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books - article index
Writing
Made Them Rich #1: JK Rowling by: Michael Southon
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Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) -- by J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré;
Book Description
I say to you all, once again--in
the light of
Lord Voldemort’s return, we are
only as strong
as we are united, as weak as we
are divided.
Lord Voldemort’s gift for spreading
discord and
enmity is very great. We can fight
it only by showing
an equally strong bond of friendship
and trust.
So spoke Albus Dumbledore at the
end of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts. But as Harry enters his
fifth year at wizard school, it seems those bonds have never been more
sorely tested. Lord Voldemort’s rise has opened a rift in the wizarding
world between those who believe the truth about his return, and those who
prefer to believe it’s all madness and lies--just more trouble from Harry
Potter. |
Add to this a host of other worries
for Harry…
• A Defense Against the Dark Arts
teacher with a personality like poisoned honey
• A venomous, disgruntled house-elf
• Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor
Quidditch team
• And of course, what every student
dreads: end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams
…and you’d know what Harry faces
during the day. But at night it’s even worse, because then he dreams of
a single door in a silent corridor. And this door is somehow more terrifying
than every other nightmare combined.
In the richest installment yet of
J. K. Rowling’s seven-part story, Harry Potter confronts the unreliability
of the very government of the magical world, and the impotence of the authorities
at Hogwarts.
Despite this (or perhaps because
of it) Harry finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even
he knew; boundless loyalty and unbearable sacrifice.
Though thick runs the plot (as well
as the spine), readers will race through these pages, and leave Hogwarts,
like Harry, wishing only for the next train back.
Amazon.com : As
his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry approaches,
15-year-old Harry Potter is in full-blown adolescence, complete with regular
outbursts of rage, a nearly debilitating crush, and the blooming of a powerful
sense of rebellion. It's been yet another infuriating and boring summer
with the despicable Dursleys, this time with minimal contact from our hero's
non-Muggle friends from school. Harry is feeling especially edgy at the
lack of news from the magic world, wondering when the freshly revived evil
Lord Voldemort will strike. Returning to Hogwarts will be a relief... or
will it?
The fifth book in J.K. Rowling's
Harry Potter series follows the darkest year yet for our young wizard,
who finds himself knocked down a peg or three after the events of last
year. Somehow, over the summer, gossip (usually traced back to the magic
world's newspaper, the Daily Prophet) has turned Harry's tragic and heroic
encounter with Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament into an excuse to
ridicule and discount the teen. Even Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of
the school, has come under scrutiny by the Ministry of Magic, which refuses
to officially acknowledge the terrifying truth that Voldemort is back.
Enter a particularly loathsome new character: the toadlike and simpering
("hem, hem") Dolores Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the Minister of
Magic, who takes over the vacant position of Defense Against Dark Arts
teacher--and in no time manages to become the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts,
as well. Life isn't getting any easier for Harry Potter. With an overwhelming
course load as the fifth years prepare for their Ordinary Wizarding Levels
examinations (O.W.Ls), devastating changes in the Gryffindor Quidditch
team lineup, vivid dreams about long hallways and closed doors, and increasing
pain in his lightning-shaped scar, Harry's resilience is sorely tested.
Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix, more than any of the four previous novels in the series, is a
coming-of-age story. Harry faces the thorny transition into adulthood,
when adult heroes are revealed to be fallible, and matters that seemed
black-and-white suddenly come out in shades of gray. Gone is the wide-eyed
innocent, the whiz kid of Sorcerer's Stone. Here we have an adolescent
who's sometimes sullen, often confused (especially about girls), and always
self-questioning. Confronting death again, as well as a startling prophecy,
Harry ends his year at Hogwarts exhausted and pensive. Readers, on the
other hand, will be energized as they enter yet again the long waiting
period for the next title in the marvelous, magical series. (Ages 9 and
older) --Emilie Coulter
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Harry Potter Hardcover Box Set
with Leather Bookmark (Books 1-5)
Book Description
Includes Books 1-5 plus a collectible
leather bookmark (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and
the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire, & Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix). |
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone (Book 1)
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone" has reached a level of best-sellerdom never before achieved by a
children's novel in the United States--The New York Times, April 1, 1999.
