Great Reads Grows Up

While most of what we review is suitable for teens, occasionally we're sent books that are clearly for adults. So, we've decided to off-shoot our blog and do reviews for those books at "Great Reads Grows Up". We've still left a few reviews here that may technically be for adults, but would be okay for older teens (usually 16 and up).

And, for those looking to contact us about reviewing your books, please direct your requests to greatreadsreviews@yahoo.com.

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Rowling Spills the Bernie Botts Bean's About the Epilogue

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

This is from today.msnbc.msn.com and Meredith Viera's interview with author JK Rowling:

Victoire, who was snogging Teddy — Lupin and Tonks’ son — is Bill and Fleur’s eldest.

Harry, Ron and Hermione
We know that Harry marries Ginny and has three kids, essentially, as Rowling explains, creating the family and the peace and calm he never had as a child.

As for his occupation, Harry, along with Ron, is working at the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic. After all these years, Harry is now the department head.

“Harry and Ron utterly revolutionized the Auror Department,” Rowling said. “They are now the experts. It doesn’t matter how old they are or what else they’ve done.”

Meanwhile, Hermione, Ron’s wife, is “pretty high up” in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, despite laughing at the idea of becoming a lawyer in “Deathly Hallows.”

“I would imagine that her brainpower and her knowledge of how the Dark Arts operate would really give her a sound grounding,” Rowling said.

Harry, Ron and Hermione don’t join the same Ministry of Magic they had been at odds with for years; they revolutionize it and the ministry evolves into a “really good place to be.”

“They made a new world,” Rowling said.

The wizarding naturalist
Luna Lovegood, the eccentric Ravenclaw who was fascinated with Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and Umgubular Slashkilters, continues to march to the beat of her own drum.

“I think that Luna is now traveling the world looking for various mad creatures,” Rowling said. “She’s a naturalist, whatever the wizarding equivalent of that is.”

Luna comes to see the truth about her father, eventually acknowledging there are some creatures that don’t exist.

“But I do think that she’s so open-minded and just an incredible person that she probably would be uncovering things that no one’s ever seen before,” Rowling said.

Luna and Neville Longbottom?
It’s possible Luna has also found love with another member of the D.A.

When she was first asked about the possibility of Luna hooking up with Neville Longbottom several years ago, Rowling’s response was “Definitely not.” But as time passed and she watched her characters mature, Rowling started to “feel a bit of a pull” between the unlikely pair.

Ultimately, Rowling left the question of their relationship open at the end of the book because doing otherwise “felt too neat.”

Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom: “The damage is done.”

There is no chance, however, that Neville’s parents, who were tortured into madness by Bellatrix Lestrange, ever left St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies.

“I know people really wanted some hope for that, and I can quite see why because, in a way, what happens to Neville’s parents is even worse than what happened to Harry’s parents,” Rowling said. “The damage that is done, in some cases with very dark magic, is done permanently.”

Rowling said Neville finds happiness in his grandmother’s acceptance of him as a gifted wizard and as the new herbology professor at Hogwarts.

The fate of Hogwarts
Nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts, the school for witchcraft and wizardry is led by an entirely new headmaster (“McGonagall was really getting on a bit”) as well as a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. That position is now as safe as the other teaching posts at Hogwarts, since Voldemort’s death broke the jinx that kept a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor from remaining for more than a year.

From the article by Jen Brown, Today Show Contributor


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JK's Today Show Interview (Part 1)_

The Today Show aired the first part of Meredith Veira's interview with Harry Potter author JK Rowling this morning. I'll chalk it up to being REALLY overtired, but the interview made me sniffle a bit- I've written things before that've made me cry, but certainly not thousands of pages worth. I can't imagine what is was like for her to finish. I won't do a recap here just yet, because it will definitely give away the ending. Rowling answers at least one question that's be burning in my mind since completing the book, and I'm hoping to hear a bit more in the subsequent interviews airing tomorrow, and then on Dateline Sunday. But after Friday, I'm going to start discussing the book, so readers be warned :) But all posts with spoilers will be labeled as such.

If you have finished the book, check out the interview here: Today Show Interviews JK Rowling

Books Book Teens Harry Potter

JK Rowling on the Today Show

JK Rowling will be on the Today show Thursday and Friday, as well as Dateline on Sunday discussing "The Deathly Hallows" and why she left some questions unanswered. I don't want to discuss the book yet, in case there are some who come here and haven't read it yet, but I know there were things I wanted to know as well, so be sure to set your DVRs and TIVOs to catch the interviews.

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Life After Harry- Now what to Read???

Here at "Great Reads" I know that finding a good book is difficult as there are so many to choose from. If you love Harry Potter, I'd suggest starting up with the Pendragon series, Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" or Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials". Both of the latter books are due to be made into movies, but the books are WONDERFUL and deserve to be read. I'll be reviewing them in the near future, but rest assured they are great reads.

But if you are searching for books for the younger set, check out "Just One More Book." Busy parents and educators can now discover great read-aloud children's books while they are busy doing the many tasks that would otherwise rob them of the opportunity to research great children's books in more traditional ways.

Their goal is to link children with great books and help create happy memories for children and the adults that read to them…and to have fun!

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- The Review

I have to begin this review with a heavy heart. No- I'm not giving anything about the ending away here, other than that the series has ended, and I feel a little lost. I've spent the last two weeks, since seeing "Order of the Phoenix" in a Potter-stupor, chomping at the bit for the release of final book in the series. And, now, here it is and a mere 5 hours later, I'm done. And I'm sad.

