Prisoner of Azkaban Chapters 21 - 22

Wouldn't They have Known?

So we finally find out how Hermione has been getting to all her classes. She can time travel! To be honest, I hate time travel plot lines. They're rarely done well, they're a cop-out of resolving the plot any other way, and they hurt my simple brain if they're too complicated. That said, I really liked this part of the story. It doesn't get too far-fetched or overly-complicated.

The great mystery that stumps Snape and Fudge is how Black managed to escape Hogwarts again. Earlier in the book, McGonagall mentions that she had to get all sorts of permission from the ministry for Hermione to have a time-turner. If the ministry knew she had it, why wasn't Fudge alerted that she had it? Someone dropped the ball.


"Read My Lips. No New Taxes."

Fudge is such a polititian. As soon as word reaches him that Black escaped again, his immediate worry is that the Daily Prophet will get word and that it will make him look bad. His first measure of damage control isn't dispatching Dementors and Aurors to go after Black, it's trying to save face. Lame. I like that this fictional character is a reflection of characters we actually see in real life.


Let's Have a Chat

I love the little chats that Dumbledore and Harry have at the end of each book. Here, Dumbledore speaks a bit prophetically. Dumbledore says that Harry will be glad he saved Pettigrew's life, and that he doubts that Voldemort will want a servant in the debt of Harry Potter. This will prove to be true in the 7th book. Dumbledore puts so much stock in love. He knows that it is one of the most ancient and powerful parts of magic. Love, trust, loyalty, and sacrifice are all things Dumbledore values most highly. Strangely, it wasn't always that way in Dumbledore's life. I think it was because of the tragic incidents in Dumbledore's life that he began to value those traits. I believe it was penance for the sins of his early life. As we'll see in the 6th and 7th books that the memories of his past misdeeds haunted him the rest of his life.

Death.... Again

Here again, we have more discussion of death as Dumbledore speaks to Harry of his father. The Harry Potter books are not exactly religious in nature, yet it is clear that Rowling created characters that believe in life after death. It is Voldemort's disbelief in life after death that makes him paranoid about death and obsessed with immortality. Dumbledore says that even though James Potter is dead, that he lives on through Harry. This idea transcends many religions... that those who have passed on never truely leave us. Even if Dumbledore doesn't believe this himself, it serves to give Harry hope. With so much tragedy in his life, he needs something like that to hold on to.


Quiz Time!!!!!!!!!!!

It's everyone's favorite time again... Quiz time! We'll start easy.

1.) What is MacNair's former occupation?

A.) Care of Magical Creatures professor?

B.) Head of Magical law enforcement?

C.) Head of the Disposal of Dangerous Magical Creatures Committee?

D.) Death Eater?



2.) What is MacNair's first name?

A.) Warwick

B.) Warren

C.) Walden

D.) Waldo


3.) Where was Sirius Black being held captive inside Hogwarts?

A.) Professor Flitwick's office

B.) Astronomy Tower

C.) North Tower

D.) Professor Trelawny's office


What is the appropriate response to this statement? "Man, I have to go to the bathroom!"

A.) Expecto Patronum!

B.) Mischief Managed.

C.) "Can't you hold it?"

D.) "You know the law Miss Granger, you must not be seen."


I'll give out the answers in a couple of days. ("Three turns should do it. Good luck.")

Prisoner of Azkaban Chapters 18-20

It All Comes Together

These chapters are difficult to analyze because it's the climax of the story and the majority of the time is spent either with action or explaining the previous 17 chapters. Since she already does that, that doesn't leave much for me to do. I'll try pointing out little things I saw in these chapters.

So, Sirius is innocent, huh? When I first read the books, I didn't see that one coming. Rowling does a great job creating a wonderful plot twist. It seems that plot twists, whether in books, TV shows, or movies tend to come out of no where without much "meat" to back them up. Confused? I'll explain what I mean. An effective plot twist isn't just throwing in a surprise plot element from left field. It must have supporting evidence. Anyone could have written that Sirius turned out to be a good guy, but in this case, there is plenty of evidence throughout the book to back it up. For example, people in Azkaban heard Sirius muttering, "He's at Hogwarts." Everyone interpreted that to mean that he was talking about Harry, but it's totally plausible that he was talking about Pettigrew. It all makes sense.



