We Love Harry Potter!: We'll Tell You Why

by Sharon Moore

Overview

Harry Potter-by now the name is surely as magical to you as it is to the millions of others who are devouring the books in J.K. Rowling's awesome series. Do you want to find out what others are saying about how they'd like to fly on a hippogriff or raise a pet dragon? What it would be like if they were students at Hogwarts and played on a Quidditch team? Their opininons on what really happened to Hary's parents? Read letters kids have written to Harry Potter, Hagrid, Hermione, and many ot the books' other unforgettable characters. Like the Harry Potter books themselves, We Love Harry Potter! is a treat for all ages!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429940719
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/2011
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	261 KB
Age Range:	9 - 14 Years

About the Author

Sharon Moore is the author of The First Blue Jeans, a children's reader, and has worked on several previous projects with Lamppost Press, the packager for We Love Harry Potter! and for many other books of interest to children and teens. She has also written books and articles on food and travel.
Sharon Moore is the author of The First Blue Jeans, a children's reader, and has worked on several previous projects with Lamppost Press, the packager for We Love Harry Potter! and for many other books of interest to children and teens. She has also written books and articles on food and travel.

Read an Excerpt

We Love Harry Potter!

We'll Tell You Why

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By Sharon Moore

St. Martin's Press

Copyright © 1999 Lamppost Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4299-4071-9

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CHAPTER 1

Our Comments About the Harry Potter Books

WHY AND WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT THE BOOKS

Carolyn Singer Minott, 10 years old

I get so involved reading the Harry Potter books that I feel like I'm inside Harry's world.

If I went to wizard school I'd study everything: spells and counterspells, Defense Against the Dark Arts — but not Potions, because I don't like Snape. He only saved Harry because he was in debt to Harry, and so just evened the score.

I love how Hermione gets into stuff, like the Polyjuice Potion. She's a very smart girl, although sometimes she overdoes it. Sometime she's a pain in the neck and I get pretty mad at her.

Dumbledore is very fair. He hasn't expelled Harry or his friends because of the trouble they get into. Snape is mean but he makes the book more interesting. The Dursleys aren't believable, but you need something to hate, so Go, Harry! Dudley looks like a big fat balloon with a fat face and blond hair. I loved it when Hagrid gave Dudley a tail!

Buckbeak the hippogriff was wonderful, especially when he injured Malfoy. Hippogriffs are very sweet but they can be dangerous. I love their pride. I loved the way the two fugitives, Buckbeak and Sirius Black, escaped together at the end of the third book.

The wizard crackers at the Christmas feast were great. I loved the way the pictures moved, and also when the knight Sir Cadogan defended the entrance to Gryffindor after the fat lady's picture was slashed by Sirius Black. It was comical when Ron says "shut up!" to the picture. The ghosts and the pixies were funny, too.

It was neat how some wizards could turn themselves into animals — they were called animages. They could go anywhere and listen to what they weren't supposed to. I'd turn myself into a poisonous frog, or a cat.

I didn't like Madam Trelawney. Madam Pomfrey's too protective. She lives in her own little world. That's not my cup of tea. But I loved how the antidote to spells was chocolate.

Gilderoy Lockhart has a big head and a little brain. He thought of himself as the greatest, but he didn't equal one Harry. He wasn't very smart.

Moaning Myrtle was a pest. She just wanted attention.

I liked Lupin. His name fits him (he was a werewolf). I was unhappy to see him go.

I'd like to see what happens to the first-year students in the future. Colin Creevey was a clinging vine but it would be interesting to see what he turns into. I admired Cho Chang (the Ravenclaw Seeker). I hope we see her again.

If someone is going to be killed, I don't want it to be Ginny. I'd like to see Ginny and Hermione hook up. I'd like to see Percy leave, though; he was a party pooper, too full of himself, and his head's as big as Lockhart's. I'd like to see Snape get the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor; it may take out some of the tension. I don't think Snape is involved in the Dark Arts, he's just unpleasant. He treats everyone except Slytherins badly.

I was glad Mrs. Norris got petrified.

