Harry Potter Spells

So…Is ‘The Hunger Games’ the Best Book Since Harry Potter?

Peter — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:13:03 +0000

Click to visit the Hunger Games store at Amazon

Many people have touted many different books aimed at teens or younger readers as “the next Harry Potter,” but so far, none of these claims has panned out. ‘Twilight’ was certainly popular, but few people would think those books were even close to the Harry Potter Books in quality. But what about ‘The Hunger Games’? Do Harry Potter fans now have a book they can endorse and enjoy? To find out, we did some highly un-scientific polling.

It turns out that many young fans DO think ‘The Hunger Games’ is a great book! They may not like it as much as their beloved Harry Potter, but plenty of the fans of HP also love the HG! This may be because, like the Harry Potter movies and books, Katniss in the Hunger Games must face down the threat of death and win out against the forces of evil. Unlike the HP books, however, Katniss Everdeen often has to rely only on herself. Harry had plenty of enemies, but he also never lacked for friends and supporters. Katniss has plenty of supporters, but in her story, she is isolated from those supporters, so the only type of support she enjoys from them is long-distance emotional support. The many viewers of the Hunger Games who end up rooting for Kat are not there, in the game, with her, so they are not able to do anything other than hope for the best.

In this way, Katniss is more on her own than Harry ever was. She has to rely on her own skills and quick thinking and ingenuity in order to make it out of the game alive. If you haven’t yet had a chance to read the Hunger Games trilogy, we urge you to try it now! It truly is our favorite book since Harry Potter!

Harry Potter Ebooks for Sale on Pottermore!

Peter — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:30:07 +0000

The biggest news in the world of Harry Potter since the publication of the last book has to have been the debut of Pottermore, the website JK Rowling has promised will continue the adventures of Harry Potter and friends. Since the website has been delayed for months and months beyond its original projected opening date, most people have been waiting impatiently for word of when it will finally move out of beta and become a fully functioning website. Well, it seems that Ms. Rowling has taken one definitive step closer to that day: today, the long-awaited Harry Potter e-books finally went on sale on Pottermore.

If you don’t own an e-reader, you may not even be aware that, until now, the Harry Potter books have NEVER been made available in ebook format. The only authorized version of the Harry Potter books up to now have been the ones that were published in hardback and in paperback. With so many of the fans of the series being younger (and therefore much more likely to be into the new technologies such as e-ink readers), this has been a long-time desire of many of the readers.

To purchase one of the ebooks, you may go to the Pottermore site and there you will see a link to the ebooks shop. There are indications that other items might be available in the future, but at the moment, the only things available for purchase and download are the ebooks. They are available in epub format, or in Amazon Kindle format (AZW). This only becomes clear during the download process. The process is greatly simplified for those who are in the US or Canada, but other readers can probably figure it out without too much difficulty.

Harry Potter Ebooks Coming Soon!

Peter — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 20:52:34 +0000

According to news agency Reuters, JK Rowling and her upcoming Pottermore website have struck a deal with ebook distributor OverDrive to publish the first legally available copies of the Harry Potter books in digital ebook format.

The plans were previously announced in vague terms when the public was notified of the plans for the Pottermore site to debut, but the lengthy delays of the site’s debut and other factors left the fate of the ebooks in doubt. Today’s announcement is the first solid piece of news to come out about the fate of the ebooks in months.

OverDrive partners with thousands of public libraries around the world to distribute copies of ebooks, and the books are free to borrow through many local libraries. It is also expected that the books will be available for purchase for the first time once the Pottermore website goes live!

We don’t know about you, but we are very excited to hear this news! The only thing that could excite us more is the announcement that Pottermore has finally been finished (or, of course, the announcement of a new Harry Potter book, but we are not holding out hope for that one)!

Harry Potter Author JK Rowling to Write and Publish New Book!

Peter — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:45:11 +0000

JK Rowling announced yesterday that she has signed a contract with a new publisher to produce a new novel. Unlike the Harry Potter books, which were meant for children (but which were also quite popular with adults), the new JK Rowling book will be a book for adults. The author has given no indication about the content or theme of the book, and most observers expect it to be unrelated to the world of Harry Potter. Still, for fans, this is BIG news!