The book is fantastic. The action starts right away and continues straight throughout the book. Theorists will be pleased that some things were figured out, while others were far from correct, but the final battle (can't WAIT to see this on the big screen) is nothing short of action packed, terrible and awesome. It is definitely a great read- one that was well worth the wait. I'm not going to say anything about the plot because I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

My only hope is that maybe Rowling will read this and listen when I say "just one more book...please?"


Books BookTeens Harry Potter

Quest of the Seal Bearers: The Five Jewels

*New Author Spotlight*

"Quest of the Seal Bearers: The Five Jewels" is the second in the series from author A.W.G. Coleman, which centers around a group of 20 teens brought from Earth to the world of Mendala, where together they must learn magic and join forces to defeat the evil Davron, who seeks dominance and destruction.

"Quest" has its good and bad points. The bad is that it doesn't exactly follow the rules of tradition magical stories- for instance, magic is invoked by repeating a certain phrase with then the effect said after. But the invocation is in an ancient language, while the effect is in English. I found this confusing at first, so I was glad for the explanation as to what the ancient language meant. Also strange is the inclusion of the land of Acme- whose inhabitants are cartoons. This seemed very out place with the rest of Mendala, but it did make for some interesting characters. Another bad is that there are so many characters, though the book did focus on a few rather than all as they tend to travel in groups. I found it hard to remember who was who except for a couple of characters, but I also didn't read the first novel- something I think would've been helpful, so I'll be picking this up. But, I did find the author's site www.mendala.com a useful resource, and a great place to read the first chapters of the two books.

Now the good: The story is interesting and you don't ever see books where so many teens are taken to save a world (from a writer's perspective, I don't think I could keep them all straight, so I give him props here, for they never seem to act out of character). The characters that are focused on are really interesting, perhaps the most interesting being Ace, who, when brought from Earth, was sent 11,000 years into the past and lived on Mendala as a teen until he was able to catch up in time with his friends. It was interesting to see their reactions to someone who'd only been missing for 5 days their time, but to him it was 11,000 years. He's a character I'd love to see more of in the next book- I think Coleman has got a ton of story to tell there.

So, while "Quest" is not a great read- yet- I'd definitely like to voice my support for the novice author. It's a good book with a good story, and I think over time the writing will get tighter. I look forward to the next book in the series.
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- the movie

Normally, I just do book reviews, but I feel compelled to write about this latest installment in the "Harry Potter" movie franchise. I LOVED IT. And while the reviews have been, in the majority, positive, there have been a few reviews, one from Roger Ebert, that the movie has lost its magic. I have to disagree. If the series were one very long book, books 4-6 are the part of the Heroes Journey where the hero crosses the threshold, takes on the challenge, and the book takes a decidedly dark turn. Cedric's death in book 4 is just the beginning, book 5 takes it a step further and book 6- well we all know how that ended (if by some chance you are reading this and haven't read book six- I've left out the ending just for you :) ). It's not that the magic is gone, but that this is the time when we leave the wonderment of the wizarding world behind and realize, along with our heroes, that we have to grow up and see that the danger is real, deadly real. The director and writers for movie have understood this perfectly. Quidditch falls by the wayside- as it should. Our hero is fighting for his life, literally and figuritively- he shouldn't really have much time for fun and games. But the movie isn't without its moments of brevity- one even coming right after the big battle.

"Order of the Phoenix", in this humble viewers opinion, is the best of series so far. I sincerely hope that the IMDB.com is right and that director David Yates is staying on board to direct book six. Oh- and watch out for Ginny Weasley. She might not have a lot to say in this film, but I loved the subtle foreshadowing of her feelings for Harry.

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Take the Poll:

After reading some NY Times op-ed pieces from Damon Lindenhof, Meg Cabot and others, I find myself torn. Of course, I want Harry to be "The Boy Who Lived" (which, incidently should be the title of the final chapter in which we see Harry, 10 years later, as the Defense Against the Dark Arts Prof, or, because Snape sacrificed himself to save Harry, Harry becomes the new Potions Master as an homage- these are both, of course, the only two endings I will accept at this point). But my husband then threw at me this morning this ending: Harry sacrifices himself for those he loves and in the process saves Snape (who he realizes is really repentant and was someone worth trusting as Dumbledore has said all along) who in turn becomes the next Headmaster at Hogwarts. Not that I want this to be the ending- for I think in the archetypcial "Heroes Journey" Snape needs to be the one who dies for there to be a true turn to good- but this ending makes scary sense. So what do you think? Will Harry be the boy who lives, or the boy who dies? Leave your comments, take the poll.










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A Certain Slant of Light: Laura Whitcomb

I LOVED this book. It's haunting and beautiful. Helen has been dead for 130 years, unable to pass on to the next world because of something that happened at the time of her death. For most of the novel, we are unaware of what this event is, only that it has something to do with water. Helen has spent her earthbound years attached to different human hosts, who are unaware that she is there, yet she is subtlely able to affect their lives. But all that changes when she notices a teen-age boy staring at her one day while she haunts her current host, a high school english teacher. At first, Helen is frightened- it's been so long since anyone has seen her. But this teen has an interesting story to tell. For the soul inhabiting this teen is James, a young man who died in WW2 and was able to take over the body when it's original soul tried to commit suicide. Helen and James begin a friendship that quickly becomes first love, and the two decide to find a body for Helen to inhabit so that they can be together.

I highly recommend this book for reading. It's a terrifc first novel and well worth purchasing. The ending, if you're anything like me, will probably have you reading through tears- but in a good way.

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