Zazoo

Texts:
Whale Talk- Chris Crutcher
Samurai's Garden- Gail Tsukiyama
Tuck Everlasting- Natalie Babbitt

Statement:
The poetry interspersed sheds valuable light onto the relationship between Zazoo and Grand-Pierre, especially because some of the poems were written only by G-P, some together, and some only by Z. We see through the poetry how Z has grown up and become separate, although obviously still attached, from G-P.

Question:
What is the significance of the Duchess (the wife of the Doubtful Duke) having, like Zazoo, a cat that decided not to roam? Zazoo's sad grey cat provides her with solace, but what is the purpose of introducing another cat? Does this personally affect Zazoo? Especially when it comes from someone so unexpected?

Zazoo

The Sound of Music by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse
Night by Elie Wiesel
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Statement:
I loved the style of writing that this book was written with. The imagery that Mr. Mosher uses keeps the book stimulating and highly visual.

Question:
Throughout the novel we deal with the theme of openness and truth. However I find that the taboos or what is kept hidden is switched from what people normally open up about. For example, Zazoo is comfortable and open expressing her thoughts on her "doudones" and sex with the male figures in her life, yet is hesitant to hear the stories of their past. Why would Mr. Mosher do this?


Ashley Haugen

Zazoo

Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf
The Castle of Crossed Destinies, by Italo Calvino
A House Like a Lotus, by Madeline L'Engle

I liked the variety of methods we are given to learn about Zazoo's life. Rather than feeling as though Zazoo was reciting her story to me in a linear fashion, different bits of her history were revealed as they came to mind. Readers learn about her life through her poetry, her thoughts, and her conversations with Marius, Uncle Felix, Grand-Pierre, and Juliette.

I have recently become critical of first-person narratives (wondering why this story is being told), and when I first started reading Zazoo, I didn't expect to like it for that reason. However, the story-telling felt natural. Did the variety of story-telling methods work for others? Would it have been stronger with a third-person limited or omniscient narrator? (I'm undecided.)

Becky Andert

Zazoo

Books:
Speak by L.H. Anderson
Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama

Question:
Is it strange at all that no person in the town takes special note of Zazoo's situation? I feel like with Grande Pierre's failing health, and she being only thirteen years old, that special precautions would be in line for her well being. I was surprised that not even Monsieur Klien did not even think of special arrangements for if Grande Pierre were to die.

Comment:
I really love that Zazoo is not extremely caught up in the drama most thirteen year olds are caught up in. She is still dealing with boys, fights with best friends, school and a grandfather with wavering health, but she is so very mature about it all. She still is more concerned with the beauty and poetry that surrounds her. She does not dwell on these things nearly as much as I did at that age and I admire her.

Zazoo

Books:
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia Maclachlan

Statement:

The weaving of poetic verse and history is alluring. It's fun to see historical fiction written for someone other than elementary school and adult audiences. Many teen fiction pieces are fantasy/science fiction or 'normal' drama in set in stereotypical high schools-Mosher's book is refreshing.

Question(s):

How far does Grand Pierre decline? What effect does Grand Pierre's declining condition have on Zazoo? She seems to cope well, but is there something she's hiding from the reader? Do Zazoo and Marius repair/continue/develop their relationship?

Zazoo

Related Texts:
The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Star Girl by Jerri Spinelli

Comment:
I felt like Mosher did an excellent job of re-telling history. I'm not that big of a history fan. When I read historical things, I usually don't comprehend anything I read. Zazoo kept my interest throughout the whole book. I actually enjoyed learning from this book. I think this book would be an excellent book to use in the classroom.

Question:
I really liked how Mosher arranged the chapters. Why did Mosher feel the need to arrange the book and chapters like this? Also, I had a hard time figuring out if the book was Zazoo's journal? At times it seemed like the book could be a journal, but at other times it feels like it is being narrated.

Holly Bohlen

Zazoo

The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter

The poetry and history in the story make it a really good addition to any classroom. The history is well researched and the inclusion of poetry makes the book very well rounded.

I really love how Mosher titled and formatted the chapters. The titles were all very mysterious and starting chapters in the middle of pages was definitely an original idea. Why did he choose to do it that way?

Paige

Zazoo

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Statement: I love how Zazoo is so free-spirited and does fun things that make me smile. Like right in the beginning when she was swimming by her little boat. Those precious moments make the book that much better.

