And the Magic Continues

I'm excited to share that my daughter and I are now into the 2nd Harry Potter book!  Even better, the audio on hold is now available so my commute to campus will help my progress (and the 4-hours I will be in the car tomorrow when I dive to Ft. Wayne and back for a presentation :)   What I wanted to point out this week is the use of transitions.  In a book series, the author has a difficult task, which is recapping the story from the previous book(s).  It's been a while since I've read books in a series.  I found Rowling is a master and embedding the history of the story within the first few chapters of the book.  

In chapter 2, Harry gets a warning from a house elf named Dobby.  Dobby talks in third person-kind of like Elmo in Sesame Street.  Rowling is able to weave it the tension between Harry and the "you know who" (aka Voldemort) that began in the first book and will continue through the plot of this narrative.  

"“Dobby heard tell,” he said hoarsely, “that Harry Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time, just weeks ago . . . that Harry Potter escaped yet again.”

Here you can see that this opens up the conversation to revisit the climax in the first story.  Well, Dobby has a warning.  Harry is NOT to go back to Hogwarts because bad misfortune is lurking.  This sets the tension and now the plot thickens!  

On another note, for anybody who has read the series, Isn't the Weasley family just hilarious!  

Wow, this week I finished The Girl Who Drank the Moon--so much emotion in this Newbery winning novel.  

The anticipation--as Luna approached 13 years, I felt the anticipation of her magic ready to burst!  

Pain--If felt the mother's pain for the loss of her child, being taken to be sacrificed unnecessarily.  

This story is so well plotted, it became impossible to put down.  She develops strong female characters.. all who at some point in the story carry a supernatural ability.  It's about growing up, finding your center, and then your way back home.  

I'm noticing the swing in narrators lately in the books I've been reading.  In Ch8, the narrator begins to speak on behalf of the Protectorate. Sharing the cultural beliefs and background for their traditions.   This craft of using narrator switching to reveal points of view is one I would share, examine, and implement in a writer's workshop classroom.  This reminds me of Wonder, in which chapter transition to various viewpoints.  

I found this review comment and found it sums the text up nicely, 

The swiftly paced, highly imaginative plot draws a myriad of threads together to form a web of characters, magic, and integrated lives. Spiritual overtones encompass much of the storytelling with love as the glue that holds it all together. VERDICT An expertly woven and enchanting offering for readers who love classic fairy tales.

–D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH"

Until next week!

  

Moonlight Magic

This 2017 Newbery Award winning book has been on my reading "bucket" list for some time, and when I saw a digital copy was available in Overdrive, without needing to place a hold, I jumped on it! 

The story begins in a town known as "Protectorate" which is run by a group called the elders.  Every year the people of Protectorate leave a baby to be sacrificed to the witch (creepy right?!?), only the witch is kind.  When the sacrificed baby accidentally drinks in the moonlight, the witch names her "Luna" and decides to raise the child, taking her home to her friends, a swamp monster, and tiny dragon.

So, within the first five chapters, I am making many connections to other novels.  When I read about the elders and I read about Antain, the elder in training (who seems to be the only boy who questions this insane practice!), I think of The Giver and connect Antain to Jonan's role in The Giver.   When I read about Luna who, thanks to the moonlight, has been enmagicked and unaware of her magical abilities, I think of Harry Potter, who lived until the early adolescence not knowing he was a wizard.  Like Harry Potter, Luna also has a mark on her forehead-- a crescent moon--similar to Harry's lightning bolt.  

I can't help but wonder how inspired this author was by many of the wonderful novels, and perhaps folk tales, that perhaps paved the path for this magical plot.  

I anticipate Luna's magic becoming a big complication to this plot, and of course, the inquisitive mind of Antain playing a role in her discovery.  

More to come next week!

Dr. Kinglsey