If you haven't heard about this book, you've been asleep. Written for 8
to 12-year olds, "Harry Potter" appeals equally to adults. Who is Harry
Potter? Harry Potter is an old-fashioned hero. He learns that choices show
more of who one is than abilities. If you're looking for magic and adventure,
read this book. |
Amazon.com : Say you've
spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family
who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate you find yourself
surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather wand, and jellybeans
that come in every flavor, including strawberry, curry, grass, and sardine.
Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard yourself! This is
exactly what happens to young Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's enchanting,
funny debut novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In the nonmagic
human world--the world of "Muggles"--Harry is a nobody, treated like dirt
by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him when his parents were
killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of wizards, small, skinny
Harry is famous as a survivor of the wizard who tried to kill him. He is
left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, curiously refined
sensibilities, and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he's
quite, yes, altogether different from his aunt, uncle, and spoiled, piglike
cousin Dudley.
A mysterious letter, delivered by
the friendly giant Hagrid, wrenches Harry from his dreary, Muggle-ridden
existence: "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Of course, Uncle Vernon yells
most unpleasantly, "I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH
HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" Soon enough, however, Harry finds himself at Hogwarts
with his owl Hedwig... and that's where the real adventure--humorous, haunting,
and suspenseful--begins. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, first published
in England as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, continues to win
major awards in England. So far it has won the National Book Award, the
Smarties Prize, the Children's Book Award, and is short-listed for the
Carnegie Medal, the U.K. version of the Newbery Medal. This magical, gripping,
brilliant book--a future classic to be sure--will leave kids clamoring
for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban. (Ages 8 to 13) --Karin Snelson
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Harry Potter
and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)
by J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré
(Illustrator)
Book Description
In one of the most hotly anticipated
sequels in memory, J.K. Rowling takes up where she left with Harry's second
year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Old friends and
new torments abound, including a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts
the girl's bathroom, an outrageously conceited professor, Gilderoy Lockheart,
and a mysterious force that turns Hogwarts students to stone. |
Amazon.com: It's hard to
fall in love with an earnest, appealing young hero like Harry Potter and
then to watch helplessly as he steps into terrible danger! And in J.K.
Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the much anticipated
sequel to the award-winning Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, he is
in terrible danger indeed. As if it's not bad enough that after a long
summer with the horrid Dursleys he is thwarted in his attempts to hop the
train to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to begin his second
year. But when his only transportation option is a magical flying car,
it is just his luck to crash into a valuable (but clearly vexed) Whomping
Willow. Still, all this seems like a day in the park compared to what happens
that fall within the haunted halls of Hogwarts.
Chilling, malevolent voices whisper
from the walls only to Harry, and it seems certain that his classmate Draco
Malfoy is out to get him. Soon it's not just Harry who is worried about
survival, as dreadful things begin to happen at Hogwarts. The mysteriously
gleaming, foot-high words on the wall proclaim, "The Chamber of Secrets
Has Been Opened. Enemies of the Heir, Beware." But what exactly does it
mean? Harry, Hermione, and Ron do everything that is wizardly possible--including
risking their own lives--to solve this 50-year-old, seemingly deadly mystery.
This deliciously suspenseful novel is every bit as gripping, imaginative,
and creepy as the first; familiar student concerns--fierce rivalry, blush-inducing
crushes, pedantic professors--seamlessly intertwine with the bizarre, horrific,
fantastical, or just plain funny. Once again, Rowling writes with a combination
of wit, whimsy, and a touch of the macabre that will leave readers young
and old desperate for the next installment. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin
Snelson
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban (Book 3)
by J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré
(Illustrator)
Book Description
Running time: 11 hrs., 48 mins.
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 Azkban guards heard Black muttering
in his sleep, "He's at Hogwarts...he's at Hogwarts." |
Amazon.com: For most children,
summer vacation is something to look forward to. But not for our 13-year-old
hero, who's forced to spend his summers with an aunt, uncle, and cousin
who detest him. The third book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series catapults
into action when the young wizard "accidentally" causes the Dursleys' dreadful
visitor Aunt Marge to inflate like a monstrous balloon and drift up to
the ceiling. Fearing punishment from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon (and
from officials at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who strictly
forbid students to cast spells in the nonmagic world of Muggles), Harry
lunges out into the darkness with his heavy trunk and his owl Hedwig.
