The Doll People

The Doll People is a wonderful book written by Ann M. Martin and Laura Goodwin. In the beginning, we learn about the life of Annabelle Doll. She was made in 1900, and her family and their dollhouse was a birthday present for Grandma Katherine's mother, and now belongs to Kate, an 8 year old girl. Annabelle has a Mama, a Papa, an Uncle, Auntie Sarah, a little brother named Bobby, and a baby sister named Kate. They are all porcelain dolls, and they are alive. They took the Oath of the Dolls when after they were made, like most dolls, and no human knows that their dolls are alive. If a human sees a doll move, that doll goes into Doll State. This is where the doll cannot move, and is like a "real" doll. This lasts for 24 hours. There is also something called Permanent Doll State. This is where a doll does something that so badly jeopardizes doll kind that the doll is in Doll State forever. Now Annabelle is getting bored. Her family can move about their house only when the Palmers (the family that owns the Doll Family) aren't home.  

Annabelle has never left the doll house, but Auntie Sarah used to be gone for long periods of time. Auntie Sarah hasn't been seen since 1955, and no one knows what happened to her. When Annabelle finds Auntie Sarah's diary one day, she finds out that Auntie Sarah used to travel out of the dollhouse and go on adventures. She wrote all about the different kinds of spiders she saw, and drew descriptive pictures. Annabelle Doll wants to go on an adventure now! She has wanted to leave the doll house for years, and she finally convinces her nervous and anxious parents that she, Bobby, and Papa could safely leave the dollhouse one night and be back before morning. They go to Nora's (Kate's 5 year old sister) room. In the closet they find a doll family that the Palmers are giving to Nora for her birthday. They are plastic, modern, and want to have fun, fun, fun! They have a child each age that the Doll family has a child, and the same genders. Tiffany and Annabelle quickly become best friends, and they gain permission to travel around the Palmer's house at night. They decide to look for Auntie Sarah. Soon, mysterious notes begin to appear at the end of Auntie Sarah's diary, ones that Annabelle was sure that weren't there before.  

Where is Auntie Sarah? Who is writing those notes? And will Annabelle and Tiffany find Auntie Sarah before Captain the Cat finds her?? The ending of The Doll People is fantastic! I hope you enjoy this book!

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

J.K. Rowling's book The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a wonderful book.  This book ties into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series.  In that book, Hermonie recieves a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, left for her from Dumbledore.  She reads them all, and realizes that they are fairy tales for wizarding children, like our Cinderella or Goldilocks.  One of those stories has an enormous impact on what Harry, Ron, and Hermonie do in book seven, but I won't go into detail here in case someone hasn't read it yet! (But you should, Harry Potter is a really great series!) Anyways, there are different stories in this book, from Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump to The Wizard and the Hopping Pot.  All of the stories have a message, and there is an insert written by Dumbledore after each story.  Dumbledore talks about what he thinks about the story and the message, and also gives us a history about the impact that particular story had on wizarding society.  Some stories were liked by the wizarding population (think the Fountain of Fair Fortune), while some of the stories were considered too gruesome for wizard children (like the Warlock and the Hairy Heart).  I really enjoyed these stories, and I'm glad that J.K. Rowling decided to write this book.  It really lets us get a better look at the wizards of Great Britain, and lets us come into a part of their lives we haven't really visited before, the young wizards: children.  I hope J.K. Rowling continues to write more books like these, stories about wizards.    

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The fourth book that J.K. Rowling wrote in the Harry Potter series is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  It is a fantastic book!  At the end of the summer, Harry gets to go with the Weaslys to the Quiddich World Cup.  Quiddich is the sport in the wizarding world.  It is played with fourteen people on broomsticks, four balls, and six goalposts.  Harry plays on his house team as the youngest seeker in a century.  He loves the game, but afterwards, some death eaters (hooded and masked supporters of the evilest wizard of the century, Lord Voldemort) terrorize the muggles (non-magical people)at the campground.  Everyone gets out of there fast, and when Harry, Ron, and Hermonie go back to Hogwarts, everyone knows Voldemort is getting stronger.  (He was destroyed somehow when he tried to kill Harry when Harry was only one).  

