Category Archives: Children

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

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Read: 24 January, 2013

The The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Rowling expands on “The Tale of the Three Brothers” that plays such an important role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Presented with it are four other tales – fairy tales similar to the works of the Grimm Brothers, but taking place in the Harry Potter universe. After each, Rowling adds a passage from Dumbledore that discusses the history and symbolism of each tale.

I’m unsure about the intended audience of this book. It seems to me that the age group that would most enjoy the fairy tales will be too young to have read through the whole Harry Potter series, and the stories don’t have much to offer above any other fairy tales without the context of the Harry Potter books behind them. The second portion of the book, the Dumbledore analyses, would not appeal to this age group at all. In fact, the Dumbledore’s analyses have very little offer other than a (much welcome) revisit to the series.

Personally, I think that I’ll try reading the stories (without Dumbledore’s analyses) to my son when he gets into his fairy tale phase, before we attempt the Harry Potter books. Perhaps it will add an interesting dimension when he gets to Deathly Hallows!

I think that Beedle the Bard serves best as that “little bit extra” for the Harry Potter fan still mourning the end of the series. And since the proceeds go to support a children’s charity, there’s really no reason not to indulge.

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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

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Read: 22 December, 2012

Jacob Portman is wealthy, has no friends, and has the most interesting grandfather. Grandpa Portman had escaped from the Nazis in Poland, made it to an orphanage on a tiny Welsh island, joined the war efforts in World War II, performed in a circus, and travelled the world. Growing up, Jacob loved to hear his grandfather’s stories, particularly about the peculiar children in the orphanage. That is, until he decided that none of it was real.

Miss Peregrine is a delightful story about grief after the death of a loved one, and the conflicting emotions of trying to find out who, exactly, the person you so loved for so many years really was (and of the risk of finding out things that you may wish you had never known). It’s also about magic, friendship, responsibility, and the downsides of immortality.

The book was apparently inspired by looking at old photographs collected by the author and acquaintances. The special gimmick of the novel is that these photographs are integrated throughout the text. It adds something to the story, I think – helping to create an atmosphere. That isn’t to say that the text requires the images. The quality of the writing is very good, and could easily stand alone without the use of a gimmick.

Without giving too much away, I will say that the ending very much feels like it ought to be the middle. I think it’s great that we were given so much time to get to know Jacob before the action started, but it does mean that the book ends with something of a cliff hanger. The good news is that there’s apparently going to be a sequel released sometime in 2013, so we shouldn’t have to wait too long to find out what happens!

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Series: Harry Potty by J.K. Rowling

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I’d read The Prisoner of Azkaban before, but without having it situated in the larger narrative, it just didn’t resonate. So, instead, I focused on the plot issues and dismissed the series.

I’m very glad that I decided to give it a second chance. The series does have a lot of issues, especially in the early books (it does seem that Rowling came into her own as the series progressed – or perhaps her publishers finally saw her as worth the expense and gave her a better editor), but all of that is overshadowed by the interesting worldbuilding and great characters.

One of the things I particularly enjoyed about the series is how it seems to “grow up” through the volumes. Books one and two are very innocent, focusing on the wonder of the magical world and on the friendship between Harry, Ron, and Hermione. By book three, the world starts to become more dangerous, and the reader is introduced to more complex relationships (Hermione acting rude, but it having to do with a personal issue and nothing directly relating to Harry).

By book four, puberty sets in, and the friendship starts to morph as the characters become more gendered. From there, the plots and the relationships between the characters become more complex, the baddies more scary, and the books themselves become longer.

This was masterfully done, so that a child starting to read at the appropriate age and spacing the books out can really feel like they are growing up along with the characters.

Teachable Moments

I liked that the series provides so many “teachable moments.” Topics are raised, but answers aren’t necessarily forced or spelled out, so it gives parents and children reading the series together a great opportunity to discuss the issues together. For example, Barty Crouch is so obsessed with catching baddies that he starts to become a baddie himself, which could very easily lead to a discussion on how the pursuit of justice can be taken too far.

I also enjoyed the fact that success in the series so often depends on hard work, rather than on natural talent. For a series specifically about a magical birth right, this was especially interesting. Throughout the books, Harry struggles with fame and the perception that he is naturally powerful and can accomplish anything, but the reality is that he still needs to work quite hard at learning magic, and he must accept help from others who know more than he does or are more talented in certain areas.