I like the way they use different languages, like Latin and French.

I'd love to play Quidditch — I'd love to fly a broomstick. I'd catch the ball and rub it into a Slytherin's face.

Some children have trouble imagining or remembering what Dudley Dursley looks like. It's often hard for children to picture a character unless he or she looks like someone they know, especially if the chracter is a strange-looking person. And there are some very strange-looking people in fiction! But the fun part of reading is making up your own image of a book character's appearance.

Carter Brown Grotta, 6 years old

It was cool that Harry didn't know he was a witch at first.

We play Harry Potter on the playground at school. I bring the Harry Potter books and another book that I call Tom Riddle's diary. My friend Nicky Silvi is Harry Potter, and I play Ron.

What we need to do is make a map of the playground because all of the other kids who have forts there are always attacking us, especially the girls' forts. So we are making a map of our Harry Potter land, although we don't know what we're going to call it yet.

We're also making a map of Hogwarts. We need to have a place to keep our books, journals, secrets, Quidditch balls and stuff.

One thing is pretty bad. We don't have enough people. We only have eight, and we need 18 more — that's how many people there were in Hogwarts.

I made a broomstick out of sticks, and tied a lot of threads together for the broom part. I have a sticker that looks like a lightning bolt that I stick on my forehead. Then I look like Harry Potter, because I wear glasses, too.

I made a wand out of a bunch of sticks connected with a rubber band. I put red-colored paper around it, so I have a red wand.

I made the Tom Riddle diary up especially. I'm trying to get some red blobs (like the ink Harry spilled on the diary) to put on it.

Emily Lebowitz, 14 years old

The Harry Potter books take you to another reality, to a place that's out of this world — a place you'd never think of by yourself.

I'd like to go to wizard school, but I'm not sure which house I'd want to be in. Probably Harry's. I'd study potions and spells, and create things like food, or medicine — things you might not be able to make with what we have in our world, like a cure for cancer.

I love Quidditch. If I could play I'd like to be a Seeker. I'd love to fly on a broomstick, and see the world from an aerial point of view. It would be easier than waiting until I'm old enough to have a car!

What's great about Harry is that, after all the abuse he puts up with from the Dursleys, who put him in the cupboard and everything, he still has a positive outlook on life.

Hermione is a doer. She always tries to do everything, even though she doesn't always succeed.

I'd like to have Every Flavor Beans that taste like strawberry, or other real fruit, like pears, or Coke, or corn muffins, or Thanksgiving dinner — you could have a whole set that tastes like turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing. I'd hate to get liver, or tongue.

I didn't care for the Chocolate Frogs, because I have a pet frog. Her name is Cher. I keep her in a cage and feed her crickets.

In the next books, I hope something bad happens to the Dursleys; for example, Uncle Vernon loses his job. They should get a taste of what they're doing to Harry. They should have to treat Harry as an equal for a change.

I think Sirius Black and Harry may be related. Black is a good guy, really looking out for Harry's well-being in some way. But I'm not sorry Harry didn't go to live with him. It would change everything if Harry wasn't at Hogwarts. It's harder for him to live there, but the tension adds to the excitement of the book.

I want to see what happens to Harry after all his adventures. I know there are supposed to be seven books, but I'd like to see an eighth, a conclusion book. I want to see what happens after Hogwarts, what Harry becomes, where he lives and what he does.

Ariel Doctoroff, 9 years old

My sister Jenna is too young to read the books, but she's grateful for Harry Potter because I tell her all about him.

The books are exciting, and so is the magic.

I like the funny names of people and places.

Harry is my favorite character, but I also like Ron and Hermione and of course I don't like Snape and Malfoy.

My favorite animal is the hippogriff. They're funny. They look something like an ostrich.

I like being scared. I liked the dementors because they were so scary. My favorite scary part is the end of the Chamber of Secrets, with the snake sliding around, and Tom Riddle is really Voldemort and Ginny is trapped in the chamber, about to die — but then she gets saved.

The hippogriffs are half-horse, half-eagle, so they would indeed look something like an ostrich.

