Book Bag: Friendswood Youth Services Blog

Title/Year originally published: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets/1999 When I originally read it: 1999 What I thought of it then: Believe it or not, I don't have a clear memory of checking out the second book like I do with the first. I don't know why though, so much stuff happens! I do remember thinking that Gilderoy Lockhart was obnoxious... When I re-read it: I may be saying this with every book as I re-read them, but this one might be my favorite! Like I said before, there's so much stuff going on here! Moaning Myrtle! Tom Riddle's diary and learning about Voldemort's past! Seeing Dumbledore's office for the first time! Seeing Ginny's crush on Harry (I only vaguely remember Ginny in the earlier books, and I certainly forgot her song about Harry), Colin Creevy's creepy fanboy obsession, the flying car, whomping willow, Hagrid's friendship with a giant spider, Hagrid going to Azkaban (I COMPLETELY forgot about that happening! Scary!), basili...

I meant to report on this much earlier, but over my birthday weekend I got to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. And was it ever amazing! Probably my favorite of the movies so far. The few people I've talked to who weren't absolutely in love with it said that the slowness of it was part of the problem. While I think this is a valid point, it didn't detract from my love. There were so many things to love! Beautiful scenery, all the Harry's, Bill Weasley!, George Weasley drinking coffee (tea?) with something sticking out his ear hole, Ron gazing at Hermione, scary Nagini, crazy Bellatrix, terrified Lucius Malfoy, even more terrified Draco Malfoy, Dobby and Creacher, Ron gazing at Hermione (wait did I say that already?), the much improved acting of all 3 of our main characters,the scariness, the tears, all the Polyjuice potion, the ministry of magic, Luna and her dad, and much more! Okay, I could post a BILLION more pictures (I think these are all from listal...

I thought it might be fun to see if our Young Adult patrons would respond to a challenge this summer. So I chose an incentive I thought you would enjoy, on top of all the prizes you already receive for joining the reading club during the summer. The Young Adult Reading Club is still relatively new. It's for ages 11-18 and instead of counting the amount of books/pages that you've read, you keep track of the amount of hours you've read. I think this works really well, it rewards people who don't breeze through books and it challenges those who do! So. Here is the challenge I'm issuing to all the teens who are planning on joining the Texas Teens Read Summer Reading Club If you read a total of 5,000 hours I will dye purple streaks in my hair. Another Young Adult, Merrit Rowley has agreed to join me in this challenge. So, we will go from looking like this: To looking something like this: (Actual results may vary) Are you up to it? DFTBA, Christina "Sti" Hick...