Harry Potter Day around here....

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-19-2003
Harry Potter Day around here....
23
Sat, 07-21-2007 - 11:05am

So our preordered copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows just arrived. My dd was up early this morning so anxious and nervous to get her copy. She's been waiting for months. I checked my order history online and I preordered the book for her in February! Last night I took her out to see a movie to distract her from her anticipation. There were alot of Harry Potter events in the city but we don't live close enough to have participated unfortunately.

Just as she did with Half Blood Prince, the courier brought the book to the door, rang the bell and she just RACED down the stairs to grab the book. She jumped up and down, squealed a bit and then prepared for a full day of reading.

Her ritual with new books is the same every time: she takes out the book, runs her hand over the cover, reads the entire jacket, cracks it open, smells it (she says she loves the smell of new books and I agree with her), read the dedication and then kicked me out of her room so she could start reading. She only regrets that she has to break for lunch!!! LOL!!!

She will read all day until she's finished it. Based on the size of the book and that she started around 10:30AM, I figure she will be done by 8PM. Then I will finally get my opportunity to read the book. I admit last time, I read almost straight through the night until I was done.

Its a great thing to share this sort of thing with my daughter. I was an avid reader myself and she seems to have inherited that gene and we love to discuss books we've both read. Harry Potter is a unique phenomenon indeed given adults and children alike can enjoy the stories.

Happy Harry Potter day to you all!

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-22-2007
Sun, 07-22-2007 - 11:34pm
my 17yo locked herself in her room until she read the whole book!!!
Avatar for bookwormmom
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-22-2003
Mon, 07-23-2007 - 2:16am
Jaryd just finished a little while ago loading the rest of the book onto his i-pod from the cd's. He is into the 16 or 17th chapter. Sure is a lot faster to listen to it than it is for me to read it. I'm only on about chapter 9, then again I am a slow reader. He wanted to know if I wanted it on my i-pod, but I'd rather read it, I love to read!
Kristie
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-17-2005
Mon, 07-23-2007 - 1:19pm

We're not serious HP fans around here, either.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-22-2007
Mon, 07-23-2007 - 3:26pm
it was the one day my 17 and 12 yo WERE NOT FIGHTING!!!!!!!!!!! ANd this week these two are away at girls camp :)
Avatar for bookwormmom
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-22-2003
Tue, 07-24-2007 - 12:59am

I'm a Christian too and love Harry. Our minister loves the books too. Haven't had a chance to ask him if he has read or is reading the new one though. I think most people realize that it is just a small group are protesting Harry and don't "hold it against us"

There is a mom that I have known for several years and she is very much against the Harry books, but she also protested the reading of "The Secret Life of Bees" by the AP English class last year. Don't know where that came from, it's a wonderful book.

Kristie

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-1999
Tue, 07-24-2007 - 9:17am

Well, Z accomplished his goal - he leaves for Ft. Leonard Wood today, and finsihed the book yesterday afternoon.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2006
Wed, 07-25-2007 - 4:46pm

Kelan is not into Harry Potter, but Jade and Marissa are. They had it finished by late Saturday night and they were somewhat disappointed. They said that it was pretty predictable and had too much of a fairytale ending. Also, they said that it was somewhat slow until like page 300 and didn't really get good until 500 something.

Those are just my daughters' opinons.

Natalie

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2004
Wed, 07-25-2007 - 5:27pm


Fairytale ending? Did they read the same book?

The bittersweetness of the ending will go over the head of most teens. Read the epilogue and see what I mean. I will not say more for those who haven't read it but for those who have..
Do you understand what I am getting at?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2006
Thu, 07-26-2007 - 12:15pm

Not completely fairytale ending, but they were expecting different deaths(I hope you understand, im trying not to spoil it for anyone). They were just disappointed with the way it ended and honestly did not really care for the book on a whole. They realize that several other characters died, and that was very tragic, but they felt it was too perfect of an ending.

Jade asked if Jack lived in the movie Titanic would the movie still be great? Her reply, no. Or the ending of Stranger than fiction if you have seen that. Her arguements are somewhat weak (she cant be a lawyer), but I kind of understand them.

I guess if they wanted a tragic hero they should read Hamlit again.

Natalie

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-06-2006
Thu, 07-26-2007 - 12:36pm

That's some story! I don't quite understand that way of thinking. When DD was in grade school, there was a mom who tried to get the HP books pulled from the library shelves and we have run across several families who don't 'allow' Harry Potter in their homes. But these are the same families who are enamored with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. When you compare the elements of the two stories, you have the same things ... good vs. evil, a 'dark' side, magical forces, mystical beasts, there is a huge battle, people die ... really, what is the difference?

Having read and seen both, I honestly feel the LOTR trilogy is far more violent than Harry Potter and when you consider that Harry Potter and his adventures compelled a TON of kids who might not otherwise have been inclined to sit down and read (and my DS would be included in that category) what could be so bad in that? And while fantasy books are not my chosen genre, the creative genius of JK Rowlings is beyond genius, it's absolutely brilliant!