Hermione

Hermione is a fantastic character, and a great female role model. She’s part of Team Harry, of course, but throughout the series, we keep getting hints about a life lived entirely outside of HarryWorld. She has friendships among the other girls that Harry has no access to (and frequently has no knowledge of), her relationship with Viktor is played out off-scene, she has interests and passions that do not intersect with Harry’s, etc. She doesn’t just fawn over Harry in the way that Ron does, but rather has a private life of her own that even the reader – who has access only to Harry’s perspective – sees only in glimpses.

As a girl, she’s the perfect mix of smart, capable, nerdy, not overly concerned with her appearance, yet she is still feminine. She has friendships with girls on a “girl level” that Harry can’t understand, she has a relationship, she has crushes (but is not crushed by them), she pretties herself up when she chooses to… She has a solid identity, of which her gender is a part but that is not defined by her gender.

All in all, I found her to be one of the most well-rounded and deep characters that I’ve seen.

The Movies

Not a fan. The actors are great and very well chosen for their roles, but the press of covering too much material in too little time means that they barely have the time to read their lines before a scene change, and haven’t the opportunity to explore their characters. This made them all feel terribly rushed.

There were also artefacts of the books cropping up in weird places – for example, in The Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore asks Harry to accompany him when destroying a horcrux (as opposed to Harry begging to go in the book), yet later, Dumbledore tells Harry that he “promised” to take him along.

I don’t automatically poo-pooh silver screen adaptations, but in a case like this – when the books are so popular and well-loved, I don’t think that it’s possible to make a good movie from them. There’s just too much pressure to remain faithful to the books, which prevents the directors and characters from having any input of their own into the work, making it little more than a pale re-enactment.

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A Book Dragon by Donn Kushner

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Read: 30 September, 2012

Dragons must have a treasure to guard, or so says Nonesuch’s grandmother. But when Nonesuch finds himself alone and getting smaller, he embraces his new size and finds a new sort of treasure.

Over the course of the novel, Nonesuch travels through a number of time periods, stopping for longer stays in a Medieval monastery, and then again in the modern era. On the way, he passes through the War of the Roses, the Black Plague, the Fire of London, the dawn of the Age of Reason, and World War II (through the perspective of a Jewish character who left Germany for America).

As I was reading, I found myself thinking of how useful this book would be to help contextualize and introduce a number of different historical periods. This would be especially useful for homeschoolers to help provide a “path” through a lesson, for example.

I also found it useful in that it was relatively short and simply, but introduced more complex concepts and vocabulary. For that reason, I’d say it’s a great resource for young readers who are just getting into novel-length works.

Unfortunately, not a whole lot happens in the novel, and I have to wonder if it will keep a child’s attention. Most of the story involves Nonesuch exploring some new environment, complete with pages of description. Although it’s possible that if it’s incorporated into a lesson plan, this deficiency might be compensated for by the extra-libris activities.

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The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Read: 24 September, 2012

The hobbit Bilbo Baggins is rather surprised to receive thirteen dwarves and a wizard in his sitting room, though he reluctantly agrees to accompany them on a grand adventure.

The greatest thing that struck me about The Hobbit is the writing. Tolkien is a true storyteller, employing many of the conventions of oral tradition (such as directly addressing the audience), while at the same time deftly transferring it to the written form. It made the book very enjoyable to read and I look forward to reading it aloud to the kiddo.

Since George R.R. Martin often gets called “the American Tolkien,” it seems appropriate to make a brief comparison. I noted when reading the Song of Fire and Ice series that the world felt populated. In that series, it was the characters that gave that impression – both in their number and in their description. In The Hobbit, I also felt like it’s a full and populated world, but it’s the history and the extra detail of character movements outside of the story that gave me that impression (such as when Gandalf leaves the party to fight a necromancer). So while the setting didn’t have the believability of Westeros, it at least had a sort of fullness.

That being said, the descriptions of the dwarves did make me feel rather uncomfortable. Their culture and history was clearly inspired by Jewish history and culture, which would be fine if it were not for Tolkien’s frequent mentions of the dwarves’ large noses and his relentless references to Thorin’s gold lust (causing him to rather start a war and possibly die than part with even a small portion of his treasure – even when he acknowledges that the portion rightfully belongs to someone else).