The way we see it is, many of JK Rowling’s fans have grown up alongside Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and they are now young adults. They are entirely ready to see what JK Rowling will do with an adult novel! The book is bound to be a huge seller, just on name recognition and the Harry Potter connection alone. Of course, if it also turns out to be as readable as the HP books, then it will sell even more copies, and could even be the foundation of a new series.

When thinking of children’s book writers who later went on to publish an adult book, it can be seen that the literary landscape is littered with flops. Many writers such as A.A. Milne (author of Winnie the Pooh), never managed to achieve even a fraction of the success writing for adults that they had when writing for children. Of course, there are also plenty of exceptions. ‘Twilight’ author Stephenie Meyer recently had a hit with “The Host”, a novel for adults, even if it wasn’t as successful as the Twilight series. The book did debut at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list, so it can hardly be called a failure. Any beginning author would be overjoyed with such success.

So, what do you think? Will you buy the new J.K. Rowling book when it arrives? What do you think it will be about? Do you think it will relate in any way to the world of Harry Potter? Unfortunately, we may have to wait a while for answers to these questions, because a firm publication date has not been announced.

Harry Potter Series List: Master List of Books and Movies

Peter — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:57:51 +0000

This post is to help clarify the Harry Potter series sequence, since so many people have written to ask us how many Harry Potter movies are there? It puzzled us at first why this question would be so common, but we finally decided that the fault lay with the fact that the movie studios split the final book into two movies, so while there are only seven books, there are eight Harry Potter movies. Here’s the list of each, all in one convenient location:

Harry Potter Series List:

Harry Potter Books:

Harry Potter Movies:

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (in the UK it is “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone)
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)
We hope this clears up any confusion! We know that many people hear something about “Harry Potter 8” (meaning the final film) and think they’ve just heard a rumor about an 8th Harry Potter book, but it is usually just a misunderstanding. As of February 2012, JK Rowling still has no plans to publish another book in the series, so this is the final order of the Harry Potter series as far as we know! But that doesn’t mean the Harry Potter world is done for. Far from it! JK Rowling announced the creation of the website Pottermore, which is the next step in the evolution of the Wizarding World, but it seems that the project is more complicated than expected (or they are just really determined to make sure it’s something spectacular when it debuts) because it has been delayed multiple times and many months, with no clear word on when it will finally open. But rest assured that we are keeping abreast of it and will announce it here as soon as the final word comes out, so bookmark out page or “Like” us on Facebook at the top of this post and we’ll keep you posted!

How Many Harry Potter Movies Are There?

Peter — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:17:04 +0000

We are totally surprised how often we get this question:

How many Harry Potter movies are there?

Why are we surprised? Because it’s a pretty straightforward answer!

There are 8 Harry Potter movies.

So why do so many people ask us this question? After asking our questioners, it turns out that MOST of them are confused because there are 7 books, but 8 movies. This is because the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was split into two movies. Why did this happen? It depends on your personal opinion and interpretation of things, but the most likely answers are:

1. The book was simply too long to fit into one movie (this is true for the most part, but the same could have been said for some of the other books, too, and they managed to fit them all into one film each).

2. Warner Brothers (the company that produces the Harry Potter DVDs and movies) wanted to make more money, so they added an extra movie, knowing that one more movie would make them that many more hundreds of millions of dollars richer (a similar thing happened with the Twilight movies, where the final book was split into two movies).

3. The filmmakers really did want to do justice to the books, and trying to squeeze all of the action in the final book into one movie would have been impossible.

While it’s true that the 7th movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1) was kind of slow, and it had a lot of traveling and hiding out, it did allow the movie to take on the melancholy tone of the seventh book. If the book had been made into one movie, it’s likely that much of the action in the first part would have been cut out to make room for all the action that comes in the second half.

Whatever the reason, most fans are simply happy that they got one more Harry Potter movie!

Harry Potter Characters Part 2: Dumbledore

Peter — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:01:32 +0000

Dumbledore is a famous wizard who is respected throughout the wizarding world. He is the headmaster of Hogwarts school, which is something like a principal, except that the school is a boarding school where the children live during the time school is in session. Hogwarts teaches all of the young wizards how to control their magic.

Albus Dumbledore functions as one of the main role models for Harry. Sometimes his motivations are unclear, as he knows things that Harry doesn’t, and he might know things that Harry and Ron and Hermione shouldn’t know. Dumbledore was played by two different actors in the Harry Potter movies. In the first movie, the role was played by Richard Harris. Mr. Harris unfortunately died after the second movie, and he was replaced by the actor Michael Gambon, who played the role for each of the remaining six movies.