I Would Like to Speak with Harry and Hermione Alone

One subtle, but important character trait of Dumbledore is that he always observes the "niceties." He's always patient and polite. One subtle example of this is in the way he refers to Harry and Hermione. Snape always refers to Harry as Potter. Hermione, to most professors is Miss Granger. Dumbledore does the courtesy of referring to them by their first names. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe there is another faculty member except perhaps Lupin who refers to Harry and Hermione by their first names. To me, this symbolizes so much about Dumbledore. By calling them by their first names, he's bringing himself down to their level. Instead of speaking down to school children, Dumbledore treats them with the respect that he would expect the students to treat others with. In return, he expects the same respect be given to teachers, i.e. Harry referring to Snape as Professor Snape. This applies to all beings as well. Dumbledore would extend the same courtesy to the minister of magic as he would a house elf. It's these small details that combine to form the greater picture of who Dumbledore is.

Prisoner of Azkaban Chapters 16-17

Oh Man, I Hate it When My Tortoise Still has a Spout for a Tail!

Reading about Harry and his exams makes me get test anxiety all over again. I love how Rowling uses real human emotions to make something imaginary like magic education seem believable. Anyone can relate to having pre-test anxiety or seeming overwhelmed by course workload. The details about magic that Rowling includes seem like they came from some encyclopedia. The subjects themselves seem like logical things one would need to learn to become a witch or wizard. I just think it's fantastic.

On a personal note, I just got done taking a 6 hour National Board Dental Examination on Thursday and that was brutal. Even with that, I've got nothing on what our trio had to do. They had to stay up until midnight to take their Astronomy exam on Tuesday night and then take History of Magic the next morning.

Death



J.K. Rowling has come right out and said that death is a big theme that she deals with in the books. Death gets addressed in many different ways: ghosts, memories, where we go when we die, dealing with loss, ways to conquer death, and the worth of the soul. There are many deaths in the series and I really respect Rowling for not shying away from death, but embracing that it happens and that the good guys sometimes don't escape it. I also appreciate the mature approach she uses to deal with death, despite her young audience. In my opinion, they way Rowling deals with real human emotions is one of her greatest strengths as a writer, especially given that this is a fantasy novel.

Up to this point in the series, Harry has not encountered someone he knows dying while he's been at Hogwarts. Even though Harry's parents obviously snuffed it, we weren't "there" to experience it. Buckbeak's execution is really our trio's first exposure to death. Rowling spends a lot of time building up to this event and I think this is to set the stage for deaths that will occur later in the series. This is by no means the most significant death of the series, nor is it the one that impacted me the most (I'll let you know when we get to the death that impacted me the most.)

Sirius Black

So we finally get to our "showdown" with Sirius Black. When I first read this book, I was saying to myself, "The climax of this book isn't like the first two books at all." There's no Voldemort, there's no Horcrux-destroying fang! It's wonderful to see the series keep the reader on their toes.



When Harry has his want pointed at Sirius, Crookshanks interferes by sitting on Black's chest. Again, this is a point when Hermione should have done her research on Kneazles. She should have known that they are excellent judges of character. On a seperate note, doesn't it seem odd that Harry is about to kill Sirius, yet he doesn't even know the killing curse yet? We don't learn that one until the next book. I'm not sure what Harry was planning on doing to Black, but it couldn't have been that bad. Harry thinks he's so bad.

Prisoner of Azkaban Chapters 14-15

Snape, Snape, Severus Snape



Once again, we find our little hero in a spot of trouble with our favorite potions master. This time, he's accused of being in Hogsmeade without permission. Our newly-christened teen needs to learn how to lie better. Having a staring contest with Severus Snape is not the best way to convince him of your innocence, Mr. Potter. Harry thinks that by looking Snape in the eyes, he will better be able to portray honesty. Wrong-o. We'll learn in the 5th book that this is a tactically inferior move.

In this particular instance, I actually agree with Snape. With Black on the loose, Harry shouldn't have been skulking around Hogsmeade unprotected. Then again, how exciting would the book be if Harry spent all his free time in his room brooding about how unfair life is. Oh, wait, that's the 5th book.

