Harry Potter

Full Name: Harry James Potter (fictional character)

Born: July 31, 1980, to James Potter and Lily Evans Potter (also fictional characters)

Eyes: brilliant green

Hair: black

Build: short and thin

Identifying marks: lightning-bolt scar on forehead

Hobbies: Quidditch, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Saving the [fictional] Wizarding World

Education: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – Gryffindor House Sept 1, 1991 – 1998 (Presumably)

For months there was this book tucked under one the workstations at the grocery store where I was a cashier. It was my understanding that the book had been lent to one of our foreign cashiers the previous summer by another cashier who only worked during the summer months. Both girls were long gone. The one back to Europe, the other back to her winter home. I left it alone until the day I could return it.

One day, the opportunity presented itself. Seeing the cashier’s husband I grabbed the book and instructed him to pass it on to his wife who would no doubt be missing it. I no longer had to worry about it anymore. Or did I? Just a few days later one of our local customers approached concerning a book he lent to one of our Slovak cashiers. I asked him if it was a jacket less maroon hardback, he said it was. Oops.

As it turned out, on a subsequent visit, the summer cashier who I had sent the book to, returned it too quite baffled about why I thought it was hers. Of course I explained everything and next time the customer came in I was able to deliver him his book. By this time I had noticed the title. It seemed this particular book had caused quite a stir in readers all across America.

The customer did not take the book when I gave it to him, instead he offered it to me to read. So the book went home with me that evening, and later that night, as I settled into my evening soak in the bathtub, I opened up for the first time and began to read. Despite that fact that I dislike adverbs with a passion even greater than that of Stephen King, I fell in love that night with the characters and situations portrayed in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

The book that started it all.

“A Delightful award-winning debut from the author who dances in the footsteps of P. L. Travers and Roald Dahl.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

That’s what is written on the back cover of a copy of the book at my local county library.

Well, I don’t know who those authors are the quote mentions, but I like the book. As I stated before, I fell in love the characters and the situations they find themselves in. If you haven’t read this book I suppose you have your reasons. If you don’t, check it out. It’s great for all ages and it’s an easy read. Most readers can read it in a single setting.

There are some boring parts here and there, but if you stick with it you’ll enjoy the ride.

Premise (from Scholastic Books):

Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility.

All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley-a great big swollen spoiled bully. Harry lives in a cupboard under the stairs, and he hasn’t had a birthday party in eleven years.

But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry-and anyone who reads about him-will find unforgettable.

For it’s there that he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, but a great destiny that’s been waiting for him… if Harry can survive the encounter.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Premise (from Scholastic Books):

The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he’s packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls’ bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley’s younger sister, Ginny.

But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone-or something-starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects…Harry Potter himself!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Premise (from Scholastic Books):

For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter’s defeat of You-Know-Who was Black’s downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, “He’s at Hogwarts… he’s at Hogwarts.”

Harry Potter isn’t safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Premise (from Scholastic Books):

It’s the pivotal fourth novel in the seven-part tale of Harry Potter’s 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 with Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys. He wants to dream about Cho Chang, his crush (and maybe do more than dream). 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. Unfortunately for Harry Potter, he’s not normal even by wizarding standards.

And in his case, different can be deadly.

Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix

This is my favorite Potter book, and the inspiration for creating a fan site. This book moves a lot smoother than the others with a lot less boring parts.  It took me tree weeks to read at the library (between other people checking it out) because I did not not want to check it out myself just to carry it around in my backpack (it’s a heavy book!) with all the other heavy things I have to tote.

I’m glad that Harry FINALLY started to turn his attention back to Ginny.  Those two were made for each other.  Go get her Harry!

Premise (from Scholastic Books):

There is a door at the end of a silent corridor. And it’s haunting Harry Potter’s dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?

Harry has a lot on his mind for this, his fifth year at Hogwarts: a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey; a big surprise on the Gryffindor Quidditch team; and the looming terror of the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams. But all these things pale next to the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named – a threat that neither the magical government nor the authorities at Hogwarts can stop.

As the grasp of darkness tightens, Harry must discover the true depth and strength of his friends, the importance of boundless loyalty, and the shocking price of unbearable sacrifice.

His fate depends on them all.

Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince

Premise (from Scholastic Books):

The war against Voldemort is not going well; even Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.

And yet . . .

As in all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate-and lose a few eyebrows in the process. The Weasley twins expand their business. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

So it’s the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here at Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort-and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.

The Movies:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Genres: Action/Adventure and Kids/Family
Running Time: 2 hr. 22 min.
Release Date: November 16, 2001 Nationwide.
MPAA Rating: PG for some scary moments and mild language.
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Richard Harris, John Cleese
Directed by: Chris Columbus
Produced by: Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan, Duncan Henderson
Premise (from Yahoo Movies):An adaptation of the first of J.K. Rowling’s popular children’s novels about Harry Potter, a boy who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and possesses unique magical powers of his own. He is summoned from his life as an unwanted child to become a student at Hogwarts, an English boarding school for wizards. There, he meets several friends who become his closest allies and help him discover the truth about his parents mysterious deaths at the hands of a powerful adversary.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Running Time: 2 hrs. 41 min.
Release Date: November 15, 2002.
MPAA Rating: PG for scary moments, some creature violence and extreme language.
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Kenneth Branagh, John Cleese, Rupert Grint, David Bradley
Directed by: Chris Columbus
Produced by: Michael Barnathan, David Barron, Chris Columbus
Premise (from Yahoo Movies):The follow-up to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone finds young wizard Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) facing new challenges during their second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as they try to discover a dark force that is terrorizing the school.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Running Time: 2 hrs. 19 min.
Release Date: June 4th, 2004.
MPAA Rating: PG for frightening moments, creature violence and mild language.
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis
Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron
Produced by: Chris Columbus, Mark Radcliffe, David Barron
Premise (from Yahoo Movies):Starting during the summer before Harry’s third year at Hogwarts, this is the adventure that happens when he has to go on the run after an incident where he was unable to control his anger… getting on a bus, he hears about Sirius Black, a renegade wizard who was a Prisoner at Azkaban. What Harry doesn’t suspect is that Black escaped to look for… him.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Genres: Action/Adventure, Kids/Family and Science Fiction/Fantasy
Running Time: 2 hrs. 30 min.
Release Date: November 18th, 2005.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith
Directed by: Mike Newell
Produced by: David Barron, David Heyman, Chris Columbus
Premise (from Yahoo Movies):In his fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry faces his greatest challenges and dangers yet. When he is selected under mysterious circumstances as a contestant in the Triwizard Tournament, Harry must compete against the best young wizards from schools all over Europe. But as he prepares, signs begin to point to the return of Lord Voldemort. Before long, Harry is playing not just for the Cup, but for his life.