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!

A Successful First Year of Book Club

All year long, students in 6th and 7th grades have been meeting about once a month to discuss the 7 Harry Potter books.

Book Club began in September and has meet faithfully each month to talk about events, characters, and developments in the Harry Potter books, as well as to recommend titles to others in the group. You can see all of our Book Club happenings by clicking on the Book Club tab at the top of the page or by clicking HERE.

For our last meeting, the Subway Restaurant in Adel graciously donated two, 3-foot party subs. We enjoyed talking about the final book in the series, discussing such topics as horcruxes, Rooms of Requirement, and the extension charm. A common response to "What is in your Room of Requirement?" was "bank vault," while one student said he wised he could have read his mother's mind (like Harry could see into Voldemort's mind) when he was grounded and had friends at his house so he could see when she was coming home. :)

7th Grade Book Club Members

6th Grade Book Club Members

Overall, a fun first year of Book Club! Hope to see you back at Book Club in the fall when we'll start a whole new round of reading!