But that aside, it was a lovely and well-told story, and I am looking forward to reading it to the kiddo. Even the Jewish business wasn’t so overtly hateful that I’d not want to read the story, but rather provides a good “teachable moment” to talk about the more subtle – and insidious - forms of bigotry.

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Harry Potter #7: The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

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Read: 28 March, 2012

The final book in the Harry Potter series is markedly different from the other six. Rather than return to Hogwarts for their final year, Harry, Ron, and Hermione drop out of school  to focus on finding the Horcruxes and destroying Lord Voldemort.

The book is fairly evenly divided into two parts. In the first, the friends have their mettle tested. They are given ample reason to doubt Dumbledore and find themselves without any real way forward on the path that he’s set them on. On the other hand, they find out about the Deathly Hallows, which could be used to make them stronger than Lord Voldemort.

In the second part, the battle between Dumbledore’s Army and Voldemort’s forces wages over Hogwarts.

The Deathly Hallows is the culmination of the message of love and friendship that has been so central to the series. Harry must put his faith in Dumbledore despite the evidence, and he must be willing to die for his friends just as his mother once died for him. As Dumbledore says, “If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love” – and only this power can conquer him.

It’s a lovely, if occasionally problematic, message.

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Redwall #9: Redwall by Brian Jacques

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Read: 4 June, 2012

I have tons of YA reading suggestions for girls, but my knowledge of “boy books” is fairly limited. Since fate put me in charge of a boy’s intellectual development and entertainment instead of a girl’s, I’ve had to do a bit of remedial work. So that’s the context of my reading of Redwall – it’s been recommended to me as a good book for boys, so I’m giving it a taste and seeing if it’s something the Little Dude might enjoy when he starts appreciating books for something other than flavour.

The book is for a slightly younger audience than I had thought, though this isn’t a bad thing. It fills the gap quite neatly between the more kid-friendly adventure books and the more ambiguous and complex books for older teens.

The story follows Matthias, a young mouse and ward of Redwall Abbey. He is immature and clumsy, and he isn’t very sure of his worth until the abbey is attached by Cluny the Scourge. This creates the need for a saving hero, and Matthias is able to step in and become a sort of reincarnation of Martin the Warrior – a legendary heroic figure.

While all of the abbey’s inhabitants are always very kind to Matthias, I couldn’t help but feel that there was room for him to grow until external pressures created one. Had Cluny never come to the abbey, Matthias would never have been granted consideration as anything other than a clumsy little mouse. I can definitely understand how this would appeal to children, especially since I remember feeling the same stifling. So seeing Matthias be granted the opportunity to step up and be a hero is a great vicarious fulfilment of a common childhood fantasy.

Which is all well and good, but it reinforces the message that a child cannot earn respect on his own and that adults will not give it. Rather, all parties must simply wait until the right opportunity is created for them. That just made me kinda sad.

That being said, I did enjoy the story. There’s a lot of action and adventure, and characters like Constance do show that men and women can be friends and share mutual respect, and that women can be powerful even while maintaining their femininity. This wasn’t written for girls (made all the more obvious by the fact that there are no female characters that a young reader might identify with), but it did have some worthwhile lessons for the various possible relationships that men might have with women beyond the romantic. I do wish that Cornflower was a little more assertive, although I did appreciate that she was seen as an essential contributor to the war effort – albeit in a very traditionally feminine way.

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Harry Potter #6: The Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

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Read: 10 May, 2012

With Harry’s occlumency lessons with Professor Snape a resounding failure, he begins lessons with Dumbledore instead. Together, they explore memories collected by Dumbledore in an attempt to better understand Lord Voldemort.

Meanwhile, Harry has found an old textbook filled with the notes of the previous owner – known only as the Half-Blood Prince. The notes help Harry excel in his Potions class, but after the encounter with the evil book in The Chamber of Secrets, Hermione has some reservations about using such a powerful book.

There was some interesting play with morality in this volume. Not to give too much away for the three people left on earth who haven’t read the series yet, but Harry has to cause harm to someone he loves for the greater good. It’s an extremely powerful scene that marks the tone for the rest of the series.

Seriously, I was bawling.