Something exciting is going on this year at Hogwarts!  The Triwizard Tournament is happening for the first time in 500 years at Hogwarts.  Beaubatons Academy and Durmstrang School are the other two large magical schools in Europe.  From each of the schools one champion is chosen by the Goblet of Fire, and they have to compete in three magical challenges.  This year, new rules are put into place.  You have to be of age, that is to say 17, to compete.  However, something mysterious happens.  A fourth champion is selected, and his name is Harry Potter.  Now Harry has to compete against three 17 year-olds (Harry is 14) in very difficult tasks!  When Harry gets to the third task, an unknown, umm, adventure awaits him at the end.  Will Harry survive it?  And what secrets does he find out?   You should read Harry Potter to find out!  Although, I would recommend starting with the first book... :)

Have fun reading!!    

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

In the third installment of Harry Potter, written by J.K. Rowling, Harry is in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  While the summer holiday is winding down at Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's home (where Harry spends his break from school, as his parents died when he was one), the evening news has some shocking news for it's viewers.  A mass murderer, Sirius Black, is on the loose.  It is all quite suspicious, however, because no muggles (non-magical people) know where he even escaped from!  When buying his school supplies in Diagon Alley, Harry meets up with the Weaslys and Hermonie Granger.  Ron Weasly and Hermonie are Harry's best friends at school.  Harry also overhears a conversation between Ron's parents that is shocking.  Apparently, Sirius Black is after Harry himself!  

Harry is concerned, of course, but enjoys going back to Hogwarts to begin his classes.  There are spooky creatures guarding all the entrances to the school this year.  Dementors, hooded creatures that seem to have no face, feed off of the happiness and warmth in people, thus making everyone around them feel as if they could never be happy again, and they are suddenly freezing cold.  It is because of Sirius Black that these dementors are everywhere.  Sirius Black actually escaped from Azkaban, the wizarding prison that the dementors guard.  

Another strange thing has been happening this year.  Hermonie is taking twice as many classes as everyone else (who's schedules are full), but she gets to all of her classes!  No one knows how she does it, until the end of the book.  Then, many secrets are reveled, but you'll have to read the book to find out what happens! Harry Potter is a great series, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone!!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The second book in the Harry Potter series is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, written by J.K. Rowling.  It is a fantastic book! In the beginning, Harry is back at his aunt and uncle's for the summer.  He hasn't got a letter from his friends the whole summer, and he is depressed.  One night, Dobby the house-elf shows up in Harry's room.  He has been stopping Harry's mail in an attempt to make Harry not go back to Hogwarts.  Dobby warns Harry he must not go back, but Harry goes to the train station on September 1st with the Weasly's anyway.  Harry and Ron are last through the magical barrier, and they can't get through! It has somehow been sealed, so Harry and Ron fly Mr. Weasly's magical car to Hogwarts.  They get in trouble, and don't exactly start the term well.  Hermonie Granger, their other friend, helps them (as usual) with their schoolwork.  However, their teacher, Professor Lockhart, is completly incompetent and is teaching his students nothing at all.  

  While this is going on, Harry has been hearing a voice inside the walls.  He has no idea what it is, but every time he hears it, there is another attack.  Students, cats, and ghosts are being petrified (a magical state in which the person is like stone, but can be revived only with a potion with mandrake root).  Something is attacking students, and when Hermonie is petrified and a Ginny Weasly is taken into the mythical Chamber of Secrets itself, it is up to Harry and Ron to solve the mystery and rescue Ginny before she dies.  

I don't want to wreck the ending for anyone who hasn't read Harry Potter, but I encourage you to read them!!  Harry Potter is fantastic, and I can't give it anything other than the highest of praise!!