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs



When Snape summons Lupin to his dungeons to probe about the map, there's a lot of between-the-lines dialogue that is both said and unsaid.

1. Snape suggests that Harry got the map "directly from the manufacturers." - this suggests that either Harry or Lupin know who the "manufacturers" are.

2. Lupin asks Harry if he knows the "manufacturers." - Here, Lupin knows that Harry doesn't know who they are, but is betting on Harry's ignorance to get him out trouble.

3. The map insults Snape when he tries to get it to reveal its secrets. - This suggests that those who made the map know Snape.

4. We already knew that Lupin knew James and that Snape knew James. It only makes logical sense that Snape knew Lupin before Lupin became a teacher. I don't think Harry, at this point, puts these puzzle pieces together.

5. Because Snape and Lupin knew each other and that the makers of the map knew Snape, it would make sense that Lupin knows what the map is. I think Snape knows that Lupin knows what it is, and I'm pretty sure Lupin knew that Snape knew. Neither of them wanted to show their "cards" in front of Harry. The fact that Harry gets away with this and that Lupin pulls one over on Snape just increases Snapes hatred of both of them.

Watch Out ESPN

Rowling is actually a pretty good sports commentator. She not only has to balance the action, but has to incorporate Lee's commentating as well as what's going on inside Harry's head. With all that going on, I could see the action easily getting bogged down with a lot of words, but Rowling does a great job of keeping the action going. With the number of Quidditch matches that happen during the series, it becomes a difficult to make the matches interesting and unique. Rowling does a great job of avoiding the cliche and individualizing each match. I think it's great that Harry doesn't win every match. It's pretty "Rocky-esque."

Prisoner of Azkaban Chapters 12-13

Ron Ruined It!

At one point in Chapter 12, Hermione was about to explain something about Professor Lupin, but Ron, being the thick twit that he is interrupts Hermione so that they never find out what she knew. It turns out that what she knew would have a big impact on the end of the story, but I won't give it away.

Captain Clueless

As Harry and Ron are walking back from Quidditch practice one evening, they notice Crookshanks in the distance. The author notes that Crookshanks disappeared by a certain tree. Come on super sleuths, pay attention to where the cat went! It seems like in this book, more than any other, Harry and Ron don't pay attention to things around them that could give them clues to the mystery surrounding Sirius Black. It seems that Harry really isn't focused on the man who is out to kill him. I sure would be. I would want to know as much about him as possible.

Cho Changers and Cedric Shin-Diggory


Once again, we see the pattern Rowling uses of introducing characters before they become relevant to the overall plot. Cho gets introduced to the series in this chapter, but really doesn't play a larger role until the next two books. It's nice to re-read the books and say, "Wow, I didn't realize this character was talked about in this book." Cho isn't the only character who will become more relevant that is introduced early. Cedric Diggory is also revealed in this book as the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain.


Worthy of note here is the mention that the actor who portrayed Cedric in the movies is none other than the undead celebate vampire, Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen). Thanks to Sam O. and Roger P, we've come up with some great alternate names for Cedric: Undead Cedric, Deadric Diggory, Edward Cufflepuff, Ced-rigor-mortis Diggory, Grave Diggory, "Avada Kedavra" Cullen, and Dead-ward Cullen.

Prisoner of Azkaban Chapters 10-11

For Diane O.... because you so love my blog.

Tests of Loyalty

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I have sure seen a decrease in loyalty in our society. Gone are the days of an entire city being devoted to one sports team. Seldom do you find consumers shopping at a single store out of loyalty (Ahem, Walmart.) And rarely do you see loyalty to a political figure and going even further, loyalty of that political figure to his or her office. People these days even jump ship on religions like they're fads. I can tell by the way she writes, that JK Rowling values loyalty as this is one of the major themes (and my favorite) that comes out throughout the book. Bonds of loyalty and trust and tried, tested, and sometimes even broken. In Chapter 10 of this book, Harry finds himself in the hospital wing because of a fall from his broomstick. Harry, being the moody teen he is, dwells on his overwhelming problems: his broken broomstick, quidditch, the issue with the dementors, the grim, and the fugitive, Sirius Black. We get a firsthand look inside Harry's head because he's the protagonist of the story, but what is not to be overlooked is that while Harry is lying in the hospital wing, Ron and Hermione "left Harry's bedside only at night." I don't think this is a superfluous tidbit added by Rowling; rather, I prefer to believe she did it intentionally to reenforce the theme of loyalty because their loyalty to Harry will be severely tested later in the series.