Phillip Zelonky, 9 years old

The books are interesting, not boring like a lot of books.

The Quidditch game is my favorite thing about the books. I like the chess games, too.

My favorite characters were Sirius Black and Snape, because they're exciting. But I think they should have done more evil things — if they were more bad, the story would be more exciting.

I didn't like Madam Pooch, or the Dursleys.

I'd like to be able to make up a spell. It would be really neat to use a spell to do something like turn on the TV!

I heard all about the fourth book already — my friend heard about it on the Internet.

Josie Chen, 12 years old

The books are full of mystery and fast adventures.

It's especially good when Harry is sneaking up on somebody like Quirrell or being chased by Malfoy in a Quidditch game.

I want to have a dragon for a pet. They don't have to be as big as the one Hagrid was trying to raise, Norbert. They can be little and cute.

I tried to solve the problem with the seven bottles in the first book, and I got most of it, I think. But I'm glad I didn't have to be the one to drink them because I might've got it wrong, and then I'd get poisoned.

My guess is that Harry's parents went back to the Muggle world, took regular jobs and did magic stuff in secret, like spells and potions that made their Muggle jobs easier. Like, maybe they put a spell on money stocks so they'd make more money.

I heard that Harry gets a girlfriend in the next book. I hope it's Cho Chang, the Seeker for the Ravenclaw team. She's pretty and has almost the same name as me.

Children are natural problem-solvers and they love puzzles, riddles and word games. There are plenty of these in the Harry Potter books, which is one of the reasons why children love them. The mysterious power of words is an important element in magic through the ages, and the ability to understand foreign languages and codes was a basic skill that all wizards and witches had to know.

Becky Rubin, 10 years old

The beginning is cool, when Harry goes off to

Hogwarts — how he runs through Barrier Nine and Three-Quarters, and Dumbledore makes the plates fill up with food.

My favorite character is Hermione, because she's funny and so perfect, always trying to get Harry and Ron to do their homework. Percy is funny, too. I like the Weasleys.

Hermione is very brave. I picture her as tall and skinny with brownish red hair and brown eyes.

I didn't figure out the puzzles, but Hermione did. She's a total Einstein. The chess game at the end of the first book was exciting and scary.

I like the way the books leave you things to imagine and figure out.

My favorite animal is Hedwig, Harry's owl. It's cool to have an owl deliver a letter and get a return.

I'd like most Every Flavor Beans, especially chocolate, but I'd hate to get a pepper one.

Malfoy and his father and You-Know-Who were the characters I didn't like. Snape wasn't as bad as Filch, but Snape was a bully.

You hear more about Harry's father than his mother because his father was killed fighting You-Know-Who. His father was fighting because men are more brave. Harry's mother just tried to protect him, because women love kids.

I think Harry's father probably worked for the Ministry of Magic after he left Hogwarts and married Harry's mother.

In the next book, I think Harry goes back to Hogwarts but not Percy or the other Weasleys. Maybe in a future book Harry will grow up, and even get married. I'd like to see all the characters grow up and get famous, but not be in contact until they meet — they could have a reunion at Hogwarts.

I didn't see why Mrs. Norris had to die in the second book, even though no one liked her. Why didn't a person die, instead of a cat?

Laura Duell, 11 years old

Mysteries and puzzles appeal to me. I always try to figure out what's going to happen next in a story, and usually I can, but not in the Harry Potter books. There's a lot going on and you get caught up in the plot.

I don't think I'd like to go away to school. It would be pretty strange to sleep in a room with a lot of other kids all the time. Whenever my friends and I have sleepovers we never get any sleep. But if I could learn to be a wizard I would try it.

It would be better to fly on a hippogriff than a broomstick. It's easier to fall off a broomstick. And you could talk to the hippogriff, and feed him pumpkins and birdseed. I could keep him in the garage. I'd like to fly way up in the air and look down at the country.

Snape is really awful. It was funny when the magic map called him a slimeball and told him to wash his hair. I hope in the next book Sirius Black comes back and gets him kicked out of Hogwarts.