Question: Grand Pierre was such a significance in this book. I often wondered how this book might have been written differently if he he wouldn't have started to lose his "mind." Would he have even more things to tell? More input to make in decisions?

-Alex Brakke

Zazoo

3 Texts:
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
Night by Elie Wiesel
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Question:
Why did the author decide to do the chapters the way he did, by starting them in the middle of pages, not on new pages?

Statement:
I really liked how the author brought in World War II from the French perspective in this book. In schools in America, kids usually only learn about WW II from the American perspective, or the Holocaust from Anne Frank.

Jessica Johnson

Zazoo

Related Texts:
1. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. A Step from Heaven by An Na

Question:
How did things end up for the characters? Did Grand Pierre's condition keep getting worse? Did Zazoo and Marius/Felix and Simone end up together?

Statement:
I really liked the relationship between Zazoo and Grand Pierre. He dropped everything to take care of her when she was a young child, and now she is returning the favor and taking care of him in his old age.

Amber

Cosmicomics

-The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen
-The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen
-Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me by Eric Carle

Comment: I enjoyed reading short stories. These reminded me of grown-up versions of fables. The into comments to each story on scientific law created realism to the mystical. My favorite was The Dinosaurs

Question: Is there any reason why The Form of Space and The Light Years didn't introduce Qfwfq within their first sentence (following the pattern of the other stories)?

Lynn

Zazoo

Related Texts
1. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
2. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
3. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Statement:
I really liked that all the characters in the novel were innately good people, but they all had flaws (like “the sour with the sweet”). This definitely makes the novel more realistic and applicable to adolescents.

Question:
This novel portrays heroism both positively and negatively. How will Zazoo influence readers’ definitions of a hero?

--Emily Allex

Zazoo

The Things They Carried- Tim O'brien
Number the Stars-Lois Lowry
Night- Elie Wiesel

I thought Mosher did a good job trying to capture the feeling of love for two generations at a time. It was interesting to see the beginning of a love story, as well as the end of another. However, Zazoo and Marius seemed way too mature for their age. Zazoo was only going on fourteen and she was handling her grandfather's declince with ease. It does send a good message to the readers though.

Was the oatmeal significant? I know why they had so much oatmeal, but why do you think Mosher chose oatmeal as a motif?

Kevin Matuseski

Zazoo

3 Texts-
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Anne Frank and Me by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Chreech

Statement-
I had a hard time staying with this book, I felt that it was not as exciting as I thought it would be (from reading the back of the book...). However, I did like the use of poetry and letters as means of communication, it seemed that Grand-Pierre and Zazoo could truthfully speak to each other through the use poetry.

Question-
Do you feel that adolescents could really relate to Zazoo and her mission to find the truth out about Grand-Pierre and Monsieur Klein? In other words, the whole idea of adolescents not knowing the whole story because adults try to hide things that they (the adults) see as too mature for the adolescents? Or do you feel that adolescents do not have that problem at the present times?

-Amy Culver

Zazoo

Books:
-To Kill A Mockingbird: Haper Lee
-The Last Silk Dress: Ann Rinaldi
-Walk Two Moons: Sharon Creech

Statement:
I really liked how there were so many different themes running throughout this novel and it really worked to make a complex story that would appeal to almost any reader. There were also aspects of each theme that I was able to relate to easily.

Question:
There is a constant theme of young love and the development of relationships. Does this appeal to young readers or do they see it as kind of unrealistic?

Ashley Martin

Zazoo

Related Texts:
Tangled Threads: A Hmong Girl's Story by Pegi Deitz Shea
The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi
Breaking Rank by Kristen Randle

I enjoyed how the reader is able to piece aspects of this novel together. Specific details mentioned through the retelling of history become reoccurring items later on. The pieces are slowly revealed as the complete picture is established.

Poetry is reoccurring throughout this text. It not only enables Zazoo and Grand Pierre to share their thoughts and feelings, but are eventually shared and impact each character. How do the themes within the poetry help shape this novel?

Sarah

Zazoo

-Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
-The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
-The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

Comment: This book has a lot going on within it (growing old, family, young love, war, death, etc), making it applicable to many adolescent's lives. I especially enjoyed the portrayal of war and taking the "sour with the sweet" in life. Every character had personal flaws and that made the story so much more real to me.

Question: Young love is a theme that we see throughout all of the main characters. As college readers, do we interpret this love to be true love? How might we get a different reading from this than someone the same age as Zazoo?

