Just in case you haven't heard, Universal in cooperation from J.K. Rowling is planning "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" at Universal Orlando Islands of Adventure. The park is scheduled to open in late 2009 or early 2010. Wow!
We should be able to walk inside Hogwarts castle and down the streets of Hogsmeade, as well as venture into the Forbidden Forest. Early reports say that there will not be any characters out and about in contrast to the Marvel Islands of Adventure, where Hulk, Spiderman and theX-men are visible. We're also not sure about any of the rides that may be part of the park. This is awesome! For email updates or to review the FAQ, checkout Universal's site. MuggleNet, the best place on the Web to catch any HP gossip, also has an updated gallery of construction photos. I highly recommend the podcasts.
AUTHOR: E.L. Konigsburg
AGE: 8th – 12th grade
REVIEW: It is an understatement to say that this novel ended where I thought it was going. Having read other beloved novels by Konigsburg, like From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The View from Saturday, I expected a humor-filled story with an engaging plot and a lot of texture in characters and sub-plots. In Heroic World we get all that, plus a lesson in World War II intolerance, prejudice and decadence. Books for Kids offers a great summary of the story and characters or you can visit Barnes and Noble for a variety of reviews. NPR also has a nice excerpt as well.
This story is for an older group. At some sites I visited, the youngest age suggested dipped to 5th grade. I think that is a little too young for the content of this book. While approximately 80% of the book would be appropriate, the last 20%, where all the coincidences and histories begin to fall into place, brings in some rather mature ideas that might be too much for a young child or may be too much for a teacher/librarian/parent to be prepared to deal with. Themes of homosexuality, arranged marriages and the atrocities are of the mid-century Nazis are prevalent throughout the last section.
I enjoyed this book tremendously. The humor is more sophisticated and cynical than her other works. The children are precocious beyond their years. I did find it interesting, though, that the characters didn't seem to change or grow in the pages of the book. I think, instead, they all seemed to come to an understanding about one another—and the different understandings is really the point of the book. Through the characters' discoveries, we come to understand the deep effects the decisions from the past have played on the characters we see now. The coincidences are almost plausible, but we are asked to accept a little too much. Certianly, Heroic World is a worthwhile read. Just go in knowing where you start isn't anywhere close to where you'll end.
The second installment of The Chronicles of Narnia is set to release May 16, 2008. Here's the first official trailer for C.S. Lewis' classic.
AUTHOR: Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
AGES: 7 – 12 years old
REVIEW: I just finished all five of the original Spiderwick Chronicles, and I have to say that I was pretty impressed for such short books. These novels are quick reads and really targeted at second through fifth graders. So, the plot lines are pretty simple, and the language is very accessible for children. For a review of The Spiderwick Chronicles, see Blais' article for USA Today.
While many movie and books sites, such as Cleveland Free Times and About.com, will give you the synopsis of the storyline about faeries, hobgoblins, boggarts, gryphons, dragons and ogres, the main story of Spidewick as us to suspend our disbelief about the world of Fey. As we follow the children's introduction into the Faerie world, we are also initiated into the new world around us. With each book, we delve deeper into the fantastical world.
However, the most real aspect of this book is the much less obvious subplot about "bad dads." As soon as The Field Guide begins, we meet the Graces, who are recovering from the separation of mom and dad. In later installments, we come to understand that Aurthur Spiderwick became obsessed with his field guide and the world of Fey, which caused his disappearance and broke his family. Finally, in The Wrath of Mulgarath, we understand just how self-absorbed Mr. Grace is and how angry the children are at him for collapsing their family and sending them into this dangerous spiral of events.
I believe the books improve over the series. Mulgarath to me is the bes of the five. The action, setting descriptions and emotions are all best portrayed in this book. I would certainly recommend The Spiderwick Chronicles to anyone. They are certainly appropriate for the 7th through 5th grader, but I would encourage a teen to pick through them as well.
Nickelodeon brings us the motion picture adaptation of the The Spiderwick Chronicles open in theatres February 14, 2008. Here's the trailer courtesy of YouTube. I think because of the relatively short stories, the movie adaptation may be very good at following the storyline. We'll see.
AUTHOR: Eoin Colfer
AGES: 9th – 12th grades
REVIEW: While the vocabulary and plot in this novel is easy enough for younger children to read and understand, possibly as young as 6th grade, there is some mild profanity that would prohibit it from being recommended for these children.
Barnes and Noble offer a great synopsis of the book. (I actually prefer their site to Amazon, because of the different reviews and their use of media, such as interview. with the author.) Like the Spiderwick Chronicles, Artemis Fowl delves into the world of Faerie with wildly different perspectives.
What I find interesting about this story is that with many plots where the central protagonist (or antagonist?) is a villain—and in this case, a 12-year-old evil genius—the author entreats us to like the character. We somehow understand his plight; we somehow understand that the decisions he is making are somewhat out of his control and the only viable resolution to his plight. I don't think this is necessarily the case at all with Artemis Fowl. I think we are not supposed to like him at all. I believe he, his genius and gadgets all come off with easy grace and bright arrogance. I think what we overwhelmingly see in him time and time again is an irreverence for those around him. Both Butler, his sidekick-caretaker-bodyguard, and Butler's daughter have an intense loyalty to Artemis, but the feeling is not mutual and only subservient.
What I did find most interesting was that while we intensely dislike Artemis Fowl, we are still somehow rooting for him. We somehow want to see him outfox the rules and legends of Faerie. This indeed harkens back to the traditional hero-villain. I think the other element that engenders sympathy for Artemis is the plight for his parents and his mother in particular. We can really feel how he wants his mother back from the edge of insanity. I believe few authors have make us feel both emotions about the protagonist.
Along this rollercoaster of emotion, we are treated in bits to the legend and lore of Faerie, alternating points of view like a Mary Higgins Clark novel or a Law and Order: Criminal Intent episode. Colfer also does a superb job of mixing the most modern technology with Faerie myth so that instead of the book feeling entirely mystical or vintage, it comes across current. In contrast, Harry Potter always seems set in the mid to late twentieth century. I think this is because Rowling decided to exclude modern technologies from the storylines—even those scenes in Little Whinging and those plots with Hermione that would most certainly be a computer nerd.
I'm looking forward to breaking the code (and I haven't cheated), and I'm looking forward to starting the next book The Artic Incident. For more on Eoin Colfer, see Writing Athena's post from a seminar and see the movie I embedded below from Barnes and Noble, too.
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