Dumbledore is portrayed as a tall man who has a long, flowing gray (or white) beard and long white hair. He is usually shown wearing a long, ornate brocade robe or sometimes more formal ceremonial robes, such as at Christmas or during formal school events.

Albus Dumbledore has a history that is portrayed as dark and mysterious, and it is not until the sixth book that author JK Rowling reveals some of his history. He had a sister who was troubled (she seems to be mentally damaged), and her death serves to convince Dumbledore that he should turn down the position of Minister of Magic (sort of like the Wizard version of Prime Minister or President), and that he should instead devote his life to recruiting and teaching students at Hogwarts.

Harry Potter DVDs Still Available at Most Retailers

Peter — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:50:55 +0000

Warner Brothers announced back in October of 2011 that they would be pulling the Harry Potter movies off the market as of the end of 2011. This led to widespread panic on the part of many fans who thought that the films would be disappearing forever. Of course, that is not the case! This is a marketing ploy designed to increase demand for the films. They are in the business of making money, after all, and how could they do that if they never sold the movies again?

After they witnessed the reaction of fans, Warner Bros. took the rare step of commenting publicly to reassure the public that the movies weren’t going to disappear for good; instead, they would be disappearing for less than a year, and a new deluxe edition of the Harry Potter Box Set would make its way into stores in time for the Christmas 2012 gift-buying season.

Now, it turns out that the panic was even less necessary than believed. Warner Bros. may no longer be shipping new units of the Harry Potter DVDs to retailers, but it turns out that they must have shipped plenty in the last months of last year, because all the movies are still in stock at every major retailer we checked. Wal-Mart and Target and Amazon still have the movies in stock, so the visions of empty shelves that many fans foresaw have not yet come to pass. Of course, it is possible (or even probable) that some or all of these retailers will indeed run out of stock of the movies sometime in the coming months (and you should buy the movies now if you want them, just to make sure you get them before they run out–unless you are willing to wait for the box set that is coming next Christmas).

So, what to make of this story? It turns out that it worked. Warner Bros. sold many, many units of the new box set of all 8 films over the Christmas season (Amazon was out of stock for two weeks in December), and anticipation seems to be high for the deluxe version that is coming later this year. It remains to be seen whether this version will include all the extended/special editions of the first movies, or even of the later movies (extended editions of the later movies have NEVER been released, but fans are still hopeful that they will come along one day).

Harry Potter Movies, Including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, to Be Pulled from Market on Dec. 30th

Peter — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:54:45 +0000

Warner Brothers has announced that it intends to proceed with plans to stop shipping the Harry Potter DVDs to retailers beginning on Dec. 30th. This does not mean that the movies will instantly disappear from store shelves. Rather, it means that when retailers sell out of a specific item, such as the Harry Potter DVD Box Set of all 8 movies, they won’t be able to order any more from Warner Brothers. It was widely speculated that this was meant to drum up demand for a new box set that Warner Brothers would release in 2012, and, indeed, Warner Bros. has now confirmed this. They plan to release a Deluxe Edition in 2012 (probably just in time for Christmas sales). If this box set is anything like the one that was available in England and in France this year, it is likely to be priced somewhere around $200. The current box set sells for around $40 or $50 for the regular version, and $70 or $80 for the blu ray version. If you are interested in getting these movies before they disappear from the shelves, you can find the box set at Amazon here, or if you only need the final movie, number eight, you can find it here.

Harry Potter DVD Box Set Still Available for Shipping in Time for Christmas!

Peter — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:15:59 +0000

Amazon is still listing the Harry Potter DVD Box set as available for shipping in time for Christmas, but only if you choose one day shipping at checkout. If you are an Amazon prime member, this will only cost you $4.00. If you are not a Prime member, it will be somewhat more expensive. The Blu Ray Box Set of Harry Potter Movies is also available via the same shipping methods.

Amazon DOES offer Saturday delivery at most times, but it is unknown whether they will offer Saturday delivery this year, so this is the last day it will be possible to order this item for delivery in time for Christmas. If you are still in need for the perfect gift for a Harry Potter fan, now is the time to buy! And remember, these DVDs will be pulled from the market on Dec. 30th, so this is the last week they will be available! You won’t be able to buy these next year, so go order your copy today!