Lynn

Zazoo

3 books:
To Kill a Mokingbird by Harper Lee
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Chreech
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Question:
Characters communicate in many different ways in this text. They write poetry, letters, talk, and some characters choose not to speak to one another. Which do you feel is the most powerful form of communication in the text? Will adolescents relate to these forms of communication and learn which one works best for them?

Comments:
Zazoo writes about a gray in her poetry. It is unclear in the text who this gray cat is but in the last poem the reader finds out that the cat is Grand Pierre. The last stanza talks about how the the girl cat besides him, which is Zazoo, will always remember the times they shared together and that they will never be apart becuase he will always be in her heart. Grand Pierre is very important to Zazoo and that explains why the gray cat is an important symbol throughout the text.


Mary Ellen Korby

Harry Potter

The Power of Print in Harry Potter

One of the ever present and yet more secondary aspects of the Harry Potter series is the wizarding newspaper, The Daily Prophet, and the reporters who work for it such as Rita Skeeter. However, the stories printed in the Prophet, and the character of the journalists working for this paper, are often the greatest source of irritation for me when reading the books. It is not only the fact that the newspaper often prints articles that the reader knows are false or embellished, it is the fact that so many subscribers believe these stories that galls. For instance, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when the government and the newspaper have turned against Harry and write stories into which they occasionally slip in phrases like “a tale worthy of Harry Potter” and “let’s hope he [whoever is injured in the report] doesn’t have a scar on his forehead or we’ll be asked to worship him next.” These stories come out in which Harry is made to look like a villain because of an occurrence that happened when he was a baby and his parents were killed and he himself almost died, and people believe it. It’s hard to fathom anyone taking sides against a boy for something completely beyond his control and that took away the only family he would ever have, but never be able to know; and yet people do in the book.

Another particularly annoying aspect of the Prophet is a certain staff member on payroll there, Rita Skeeter. The reader of the HP series is first introduced to Skeeter in the fourth book when she is sent to Hogwarts to report on the Triwizard tournament. From the very start the reader is aware that her methods of obtaining her stories, as well as the content of the articles themselves are very suspect. Even as Rita is interviewing Harry for the first time both the reader and Harry read that her Quick-Quotes Quill is jotting down a tale far different than the one Harry is actually telling her. Even though the content of Rita Skeeter’s articles is quite suspect, her readers, even those who know Harry personally such as Mrs. Weasley, buy into her fabrications. But this particular habit of stretching the truth when it comes to Harry’s life is not the real reason that I loathe Rita Skeeter. No, it is her articles on Hagrid and Dumbledore in books four and seven respectively that make me boil with rage every time I see her name on the paper.

During the time that Rita Skeeter is at Hogwarts, she becomes friendly with the Slytherins who are only too willing to give her a story, even if it is false. For example, the piece Rita Skeeter writes about Hagrid being a terrifying and bloodthirsty half-giant teacher menacing his students has only two true facts in it. Hagrid is a half-giant and he teaches at Hogwarts. Other than that the story is completely ridiculous, as anyone who actually knows Hagrid can attest to the fact that he is a very kind and gentle person. Rita Skeeter displays the same bigotry and lack of decency towards Hagrid that Dolores Umbridge does in book five when she conducts her “evaluation” of him. I put the word evaluation in quotation marks because I really feel that Umbridge’s assessment of Hagrid’s teaching was merely an exercise of cruelty and prejudice against someone different than herself. In my mind, Rita Skeeter printing her article about Hagrid is no different than Umbridge, and they both make me sick when I read about them and their intolerant ways. Even knowing the fact that Rita Skeeter had to stop reporting for a time because Hermione threatened to tell the Ministry of Magic that she was an unregistered Animagus and that she wrote the article of Harry’s story about fighting Voldemort, I have no sympathy for her, especially when she takes advantage of the fact that the Ministry is fighting a battle against Voldemort and trying to prevent innocent people from dying to go back to reporting because she thinks that they won’t have time to worry about an unregistered Animagus. Rita Skeeter plays on the fact that the Ministry is too busy preventing more deaths from occurring to worry about her, which if you ask me, is pretty unconscionable of her. But then Rita Skeeter isn’t really decent person at all in my opinion. And The Daily Prophet flips back and forth so often between supporting Harry and calling him a liar that the reader shouldn’t put much stock in what it says, even if the sometimes misguided subscribers do in the text.

