Who is Harry Potter?
Giant Steps Children’s Books is proud to carry the spectacular series by J.K. Rowling. Written in a style that will appeal to younger folks as well as grownups, the Harry Potter series has been on the New York Times Hardback Fiction List for many weeks, and for good reason. These books following the adventures of young Harry Potter as he discovers his talents as a wizard are fantastic adventures. You won’t be able to put them down once you start! There are three so far…
Please note, the vocabulary of the Harry Potter books is written at a fifth/sixth grade level. While children younger than 10 will certainly enjoy the stories, an adult should be around to help them with some of the words. Also, there are some scary situations of the witchy and ghostly nature – younger children may need help with these.
IT’S HERE AND IT’S WONDERFUL! It’s Harry Potter IV: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling. It starts with Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry’s really looking forward to seeing his friends, learning new magic spells, and most of all playing on his quidditch team again. He’s just been to the Quidditch World Cup finals, and he can’t wait to try out some of the moves he saw used there. But when Harry gets back to Hogworts castle he learns that there isn’t going to be any quidditch this year.
Instead, Hogwarts is going to be hosting the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Champions will coming to compete for the three major schools of magic: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The competition will take all year, and the three champions will be rigorously tested in all sorts of difficult magical feats. Because the challenges will be so dangerous, there is a magically imposed age limit on the applicants. The champions are to be chosen by the Goblet of Fire, and once chosen, MUST compete.
Everyone is excited about the tournament, and curious as well. One of these events hasn’t been held in over one hundred years! Harry didn’t even know there were any other magic schools! He’s is sort of relieved that he’s too young to be competing; those tests sound like a whole lot of work. The night arrives that the champions are to be chosen. The Goblet of Fire is brought out, and it magically produces the name of the first champion…then the second, and the third. Everyone cheers and starts to turn away when the Goblet of Fire produces yet a fourth name, Harry Potter!
Harry is astounded – he never volunteered his name for the competition. Someone must have put in his name, but who? Why would anyone want Harry to compete in the Tournament? Maybe they want him to lose…his life!
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has been on the New York Times Bestseller’s List THIRTY WEEKS in a row!
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE, by J.K. Rowling. In the first book, Harry Potter lives with his miserable aunt and uncle Dursley, trying to avoid his spoiled bully of a cousin Dudley. He lives in a tiny closet, has never celebrated a single one of his birthdays, and hasn’t ever been considered one of the family. One day a mysterious giant of a man shows up and delivers a strange message: Harry has been accepted into Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Harry hardly knows what to think.
The giant (whose name is Hagrid) tells Harry that he is a wizard – “an’ a thumpin’ good’un, I’d say, once yeh’ve been trained up a bit. With a mum an’ dad like yours, what else would yeh be?” He takes Harry under his wing, and the next thing you know they’re off to a place that’s not here and not anywhere else either. It’s the Wizard School – a fantastic place where Harry will find friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals. He’ll also find the great destiny that’s been waiting for him – let’s hope he survives the encounter! Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is now in its ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH WEEK in a row on the New York Times Bestseller’s List, Hardcover Fiction!
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second in the series.
Things are just not going well for Harry this summer. He’s back with the awful Dursleys, who have locked up all his magic tools, and worse they’ve locked up Harry himself! By hook or by crook Harry manages to escape, and arrive for the start of a new year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. That’s when Harry’s luck really begins to go sour. Right from the beginning he gets into trouble, and it was all an accident. Honest! Well, sort of…
Then Harry starts hearing a disembodied voice that no one else can hear talking about evil things. Students turn up literally petrified. Gossip has it that Harry’s the one to blame. There was once an evil wizard at the school who created a Chamber of Secrets in which there was a terrible monster. The rumor is that Harry has opened the Chamber. Problem is that Harry doesn’t even know where the Chamber could possibly be, much less what’s inside or how to undo all that’s happened!
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has been on the New York Times Bestseller’s List EIGHTY-SEVEN WEEKS in a row!
The third book in the series is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Turns out that the very evil wizard Voldemort had an assistant named Sirius Black. A wizard in his own right, Black was captured right after the event that put the lightening bolt scar on Harry’s forehead. Black was imprisoned in Azkaban, a prison so awful that no one ever escaped from it – all the prisoners were said to go slowly insane! But Harry hears that Black has done the impossible. He’s escaped, and everyone figures Black must be coming after Harry!
There are horrible things happening around Hogwarts this time, and that doesn’t even take into accounts the attempts on Harry’s life. Harry’s got to find Sirius Black, and stop him from ruining everything!
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has been on the New York Times Bestseller’s List SEVENTY-THREE WEEKS in a row!
Scholastic has created a terrific web page all about Harry Potter and the doings at Hogwort’s. It’s got games, screensavers, crossword puzzles, and a chance to learn more about author J.K. Rowling. To get there, either click on the logo at the right, or go to http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/index.htm. Have a great visit!