As it turns out, Harry isn't punished
at all for his errant wizardry. Instead he is mysteriously rescued from
his Muggle neighborhood and whisked off in a triple-decker, violently purple
bus to spend the remaining weeks of summer in a friendly inn called the
Leaky Cauldron. What Harry has to face as he begins his third year at Hogwarts
explains why the officials let him off easily. It seems that Sirius Black--an
escaped convict from the prison of Azkaban--is on the loose. Not only that,
but he's after Harry Potter. But why? And why do the Dementors, the guards
hired to protect him, chill Harry's very heart when others are unaffected?
Once again, Rowling has created a mystery that will have children and adults
cheering, not to mention standing in line for her next book. Fortunately,
there are four more in the works. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire (Book 4)
Book Description:
Harry Potter is midway through his 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. 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.
But unfortunately for Harry Potter, he's not normal - even by wizarding
standards. And in his case, different can be deadly. |
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,
J.K. Rowling offers up equal parts danger and delight--and any number of
dragons, house-elves, and death-defying challenges. Now 14, her orphan
hero has only two more weeks with his Muggle relatives before returning
to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Yet one night a vision harrowing
enough to make his lightning-bolt-shaped scar burn has Harry on edge and
contacting his godfather-in-hiding, Sirius Black. Happily, the prospect
of attending the season's premier sporting event, the Quidditch World Cup,
is enough to make Harry momentarily forget that Lord Voldemort and his
sinister familiars--the Death Eaters--are out for murder.
Readers, we will cast a giant invisibility
cloak over any more plot and reveal only that You-Know-Who is very much
after Harry and that this year there will be no Quidditch matches between
Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Instead, Hogwarts will
vie with two other magicians' schools, the stylish Beauxbatons and the
icy Durmstrang, in a Triwizard Tournament. Those chosen to compete will
undergo three supreme tests. Could Harry be one of the lucky contenders?
But Quidditch buffs need not go into
mourning: we get our share of this great game at the World Cup. Attempting
to go incognito as Muggles, 100,000 witches and wizards converge on a "nice
deserted moor." As ever, Rowling magicks up the details that make her world
so vivid, and so comic. Several spectators' tents, for instance, are entirely
unquotidian. One is a minipalace, complete with live peacocks; another
has three floors and multiple turrets. And the sports paraphernalia on
offer includes rosettes "squealing the names of the players" as well as
"tiny models of Firebolts that really flew, and collectible figures of
famous players, which strolled across the palm of your hand, preening themselves."
Needless to say, the two teams are decidedly different, down to their mascots.
Bulgaria is supported by the beautiful veela, who instantly enchant everyone--including
Ireland's supporters--over to their side. Until, that is, thousands of
tiny cheerleaders engage in some pyrotechnics of their own: "The leprechauns
had risen into the air again, and this time, they formed a giant hand,
which was making a very rude sign indeed at the veela across the field."
Long before her fourth installment
appeared, Rowling warned that it would be darker, and it's true that every
exhilaration is equaled by a moment that has us fearing for Harry's life,
the book's emotions running as deep as its dangers. Along the way, though,
she conjures up such new characters as Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, a Dark
Wizard catcher who may or may not be getting paranoid in his old age, and
Rita Skeeter, who beetles around Hogwarts in search of stories. (This Daily
Prophet scoop artist has a Quick-Quotes Quill that turns even the most
innocent assertion into tabloid innuendo.) And at her bedazzling close,
Rowling leaves several plot strands open, awaiting book 5. This fan is
ready to wager that the author herself is part veela--her pen her wand,
her commitment to her world complete. (Ages 9 and older) --Kerry Fried
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone (Widescreen Edition)
DVD features
Kids can try their skills at the
feats Harry performed in the movie with the puzzles and games included
on the second disc. They're set up as a tour of Diagon Alley and Hogwarts,
and contestants use the DVD remote control to pick the right wand, find
keys, mix potions correctly, see 360-degree views of various rooms, grab
a snitch, and solve other riddles to reach the Sorcerer's Stone. |
Amazon.com essential video
Here's an event movie that holds
up to being an event. This filmed version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone, adapted from the wildly popular book by J.K. Rowling, stunningly
brings to life Harry Potter's world of Hogwarts, the school for young witches
and wizards. The greatest strength of the film comes from its faithfulness
to the novel, and this new cinematic world is filled with all the details
of Rowling's imagination, thanks to exuberant sets, elaborate costumes,
clever makeup and visual effects, and a crème de la crème
cast, including Maggie Smith, Richard Harris, Alan Rickman, and more. Especially
fine is the interplay between Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his schoolmates
Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), as well as his protector,
the looming Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane). The second-half adventure--involving
the titular sorcerer's stone--doesn't translate perfectly from page to
screen, ultimately because of the film's fidelity to the novel; this is
a case of making a movie for the book's fans, as opposed to a transcending
film. Writer Steve Kloves and director Chris Columbus keep the spooks in
check, making this a true family film, and with its resourceful hero wide-eyed
and ready, one can't wait for Harry's return. Ages 8 and up. --Doug Thomas
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Writing Made Them Rich #1: JK
Rowling by: Michael Southon
Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born
in Chipping Sodbury, England in 1965. She began writing at the age
of 6 with a story called 'Rabbit', which she never finished.