Harry Potter

Tom Butala
Eng 141
Downs-Miers
9 May 2008
Diversity in the Harry Potter Series
I 1About a week or so ago, a friend of mine sent me a link to an article written by science fiction author Orson Scott Card about Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. 2The article was a commentary on a lawsuit that Rowling and her associates are currently pursuing over a guidebook to Harry Potter that may or may not infringe on Rowling’s intellectual property, crossing the line between citation and plagiarism. 3Card is known to be a bit of card, and in his article he calls the lawsuit spurious, saying that if Rowling can sue over a guidebook, then he should be able to sue Rowling for writing a book about a young boy of extraordinary talent who engages in airborne competition, and defeats a foe that threatens the survival of the entire human race with the guidance of a legendary teacher, love, and a little help from his friends.
II 1My initial reaction was that Card was off his rocker, and was maybe a little bitter over the success of Rowling’s books compared to his own, but now that the flames have died down, I see that he actually missed a parallel between his Ender series and the Harry Potters. 2Both series deal with themes of diversity and tolerance. 3In Speaker for the Dead¸ the sequel to Ender’s Game, Valentine Wiggin has written a Hierarchy of Alienness that classifies the other on a scale that goes from resident of a foreign country to alien race that is completely unable to communicate with the human race. 4The three books that follow Ender’s Game are spent trying to determine whether humans are able to coexist with the “Piggy” and “Bugger” races.
III 1In Harry Potter, Rowling explores this topic in a much different way. 2Her villain, the dark wizard Lord Voldemort has an Adolf Hitler-like obsession with blood purity. 3In Rowling’s Wizarding World, there has been some amount of interbreeding with non-wizards (called muggles), which allows for magical ability to act like a bit like genes. 4Sometimes a person born into a magical family will not have magical powers, and on the flipside, a person with magical abilities can be born into a muggle family. This causes problems in the wizarding world, as some wizards, including Voldemort and his followers place a lot of emphasis on being pure-blooded and think that muggle-born and half-blood wizards are second-class citizens. 5Voldemort in particular thinks that these people should all be destroyed. 6These wizards also believe that any pure-blood family that interbreeds with muggles or non-human magical species are traitors, and worse than the muggle-born. 7This aspect of the story serves as a metaphor for race relationships in our own world.
IV 1Rowling takes this aspect further as she expands the series by introducing the reader to a number of non-human magical species. 2She introduces us to house elves, giants, centaurs, goblins, werewolves and many other groups. 3While the giants and centaurs seem to be allowed to exist like American Indians on reservations, house elves are very much a slave race. 4The mention of a Goblin Uprising also suggests that they are not as free as humans are.
V 1While much of the wizarding world objects to these creatures and species, it is shown that Hogwarts is a place free of prejudice based on blood-purity or and species. 2Headmaster Albus Dumbledore is shown giving teaching positions to a werewolf, a centaur, a half-giant. 3It is significant that these controversial persons are often more reliable and trustworthy than their human counterparts.

Harry Potter

Dimitri Diamanti
Precis. 5/9/08
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Muggles Vs. Wizards

I 1 One aspect of Harry Potter that has always annoyed me has been the wizarding world’s portrayal of muggles as sort of child like figures with quaint and illogical ways of doing things. 2 Especially with how easy everything seems to be for wizards. With a simple wave of the wand and some choice words just about anything seems possible. 3 There are of course exceptions to this rule of some of the more difficult spells and potions. 4 But really there is little or no thinking really involved. 5 This ignorance reminds me of human understanding when it was just skin deep, when we used to understand that things happened that if an object is thrown into the air it will come back down. 6 We knew enough to exist, and enough to make certain use of these laws but until fairly recently we never understood them much.

II 1 In Harry Potter I see almost no understanding of the nature of magic at all, it simply exists and that is good enough for the wizards. 2 You may say that it is possible that there is this knowledge and inquiry out there, that we just aren’t privy to it as readers. 3 The reason I think otherwise is that Harry, Ron, and Hermione have just spent six years in a facility that is supposed to be the magical equivalent to a world class boarding school. 4 Even in my public school with its underfunded classes, teachers on the verge of nervous breakdowns, and uninterested beauraucrates I was still being taught some rather complicated physics and chemistry. 5 I was still being explained Einstein’s theory of relativity and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. 6 And yet here in Hogwarts, this school of schools, still we hear not a whisper of why magic exists and what it is.

