| Booktalk
#1
Harry
Potter is looking forward to his third year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry. Summer holiday with his aunt and uncle had been as unpleasant
as always. He had been successful at staying out of their way so he was
able to do some studying this year. When Aunt Marge comes for a visit,
Harry is desperate. Aunt Marge never lets up on Harry. She's always telling
him how awful he is and how he always messes up. When Harry can't stand
it anymore, he goes against the rules and uses witchcraft on her. Believing
he will be expelled from school, Harry runs away from home. He is picked
up by Knight's Bus which brings him to London. Everyone on Daigon's Alley
is being especially nice to Harry. Even the Minister of Magic has a special
interest in Harry. Not only is Harry not expelled, he is being treated
like a prince. What is going on? What awaits Harry this year at Hogwarts?
Could all this fuss have something to do with the escaped convict Sirius
Black? Or even the mysterious Grim that Harry has spotted. Spend another
year with Harry, Hermione and Ron to find out all about the PRISONER OF
AZKABAN.
Booktalk #2
My name
is Hermione Grainger, a brilliant student at Hogwarts, a famous wizardry
and witchcraft school for 3 years. My best friends are Ron Weasley and
Harry Potter. Harry is the most interesting person I've ever met. He grew
up with his atrocious muggle aunt and uncle, because his wizard parents
were killed by a former evil Great Wizard who is not to be named. About
3 years ago, Harry got a letter from Hogwarts telling him he had to go
to school there. Harry found out that his parents were wizards and that
they also went to Hogwarts so he pleaded with his cruel uncle and was finally
able to go. He got on the train to Hogwarts and met Ron Weasley and me!
He's always getting into trouble though... Last year we got into the Chamber
of Secrets and the year before that we got the Sorcerer's Stone! This year
who knows what kind of trouble we'll get into?! A lot of strange things
have been happening lately. The weirdest so far was when Harry got a mysterious
Christmas present with a card that had no name on it. The weird thing is
that no one WE know has the money to buy what he got. AND to top it all
off, Sirius Black who was Harry's late father's best friend is a mass murderer,
or so people think. He was jailed in Azkaban where the most dangerous criminals
go. The guards there suck all the joy out of you and people go crazy. No
one has ever escaped the prison but Sirius has! AND he's out to get Harry,
and it's rumored that he wants to murder Harry. Harry wants to find this
Sirius Black character and get back at him for exposing his parents' secrets.
The secrets that caused his parents' death. BUT did Sirius Black really
expose the secrets? Does Harry end up finding Sirius? Find out by reading
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by J. K. Rowling. (Natalie C.,
8th grade student, Rundlett Middle School, Concord, New Hampshire)
Booktalk #3
Defeater
of you know who, that's my best friend Harry Potter, a hero before he could
talk. We have lots of adventures together, along with our friend Hermione.
Hermione's the smart one, Harry the famous one and me, well, I'm just Ron.
Ron Weasley to be exact. This story begins at our third year at Hogwarts.
The Hogwarts' professors had been acting peculiar. They knew something
that we didn't but were soon to find out. You-know-who's faithful servant
had escaped form Azkaban, the world's most famous prison and was after
Harry. What does the teacher find in Harry's cup? Is it danger? Is it death?
Will the great Harry Potter live to tell his story? To find out, read HARRY
POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. (Corrine S., 8th grade student, Rundlett
Middle School, Concord, New Hampshire)
Booktalk #4
This
is the third book in the Harry Potter series, PRISONER OF AZKABAN, by J.K.
Rowling. When Sirius Black escapes from the Azkaban Prison, which
no one has ever done before, everyone thinks he is out to kill the wizard's
hero, Harry Potter. Muttering the words, "He's at Hogwarts", people
assume this follower of Lord Voldemort is after Harry himself! Harry
doesn't know exactly what is going on, but everyone is acting so weird
and so protective, that he know something is fishy. When the mean,
lifeless dementors start to surround his Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry, and the palm reader tells him his life is about to end, rumors
start to fly about Sirius Black being at the school, searching for Harry!
(Read bottom of p. 178 to top of 179) Is it really true? Will
Harry ever meet face to face with the man who supposedly killed his parents?
Or are the rumors just someone else trying to scare Harry away from his
favorite place in the world, Hogwarts? Find out when you read HARRY
POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, by J. K. Rowling. (Lani Y., 8th
grade student, Rundlett Middle School, Concord, New Hampshire)
Booktalk #5
Ask students
to name the most entertaining city they have ever been to. Ask what
made that city/town special. Let several respond. Then ask who they
went with, which will lead into familyrelationships. Which family
member would they not like to go with and why? What qualities make
for trust in a family? If you had to go with friends, who would it
be and why pick that particular one? After discussion, introduce the third
book in the Harry Potter series, and tell them that more sinister characters
are introduced and a new town full of very magical things is also in the
book. ("Naomi Bates" <mira93@yahoo.com>)
Booktalk #6
After spending a lonely summer
being ignored by his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Cousin Dudley, Harry
Potter can hardly wait to begin his third year at Hogwarts. But, in a moment
of uncontrolled desperation Potter finds himself alone on the streets of
London. How will he get to Hogwarts? Will the Hogwarts Express leave from
platform 9 _ without him again like last year? And why does he keep seeing
a big black dog with wide gleaming eyes?
