbaloo.

You can CLICK HERE to access this Symbaloo.

Just before they left, students made book recommendations--maybe you've read some of these? 

Didn't join us today? That's alright! Read HP #1 and come to our November meeting. We'd love to see you then!

Harry Potter Hump Day Online Games

Today's Harry Potter Hump Day post features all sorts of Harry Potter games from Surfing the Net with Kids' website. You can CLICK HERE to visit the site, and from there you can access any of the games shown below. Happy gaming!

Harry Potter Hump Day--Quiz Time!

Feeling like you know it all about the Harry Potter series? Willing to test that knowledge? :) The website HowStuffWorks has a great (if a little long) quiz to see if you're wise about wizards and wands.

To access the quiz, CLICK HERE to move through the multiple choice questions. Good luck!

Harry Potter Hump Day--J.K. Rowling's Planning

Ever wonder how writers plan their books? Or in the case of a series, how the writer plans the plot and character development over several books? J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, chose to use a good old-fashioned handwritten "spreadsheet" of sorts to plan The Order of the Phoenix.

In a post on OpenCulture's website, their article "How J. K. Rowling Plotted Harry Potter with a Hand-Drawn Spreadsheet," we learn that Rowling used this chart to map the action for Chapters 13 - 24 in Phoenix. (More happened in these chapters than you remember, huh?!) Some of the notes in the spreadsheet refer to these things:

Want to know more about Rowling's approach to writing Phoenix or how she outlines her books? CLICK HERE to check out this blog post from Endpaper to learn more.

Harry Potter Hump Day--The Spells

Within the Harry Potter books are dozens of wizarding spells. Some are repeated throughout the books, which makes it easier to remember them. (Think "Expelliarmus!") Others? Not so much! (Remember "Fianto Duri?")

A list of the spells can be found on the Harry Potter Wiki, where you can search in broad spell categories or even alphabetically.

Don't feel like reading? :) Why not check out this YouTube video of all of the spells/wand use in all of the movies?

Feeling like you need more Harry Potter? Check out the entire Harry Potter Wikispace or grab one of the books!

Featuring Pottermore on Harry Potter Hump Day (Eve)

It's Harry Potter Hump Day eve, but as you'll read later in this post, today is an exciting day for Harry Potter fans and the website Pottermore.

How can we have a Harry Potter Hump Day series and not feature Pottermore.com? For fans of the series, this is THE place to continue your involvement in the stories and lives of the characters.

What is Pottermore? Check this out:



And Vox.com has this to say about Pottermore:

According to the Pottermore website, users can "experience the Harry Potter stories like never before. . . . Learn more about the wizarding world as you discover exclusive new writing from [J.K. Rowling] herself. Explore key scenes from Harry's journey and begin your own." The bottom of the site includes a scrolling feature that explores many aspects of the books:

The site also includes a Pottermore Shop...

…and Pottermore Insider, the official blog for the site.

To access all of these things and more, users need to create a free account:

So why feature Pottermore today? Rowling has posted a new short story to Pottermore. According to Vox.com, Harry is now 34 years old, and readers can catch up on the lives of the main characters, as well as a few of the secondary characters.

Eager to find out more? Head over to Pottermore.com and sign up for a free account today!