III 1 The wizards seem to have a convenient source of power, much like the sun, and yet they have no ‘why’. 2 I think this wizardly complacency is the true division between muggles and wizards and not actual magic ability. 3 Wizards seem to have blind power and muggles seem to have inquisitiveness. 4 In my mind the pearls of wisdom are a far loftier goal than merely the baubles of power. 5 And all the while wizards treat muggles as children, with somewhat intriguing but ultimately pointless ways of doing things. 6 As if they were somehow creating magic substitutes with technology. 7 Ironically if history has taught us anything, magic is humanities explanation for things we don’t comprehend. 8 And if this definition is at all accurate, I would say that the wizards who put their faith in that they don’t understand are the real fools.

Harry Potter comments

Throughout J.K. Rowling’s entertaining and enlightening series of wizardly adventures, the characters of the Harry Potter series develop into diverse and intriguing characters. Each individual character becomes more intelligent and interesting to follow as the series progresses, and they also develop deeply rooted relationships with each other. From the experimental and innovative first book to the dramatic finale in book seven, Rowling stretches her immense skill at character development to its limit.

Harry Potter, the protagonist and most developed character of the series undergoes immense changes both sociologically and physically. The first book shows Harry on his eleventh birthday, still living with the abusive Dursley family that houses him in a cupboard under the stairs. Harry is at this point in the series timid, shy, and submissive. Though he frequently argues with his Aunt and particularly his uncle, Harry has trouble standing up for himself. His solution to most of the problems he faces is simply to retreat to solitude. As he is faced with more and more complicated and dangerous situations, however, Harry becomes very assertive and confident in his abilities. By the end of the first novel, readers see Harry facing and overcoming traps set by the professors of Hogwarts. He uses his skills at flying to snatch a particularly wily key and eventually faces Voldemort himself. This effect is continued throughout the seven book series until Harry, now 17, can confidently duel Voldemort with the lives of all of his loved ones on the line.

Harry’s closest companions in the series are Ronald Weasly and Hermione Granger. Both of these characters also undergo significant change in each consequent book. Ron, the child of a wizarding family, is at first awestruck by Harry’s fame. Hermione, a muggle born, is less star-struck by Harry, but both she and Ron quickly attach to him. Together, the three make up a tight knit group of friends. At the beginning of the series, Ron and Hermione do not seem like complete characters when compared to Harry; neither of their back-stories are unfolded and their emotions seem one dimensional. Towards the middle of the series, Ron and Hermione are more emotional and individual characters. They start to have subplots of their own, like Ron’s extended argument with Harry in book four, and Hermione’s exploits with the time-turner in book three. By the end of the series, it does not seem like Harry is the center of the group, but more that three individual characters have met and become close friends.

Some characters remain undeveloped, even though readers slowly learn more about them. Sirius, for example, is a character that readers meet in book three. At first, readers know nothing about him. Slowly, his character is unfolded through brief scenes from his past and from personal experiences with Harry and the other characters. The character of Sirius remains undeveloped, though. At his death in book five, Sirius is still ruled by the fierce independence and rebelliousness that he always has been. His death is one example of a character that readers become more familiar with, but remains unchanged by Rowling as the series progresses.

The Harry Potter series has captured the attention of readers across the world. As each book is read by people of all ages across the globe, each reader can see the intricate unfolding of characters that Rowling does so well. Character development is one of Rowling’s strongest suits, and she plays it well in all seven of her epically famous novels. Without a doubt, the Harry Potter series will live long beyond the adolescent magic fad simply because it is the best written and most developed set of stories that the genre has seen in recent years.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words (comments on Harry Potter)

The problem that I have struggled with through the Harry Potter series has been only a small annoyance. For the most part, I have loved the series. Like many fans, I anxiously awaited the upcoming books and had discussions on end with others about where we predicted the story to be going. The process of analyzing the plot for hints toward future endeavors propelled me into a new dimension of enjoyment with the series. You see, I had become so invested in the characters that I felt that I somewhat knew them. If an action were to take place that I felt caused dissonance between the character I knew and what was happening in the book, I would try to find ways that Rolling could explain why things were the way they were and have it all make sense again.

Another very pleasurable thing about the stories were the multiple layers of conflict that appeared in each book. Not only could I follow the story of Harry and Voldemort but I could project hopes onto Neville, wonder when Ron and Hermione were finally going share their feelings for each other, ponder which side Snape was really on, cheer on Luna as she becomes accepted by others, and many other things.