The captivating adventures
of Harry Potter and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley continue
in J.K Rowling’s third installment of the Harry Potter series. Yet even
under the watchful eyes of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’s
Headmaster Professor Dumbledore, Hagrid the Keeper of the Grounds and Keys
and new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, and the tired, dowdy, gray faced
Professor Lupin the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Potter appears
to be in grave danger. The heir apparent to You-Know-Who, Dark Lord-Voldemort,
has escaped the dreaded fortress of Azkaban. Convicted of killing wizards
and muggles alike, this infamous escapee is now actively seeking out Harry
Potter, and the Dementors otherwise known as Death Eaters are actively
seeking out him, Sirius Black. Professor Snape the Potions Teacher is fuming
mad he didn’t get the Defense Against the Dark Arts post and Potter’s new
Divination teacher Professor Trelawney keeps "seeing" his death. Is Harry
Potter safe within the protected walls of Hogwarts, the place he considers
home? No, because there is a traitor lurking in the corridors and secret
hiding places around the castle and grounds!
Old friends and teachers appear
to not be themselves, spells are woven, death omens are wearily averted,
slimy Slytherins continue their despise for Harry, and gut-wrenching fast-flying
Quidditch games are played on the finest broomstick now available, "The
Firebolt!" Year three at Hogwarts casts the most exciting, endearing, and
enchanting school term yet for Harry Potter!
Karen Kargel (Colorado
Blue Spruce Children's Award)
Booktalk #7
Harry hated summers more than
anything. He had to live with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and his awful,
multi-chinned cousin Dudley. Although Harry attended the Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft & Wizardry, during the summers the Dursleys locked up
his spellbooks, wand and broomstick and forbade him to do anything connected
with magic. The summer after his 2nd year had caused Harry no end of trouble.
Professor Snape, Harry's least favorite Professor, had given Harry a lot
of homework to be done over the summer. One assignment was to write an
essay on Witch Burning in the 14th century Was Completely Pointless. So,
one weekend, Harry retrieved his spell books, quill & parchment so
that he could work on his homework at night under the covers where none
of the Dursleys would know.
That summer, Aunt Marjorie
was going to be paying another of her not so happy (for Harry) visit to
the Dursleys, so Uncle Vernon laid out some rules for Harry about her stay.
She had been told that Harry was a student at the Brutus Secure Center
for Incurably Criminal Boys. Harry agreed to go along, but only if Uncle
Vernon would sign Harry's permission slip to visit Hogmeade on certain
weekends when he was at Hogwarts.
Aunt 'Marge' was a large, beefy,
purple-faced woman who doted on her little "Dudders." Dudley was a perfect
match for her as he had spent the entire summer eating and watching T.V.
One of Aunt Marge's favorite activities was comparing Dudley to the skinny,
rotten (to her) Harry. Finally, on the last night of her visit, Aunt Marge
began talking about how awful Harry's mother and father had been. Harry
kept getting madder and madder until suddenly Marge stopped talking and
started to bulge and float up toward the ceiling. Before anyone could stop
him, Harry ran to the locked cupboard, opened the door (magically), grabbed
his trunk, ran upstairs, threw his books and wands in the trunk and ran
out into the street. What a fix! Harry had just done some serious magic...not
allowed to students outside of Hogwarts...and he was certain to be expelled.
Where could he go?!
Then, he felt something watching
him from the shadows. Something big and black with gleaming eyes. Just
as Harry fell over his trunk in surprise, a triple-decker bus appeared
out of thin air. Harry boarded the bus and headed to London. On the way,
he picked up a newspaper and read about the most infamous prisoner ever
to be held at the Azkaban Fortress, one Sirius Black who had murdered 13
people in the Muggle world with a single curse. Black was a supporter of
"you know who (Lord Voldemort)." (It was a magical bus after all.)
When Harry got off the bus
at Diagon Alley, he ran smack into the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.
Rather than expelling Harry, the minister told Harry that the Reversal
Department had been dispatched to puncture Aunt Marge and modify her memory.
Harry was allowed to spend the last 2 weeks of vacation at the Leaky Cauldron.
Harry couldn't believe it!! He wasn't going to even be punished! Why?!
Regardless, he thoroughly enjoyed his two weeks of freedom from the Dursleys.
The day before the return to Hogwarts, Harry ran into Ron Weasley and Hermione
Granger and had a lovely dinner with all the Weasleys.
In bed that night, Harry heard
Ron's parents arguing over why Cornelius Fudge had not warned Harry about
Sirius Black and his pursuit of Harry. Apparently, Black believed that
"you know who" would come to power again if Harry were dead. Would Harry
live through his 3rd year at Hogwarts despite the Prisoner of Azkaban?
Marilyn Bunker (Colorado
Blue Spruce Children's Award)
Booktalk #8
This is the third of the Harry
Potter books and the best one so far. In the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry
gets a big sign at the beginning of the year that he might not make it
home for the summer. Srange things start happening at Hogwarts more than
usual. This year Voldemort is on the return and Harry finds out a secret
about Azkaban and his family. Will Harry figure out what's going on in
time or will he not see the end of the year? Find out and read this wonderful
book of magic, fun, and danger. (Matthew, student, Musselman Middle
School. Bunker Hill, WV dbjenkin@access.k12.wv.us)
Booktalk #9
I think this book was the best
book she has written yet. It has a great opening pretty good ending.
If you want to read a book that is enjoyable interesting and exciting.
This a book for you. I think if you want to find the secrets of harry Potter
read this book. (Erik, middle school student Hadonfield, NJ) |