In high school her favorite
subject was English. From High School, Rowling went to Exeter
University where she earned a degree in French.
After graduating, she spent a year
studying in Paris and then went back to London where she worked in a
number of jobs, including a year with Amnesty International and a
short time as secretary for a publishing company, where she was
responsible for sending out rejection slips.
In the summer of 1990, on a
delayed train from Manchester to London, she came up with the idea
of a boy who discovers he is a wizard. But it would be 7 years
before the idea became a book.
In that same year her mother died
of Multiple Sclerosis and she left for Portugal to teach English,
hoping to find a way to deal with her grief.
In October 1992 she married a
Portuguese television journalist, Jorge Arantes. But the marriage
lasted just eleven months.
In 1993 she left her husband and
returned to England, with the one legacy of her failed marriage - an
infant daughter named Jessica.
Her life suddenly took a
nose-dive. Fighting poverty and depression, she lived in a
mice-infested flat in Edinburgh and struggled to raise her baby
daughter on a welfare check of 70 pounds ($100) a week.
Unable to heat her flat, she sat
in cafés nursing an espresso for 2 hours at a time and worked
feverishly on the manuscript of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's
Stone' while her baby daughter slept in a pram.
The manuscript is said to have
been rejected by three British publishers - Penguin, Transworld and
HarperCollins.
But Bloomsbury Children's Books
did sign her up, reportedly paying £10,000 ($14,300) for the rights
to 'Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone'.
The Philosopher's Stone was
published on 30 June, 1997 and was an instant success.
The book was published under her
initials because her publisher feared that boys would be less likely
to read the book if they knew it was written by a woman.
At a book fair in Italy later that
year, Scholastic Books bought the American rights for $105,000, an
unheard of figure for a children's writer with only one book to her
name.
It was published in the States in
1998 with the title 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'.
The sequel - 'Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets' - was published in June of 1999 and later that
same year, the third book in the series was released, 'Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban'.
By the time her fourth book
appeared in 2000 - 'Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire' - the
series had become an international phenomenon: the initial print run
for her 4th book was 1.5 million copies in the UK and 3.8 million in
the US.
By 2000, JK Rowland had become the
highest-earning woman in Britain, with an income of more than £20.5
million ($29.3m) in the previous year.
In 2001 her annual earnings were
estimated at over £24m, ($34.3m) placing her between Madonna and
Paul McCartney in the ranks of high-earning celebrities.
In October 1998 Warner Brothers
bought the rights to 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' and its
sequel ('Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets'), for the tidy sum
of $700,000.
With the release of the first
Harry Potter film, J.K. Rowling's total earnings are estimated to
have exceeded $100 million.
In March 2001 she was awarded an
OBE (Order of the British Empire) by the Queen, for services to
children's literature.
(c) 2002 by Michael Southon
About The Author
Michael Southon has been writing
for the Internet for over 3 years. He has shown hundreds of
webmasters how to use this simple technique to get massive free
publicity and dramatically increase traffic and sales. Click here to
find out more:
http://www.ezine-writer.com
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