My problem comes in, not with Rowlings writing, but with the illustrations to the US versions of the book. Unlike many readers, I can not bring myself to read chapter titles before I read a book. I sometimes will even stop reading the synopsis given on the back just because I feel saddened that some of the excitement is given away to me too easily. Many of the Harry Potter books contain images that overtly, in my eyes, tell the reader what is going to happen in crucial parts of the book. The best example of this would be found in The Prisoner of Azkaban. The cover includes Harry and Hermione riding on Buckbeak. When Buckbeak is introduced only Harry rides on the animal. Then the hippogriff is taken away until the very end of the book. This indicates that the animal will make a final appearance with Harry and Hermione saving the day. On the title page, Sirius Black is looking forlorn with Scabbers at the window. Scabbers’ identity or prerogatives are not questioned until the end of the book as well. This indicates to the reader that Sirius and Crookshanks may not be the only shady characters within the story. It also shows that Sirius and the rat have some sort of connection.

I understand that these books are targeted at children and that these pictures ease tension that might be built up. They aid in doing a literary analysis of the plot while in the process of reading the book by providing contextual hints. The pictures are also helpful, with a quick glance, to remind readers what has happened in previous books that they have read (much like reading the back cover’s synopsis). In other words, it works for some people, but not for me. I will purposely take the jacket covers off the books while I am in the process of reading them as well as skip over the title pages so that I can’t make premature assumptions of the book. This helps me to take in and enjoy to the fullest the written words of Rowling, instead of jumping to conclusions before I get through the first chapter.

-Lynn

Comments on Harry Potter

When I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, I thought Harry Potter was a real stand up individual: at the age of eleven, he went from being alone to having tightly knit group of friends, smashed the school Quidditch records, and fought off a troll. Oh, and he also defeated the world’s most powerful dark wizard. Not once during all the challenges Harry faced during his first year at Hogwarts did he say “I deserve this” or “I did this, isn’t that just fantastic!” All Harry wanted was to be accepted for who he is and to be left alone. After all, it can’t be easy to be born famous.

Later in the series, Harry hits his teenage years running with a full-on mood swing that lasts for far, far too long. This is especially noticeable in book #5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Starting almost immediately, Harry blames Ron and Hermione for his troubles. As the series progresses, Harry and his friends seem to have more and more fights. Harry becomes more self absorbed, saying that no one knows what it feels like to face Voldemort, and that he was cable of handling that threat by himself he has a right to be included in the meetings of the Order of the Phoenix.

This does not sound like the Harry Potter people around the world grow to love in The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets. That Harry would have accepted the fact that he was the only one who could have defeated Lord Voldemort and that it had to be done, hold the thanks. I suppose the fact that as the series progresses more and more pressure is put on Harry et al to save the wizarding and muggle worlds from evil, and that is why they are so on edge with each other. However, saving the world (or at least the inhabitants of Hogwarts) has been par for the course for Harry and his pals since the series started.

No one likes to read a book with an ornery main character; the Umbridges, the Malfoys, and the Voldemorts of a book are who we are supposed to cringe at, not the main character. After reading the first few chapters of The Order of the Phoenix, I was ready to choke Harry if he said he was entitled to something one more time. That is not how a likeable character acts.

Why do these mood swings and petty bickering bother me so much? Probably because that’s actually how normal teenagers put in abnormal situations would react. Rowling wrote about teenage angst, and she got it right.

Harry Potter and the Mystery of Magical Accidents

I am not easily annoyed with anything Harry Potter related.  In fact, my normal tendency is to defend any issue someone else has with it; however, one thing that I have always wanted answered more thoroughly is why some objects are easily fixed with a reparo charm and others are simply accepted as broken.

A few examples of this are when Harry's glasses are broken, when Ron's wand breaks,when Harry's broom is crushed by the Whomping Willow, and when Harry switches the appearance of Potions text books.  One of our first encounters with Hermione in the first book is when she repairs Harry's glasses on the Hogwarts Express.  They have been broken in half by Dudley and repaired with a slim piece of tape.  The charm works successfully here.  In the second book, Harry and Ron crash the magic flying car into the Whomping Willow.  In the process of getting beaten down by the tree and the impact of the car, Ron's wand breaks in half.  Here it is accepted that his wand is broken.  No one attempts to fix it.  In the third book, Harry's broom blows into the Whomping Willow as he falls from the sky as a result of a dementor attack.  Again, his broom is accepted as a broken object and he has to get a new one.  In book 6, Harry repairs the Half-Blood Princes Potions textbook to look like a new copy that he received from the publishers so that he can keep the helpful instructions that are helping achieve his outstanding marks in Potions.  He also uses a charm to damage the new copy.