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Harry Potter #5: The Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

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Read: 3 May, 2012

The fight against Lord Voldemort is complicated when the Ministry of Magic – suspecting Dumbledore of making up Harry’s story of Voldemort’s return in an attempt to take over the Ministry for himself – gets involved. And, of course, another year means another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and this one is the worst yet!

One thing that has really impressed me about the Harry Potter series is that they seem to grow with their readers. The first few books were geared towards children. Now that Harry is in his mid-teens, the plots are becoming more complex, the stakes are higher, and the issues tackled are more difficult.

In Order of the Phoenix, we finally drop the idea that the world is divided neatly into those who are good and Deatheaters. We knew who the baddies were and, whenever Harry didn’t like someone (such as Draco Malfoy), it often turned out that s/he was in some way associated with Baddy-in-Chief Voldemort. But now, we encounter the Ministry – a group that is misguided and often takes a stand on the wrong side of the issues, but isn’t ‘Capital E’ Evil.

Rowling did some very interesting things with the theme of identity in Order of the Phoenix. In addressing the issue of bullying – which has previously been covered with Harry as the victim and Draco Malfoy as the bully – she now shows us Harry’s father (with whom Harry identifies) as the bully and Professor Snape (with whom Draco is frequently paired) as the victim. Harry is therefore forced to confront, at least in hypothetical form, the idea of himself as a bully, and to take a stand against possible self.

Rowling further challenges Harry by putting him inside Voldemort’s head, making him become Voldemort, so that he must actively choose to define himself as a goody.

Because the books are from Harry’s perspective, we often see his friendships as very one-sided; Ron and Hermione exist to support him, Dumbledore exists to mentor him, Professor Snape exists to challenge him, etc. Hermione has always been something of an exception as we see hints of her friendships outside of the Harry-Ron-Hermione circle – friendships with other girls and, more recently, her relationship with Viktor. In this volume, Ron starts to find a separate self as well in his love for Quidditch. It was great to finally see him grow a little.

I love the way that Rowling captures the reality of being a teenager. Harry’s exchange with Professor Umbrage over learning practical skills versus learning just enough to pass a test could have been lifted almost word for word from my own classroom experiences. His nervousness and awkwardness as he attempts to start a relationship with Cho Chang was far more familiar than I would have liked as well.

The last thing I wanted to comment on is Rowling’s skill as an author. I complained (a lot) during the first three books about how contrived her mysteries were. The plot moves forward, seems to get stuck, and then an utterly ridiculous overheard conversation or found item allows it to move forward again. She seems to have largely grown out of this by the time she came to write Order of the Phoenix. The plot construction has now matured enough to have largely caught up with the exciting world and fascinating characters.

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Harry Potter #4: The Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

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Read: 17 April, 2012

After decades without one, a new Triwizard Tournament has been announced and Hogwarts is hosting. Harry is too young to compete but, much to everyone’s surprise – including his own – his name is selected as an additional champion. Harry suspects Voldemort’s influence, but he must first survive the competition’s three deadly tasks.

So far in the series, Harry&co. have been children, and their friendship has been fairly uncomplicated. Hermione was dealing with a lot of stress in The Prisoner of Azkaban, but they’ve otherwise been able to depend on each other while they face external foes. In The Goblet of Fire, however, one of the enemies they face is on the inside – puberty. Suddenly, gender becomes important, and the dynamic between Hermione and her two male friends starts to shift and require redefining. All this is further complicated when the Tournament brings with it the Yule Ball, forcing Ron and Harry to find dates.

I found The Goblet of Fire to be the most self-aware of the series so far. While Harry’s fame has been an issue throughout the series (and the reason he was placed with the Dursley family in the first place), this is the first time that it has become such a central theme. Harry – who seems to always be at the centre of everything – is contrasted with Ron, a youngest son starved for attention.

One thing I love about this series is how many “teachable moments” there are. Issues are raised and attention called to them, but solutions aren’t explicitly given. This leaves a lot of room for the reading of the series to be a family activity, with the opportunity for plenty of discussion.

The book does suffer from many of the same plotting issues that I’ve already covered, with Harry’s grown-worthy chance discoveries that just happen to move the plot forward and exactly the right time. Nevertheless, the series is strong enough in other areas to compensate for this one failing.

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