It's not common in the United States for children of grade-school and middle-school age to go away to boarding school, although it has always been part of the British educational system. But American children often go to sleepaway camp in the summer, so the idea of living away from home and parents is not new.

Sarah McKenna, 10 years old

Harry is like a real boy — except that he's a wizard! My favorite character is Hermione, because she's smart. Some of the boys like her because she is smart.

Quidditch is one of the best things in the books, and if I could play I'd want to be a Seeker.

I read the British version, too, as well as the American one, and didn't find it at all hard to read. I borrowed a copy from a friend who brought it back from England.

I don't exactly hate the Dursleys; I think they're funny. I also thought Dobby, the house elf, was funny. I liked the way he got into trouble trying to protect Harry, and then Harry freed him.

I read an article that said that there are going to be seven books, one for every year Harry is at Hogwarts. I haven't read the third book yet, but I heard that in it a prisoner escapes from the wizard jail — I'll bet it's the Professor who teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts — and Harry catches him.

In the future books, I'd like to see Ron get a girlfriend.

I don't think I'm a Muggle — just because you're not a wizard doesn't mean you're a Muggle!

According to J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, there will be seven volumes, following Harry through each of his years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Mariel Klein, 8 years old

The adventures were a little scary. That's what I liked about them.

Harry and Hermione were my favorites. And I like Dumbledore a lot. I really disliked Lockhart, especially because of what he did on Valentine's Day — sending out those disgusting cupids. He was too nice to Harry, and then he played tricks on him.

Hagrid is funny. I was glad when I found out that he went to school at Hogwarts.

Of the animals Scabbers is my favorite. I don't like things that pester people. Snape is mean. So are the Dursleys.

In the next book, I hope Harry goes home and the Dursleys are nice to him. I'd like to see another wizard or a new professor.

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Gilderoy Lockhart is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. Children in both Britain and America often exchange Valentine greeting cards at school on Valentine's Day. In recent years, in fact, holidays like Valentine's Day and Halloween have become even more popular than Christmas or New Year's in this country.

Rebecca Brown, 9 years old

The first book was the best one for me. I had trouble picturing what happened in the second book.

I liked Aunt Petunia and Dudley, because I could picture them. The part about going to Hogwarts, getting on the train at platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

I'm not sure if I'd like going away to school. If I was Harry, of course, I would. And I guess I wouldn't miss home if I was having a good time at school.

My favorite part is where Harry puts on the invisibility cloak and sees himself and his family in the Mirror of Erised.

Most of the food sounds awful. He eats so much food, every day, and those yucky desserts! (I hate Jell-o.) I like the Chocolate Frogs, and I'd like to get a chocolate-mint Every Flavor Bean.

You're not really a Muggle if you're not a wizard.

In one of the next books I'd like to see Harry's parents come back and the Dursleys disappear.

To catch the train for Hogwarts, students must pass through a barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten to reach Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, which is invisible to anyone but wizards.

The Mirror of Erised shows to anyone who looks into it what it is he or she most desires.

Anna Holland, 13 years old

Fantasy and adventures are my favorite kind of reading. The plots of the Harry Potter books are complicated enough to be interesting.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from We Love Harry Potter! by Sharon Moore. Copyright © 1999 Lamppost Press. Excerpted by permission of St. Martin's Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Title Page,
1 - Our Comments About the Harry Potter Books,
2 - Dear Harry ...,
3 - What Wizards Eat,
4 - How We Play Quidditch,
5 - What Grown-Ups Say About the Harry Potter Books,
6 - Trivia Quiz,
7 - Survey of Our Opinions,
8 - Word Wizardry,
9 - Wonderful Ways to Be a Wizard,
10 - What We Think Harry Potter's Parents Were Like,
11 - What We'd Like to See in the Future Books About Harry Potter,
About J. K. Rowling - AUTHOR OF THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS,
Introduction - WHAT MAKES THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS SPECIAL,
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS BY SHARON MOORE,
Notes,
Copyright Page,