All of these instances result in a broken object that is either fixed right away or accepted as broken and unfixable.  For a while I thought that the reason for this could be that objects that were created with the use of magic could not be repaired; however, I would consider the Potions text book a magical object.  Almost all of the books referred to in the series have magical qualities:  the screaming books in the restricted section, the diary of Tom Riddle, and the Monster book of Monsters.  It perplexes me how the Hogwarts students know this unspoken rule about the repair of magical objects, especially since several times throughout the series I get irritated with the characters when I thought the objects could be so easily repaired to only find out later that they couldn't.

Zazoo

Three Texts:
1)The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
2) East of the Mountains by David Guterson
3) Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Comment: I really enjoyed this book. I only picked it up twice and it was finished. The integration of Poetry with text was really interesting and I enjoyed it. With the writer's use of imagery and tone, I felt I could see everything that was happening in the novel. The poetry, however, I feel was probably my favorite part as well as discovering new things about the characters through the stories they told. I liked hearing a little more of her cat poem throughout the story instead of saying the whole poem at once, because it made it that much better at the end and pulled the whole story together.

Question: The idea of "the cat" was brought up many times in the book: Zazoo's lonely gray cat, the cat who left the Duchess, and the cat in the poem that Grand-Pierre wrote. What is Mosher's reasoning for making this idea of the cat so important in the novel? Is it the same cat, the ghost of Isabelle, watching over them all?

Age in Harry Potter-(precis)

One thing that intrigues me about the Harry Potter series is the extreme age difference of the characters. When Harry and his friends are accepted into Hogwarts they are 11 years old and their journey continues year by year until in the final novel they are 17. This didn’t bother me, because it was like they were growing up with me. By the time I started reading the books, I was about the same age as Harry and his friends.
The thing that did throw me off balance was when I realized the extreme age of the adult wizards in the series. The fact didn’t occur to me until I had reread the series a few times, but I now realize that the majority of the adult wizards are actually quite old. For example, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, we are introduced to the diary of Tom Riddle who was a student at Hogwarts the last time the Chamber of Secrets had been opened 50 years before the time during which the book takes place. Through the diary Riddle shows Harry how he captured the culprit and during this memory we discover that Dumbledore was already a teacher and already quite old. Since we don’t know exactly how old Dumbledore was, let’s say he had to be at least 18 to be a teacher and 50 years later he would be 68. We know Dumbledore was already older so when the second book takes place he was well over 70 and possibly older than 80. I don’t have any grandparents, but I know some people that age at my church and I can’t imagine any of them doing anything that Dumbledore did.
Also, from the second book, we discover that Tom Riddle becomes Voldemort and when he created the diary he was 16 years old. The episode in the Chamber takes place 50 years later making Voldemort about 66. Harry is 12 in book 2 meaning that Voldemort had tried to kill him 11 years earlier when he was roughly 55 years of age. I think this is the part that bothered me the most because my parents are 58 and 59 years old and I cannot picture either of them running around with a wand trying to kill babies.
This does make me think of the Disney movie The Sword in the Stone, with Merlin being ancient and Arthur being quite young, so maybe all experienced witches and wizards are supposed to be old. However, Merlin was from a different time period and his story isn’t being told as if he were alive today whereas the story of Harry and the others is only about 10 years older than the present time (Nearly-Headless Nick says he died on October 31, 1492, and celebrates his 500th death-day in book 2 which would mean it took place in about 1992 causing the series to end in roughly 1998). Was Rowling trying to play off of a Merlin theme with the character of Dumbledore or was it merely a coincidence that the two characters seem so alike? And why did she make the villain of the story so old?
Perhaps I’m over-reacting or perhaps I don’t understand this because I’m not a witch, but once I started thinking about this I couldn’t stop. It was very intriguing and a lot of fun attempting to figure out the ages of different characters at the time they performed different tasks. This just goes to show that you can learn something new every time you read a book, even if you have reread it many, many times.