Keeping with the theme of loyalty, we see in this book that although Dumbledore is an extremely accomplished and powerful wizard, he has earned the respect of others. It has been said that the true test of character is how you treat your subordinates.... or something like that. We've already seen acts of loyalty demonstrated by Hagrid in earlier books and I'll reitterate those as more examples come later on. In this chapter, we see a demonstration of loyalty to Dumbledore by McGonagall. During her conversation with Fudge, Flitwick, and Hagrid in the Three Broomsticks, McGonagall unquestionably backs Dumbledore when Fudge mentions the dementors being angry with Dumbledore.

Christmas Bells are Ringing... blah blah blah blah blah blah.

During the Christmas feast, Professor Trelawny notices the absence of Professor Lupin. Dumbledore gives the excuse that he's ill. However, Professor Lupin has not been seen in the hospital wing... suspicious. Perhaps he knew he was going to be sick, and perhaps this is why he didn't want to start anti-dementor lessons with Harry until after break. I don't think he was really busy... hmmmm.

It's a Freaking Broomstick

It takes true talent to write about a plain object like a broomstick and make the readers yearn for one the same way they'd pine for a new sports car. As I was reading about Harry and Ron's excitement over the Firebolt, I had to stop and remind myself that it's a stupid broomstick she's describing. There is no such thing as a Firebolt, yet I found myself jealous that Harry had one and I didn't... :(

Harry Potter vs. Percy Jackson

Hey sports fans! During my little "Potter Hiatus," I took the chance to read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. If you don't know anything about them, I'll give a brief description. Percy is the son of Poseidon... and saves the day. The End. Told you it would be brief :)

A colleague of mine at the dental school recommended this 5-book series because he claims they're similar to Harry Potter, and he knowing what a rabid HP fan I am, suggested I give them a try. So I'm posting this as a book review for any of yous who are considering giving them a try.













VS






As a stand-alone series, it's a pretty fun and easy read, but comparing it to Harry Potter is like comparing the contents of my daughter's diaper to the Mona Lisa. My biggest beef with the series is that it doesn't grow and mature like the Harry Potter series does. What I mean by that is the first Percy Jackson book reads very similar to the first Harry Potter book. Both main characters are just learning about the special worlds they are a part of. In the second Harry Potter book, Harry and his friends mature and the overall plot grows in depth and complexity. In the second Percy Jackson book, however, new characters are added, but we don't get a maturing of the characters even though they age along a similar timeline as the HP characters do. Both of these series are aimed at young adult readers, but the difference between the two is that the last book in the HP series is aimed at an older, more mature audience while the Percy Jackson series stays at that 11-13 year old range.

Another problem I have with the Percy Jackson series is that the characters don't react to dangerous situations like the average person would. When faced with impending doom, Percy still manages to pop off a few wisecracks or puns. Facing the same situation, Harry deals with his emotions in a much more real and understandable way. I think the way the characters are treated in the Percy Jackson series does a disservice to the readers. Yes, the pre-teens will still love the books, but in my opinion, they won't be able to relate to the characters on any kind of personal level. In contrast, in HP, a lot of people can relate to someone like Ron whose accomplishments are overshadowed by those of his older siblings. He feels that he has to take the backseat to Harry and sometimes Hermione. Some people can also relate to being brainy like Hermione, but also being aware of lacking some social grace and being the target of scrutiny. Some may even be able to relate to being thrust in the spotlight like Harry despite a multitude of insecurities.

The Percy Jackson series does have some redeeming qualities. The books are very action packed and I never felt that they dragged in any regard. The author does a good job of keeping the plot moving forward. Another good thing is that I actually learned quite a bit about Greek Mythology. The author also does a good job of not "Disney-fying" the Greek Gods. For example, he doesn't shy away from the fact that the gods had extra-marital affairs and that even the gods are flawed and don't always do "good."

Overall, the series was a quick and enjoyable read and I would recommend them for a light-hearted adventure. I would not, however, recommend starting a blog discovering the depths and complexities of Percy Jackson.